Quote Originally Posted by turpin View Post
Who can forget the Charge of the Scots Greys, with the Gordons hanging onto their stirrups!. A classic example of bravery.
Actually, when Sergei Bondrachuk was directing his film version of Waterloo, he was less than credulous concerning the charge of the Greys. (For those of you not au fait with the legend, the Gordon Highlanders grabbed onto the stirrup leathers of the cavalry and were carried into the French lines.) This really got up the nose of one of the (Scottish) members of the crew.

As Bondrachuk was setting up his shot, he was surprised to see a Scots Grey trooper gallop past with a kilted Gordon Highlander clinging to his saddle. Surprise turned to amazement as they galloped past, especially when he heard what he thought was the Gordon's famous battle cry, "Stop this bleedin' horse or I'll kill ya, ya cossack commie sonnovabitch!!!!!"

If you've never seen Waterloo I can highly recommend it. The plot is turgid, but the action sequences are amazing. And the charge of the Scots Greys is a nearly religious experience. The US version of the film runs for about 2 hours, while the Russian version ran for almost four hours, later cut to three.

In the same vein, Abel Gance's Napoleon is also fantastic.