Well, I'm gonna start in on how great The Searchers is, the classic western that was the strongest influence on my choice of career. You probably already know how I went on about how The Searchers influenced not only me but also Spielberg, DePalma, Scorceses, Lucas and a dozen or so writers and directors.
The scene above is from The Searchers, where John Wayne is ready to kill his niece but his half-breed nephew is protecting her. Very similar to Walter's last act.
So guess how Vince Gilligan ended Breaking Bad, in the final scene with the bad guys going to kill Walter but as we know now, Walter has the edge when his robotic machine gun blasts the warehouse office and anybody in it. Almost anybody.
Seconds before, Walter got the gang to bring in Jessie before the doomed bad guys planned to kill him and Walter leaped at Jessie and in doing so, saved his life rather than having him killed. And in that moment he took a bullet for Jessie.
Where does The Searchers come in? The ending of The Searchers has John Wayne face the Indian attack and wants to kill his niece because she's been "tainted" by the "savages". But at the last moment, he saves the lovely Natalie Wood instead of killing her.
So is this my own opinion?
Of course not, Vince himself said that the ending scenes were right out of The Searchers, modernized of course, but as he added "I stole from the best".
I will miss Breaking Bad as much as I miss the Sopranos and I'm not one to replay old shows, once is enough for me, watching them over will make them less inspiring, in my mind.
And another thing; why did one movie influence so many boomer writers and directors, maybe there's an article in that, there already are some, but what made that movie stand out so much for us.
