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Theres an old,very old,town hall here in Lawton.It got turned into a mini flea market.Sell old vhs tapes. I bought an ass load ,including the WILD BUNCH (1969)
As far as westerns go-this is the BEST.
Lotsa folks think this is a downbeat film.Not true.It;s about brotherhood,laughing and drinking in the face of death.
It's a celebration of life-not death.
I love it-
Let's go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n3UDBSceIc

I can't say enough about this movie! It's revolutionary in that it was the first Hollywood feature to make good use of bloodbombs as a prop. It was set in the twilight of the Old West, and did away with the cliche "showdown at high noon" settings, while simultaneously turning the "Mexican standoff" into an art form. It was Sam Peckinpah's best film, where everything just clicked right together. There were artistic metaphors at every turn in this movie, from the scorpion fighting hundreds of ants to the death at the start of the film (which was a harbinger of the final battle scene at the end), to the two children stuck in the middle of a bloody firefight also at the start of the film witnessing death right in front of them; the loss of innocence. Awesome acting. And last but not least: Ernest Borgnine!

This was one of the last of the truly great western films, in that it did away with everything that made them great to begin with. It was a masterful technique of throwing all western film tradition out the window, for sake of showing us the "cowboy sunset" of the era. Masterfully done!

The "presaging" scorpion and ant battle tells us from the gitgo that innocent or not, death is part of life, as is cruelty.  The children do set the scorpion and ants on fire... don't they?   :question: 

A case could be argued that THE WILD BUNCH is a downer.  It's great whatever it is. 

I would have to watch it again, but I don't remember the two blond-haired, blue-eyed, angelic kids hanging out with all the Mexican kids at the scorpion/fire ant roast. It would be quite ironic if they were though. Oh yes, I forgot to mention Sgt. Hulka from Stripes as one of the members of the Wild Bunch; it barely even looks like him!

Definitely one of my favorite westerns.  In fact, even though it's not my absolute favorite (without ranking them in strict order, I'd say SHANE, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, RIO BRAVO, and THE WILD BUNCH are my 5 favorites), it's probably the western I have watched more times than any other.  The cast is great and the classic Peckinpah shootouts are stunning.

One of the best westerns of all time the predecessor to Heat Extreme Prejudice and all the other stylized movie gunfights that came after it plus it along with the Graduate were the first two movies to get R ratting.