I watched the 2021 version of Nightmare Alley the other day, and decided it needed the Walk of Life treatment:
I think it works, but really only if you know the context. There’s a level of psychological horror here, as he recognizes that he’s willingly walking into degradation and death. The carnival geek is a sort of man/beast, a man who was supposedly raised in the wild as an animal. That’s the story told to the carnival-goers. Really he’s an alcoholic who’s manipulated into a subhuman existence through his addiction. This is explained early in the story:
I kind of wished that had picked a different actor for the lead role, but maybe he wasn’t available:
I decided to further test the Walk of Life theory with the 1990 classic Miami Blues:
It works here as well, and the scene is less in need of explanation. A few of the cuts conveniently fall in line with the beat of the song, so it looks like it belongs.
