"Only the farmers have won," the village elder remarks as he bids farewell to the hired gunmen.

"They remain forever. They are like the land itself... You are like the wind -- blowing over the land and passing on."

And the three surviving gunmen in the final scene of the western classic The Magnificent Seven ride off into the sunset.

They turn to gaze at the village they've just helped to defend -- at great personal loss -- against marauding bandits.

The final words of the movie, pregnant with metaphoric meaning, are uttered by the main character, hired gun Chris Adams: