It’s said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It’s also said that one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. So when it comes to listing things as “the best,” the choices in any venue may run the gamut.

To put all of this another way, one man’s fish roe is another man’s caviar, only a heck of a lot cheaper. Not only that, it would get really messy trying to dip caviar in cane syrup.

Now more to the point. I was just doing to a little internet surfing and ran across a listing of the top 10 all-time western movies.  This is according to somebody. While I agreed with some of the choices being in the top 10, I had issue with the placements — much like what happens when I watch the Westminster Dog Show. By the way, a real dog, a German Shepherd, won it this past week.

In regard to that list of the top 10 all-time best westerns, I have just coined a  phrase. It’s “silver screen blasphemy.” You see they did not include the movie “Shane.” Alan Ladd must have turned over in his grave. And someone should ask forgiveness.

In most cases I would say, “To each his own.”  But “Shane” is one of those westerns that make popcorn and Milk Duds worth the price. A western movie lover like myself could, as a kid, smell the sweaty leather and those spent .45 caliber cartridges in that movie. It made my toes curl when Alan Ladd cleaned up that saloon and the vermin inside without having to file an environmental impact statement.

I can still hear that rancher’s son yelling, “Come back Shane!” as this quintessential cowboy rode off wounded into the sunset.

This list had “Unforgiven” as number one. Yes it was good. Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris performed well. But I would not have made it number one. I would have made “High Noon” with Gary Cooper the top with  “Shane” next. They had “High Noon” at number nine.

Then I would have put “The Searchers” with John Wayne as third.  They had this movie in second place.

I think they got number four right — “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” I saw that movie in 1969 in the old Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta. My favorite line: “You think you used enough dynamite Butch?”

Another one that didn’t make the top 10 was “Tombstone.” That would have been my fifth from the top as opposed to “Once Upon a Time In The West.”

 I’ve read several historians’ analyses who said Tombstone was the most accurate film depiction of how it all went down at the OK Corral. And while Kurt Russell did a grand job of portraying Wyatt Earp, I think Val Kilmer stole the show as Doc Holiday. 

My favorite line from that one: “Tell’em I’m coming, and hell’s coming with me.”

I would not have put “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” in the top 10. Maybe I would have had it at 12 or 13.  Certainly I would not have put it at number three as this listing did. Those “spaghetti westerns” just didn’t have the shelf life compared to the classics. 

The rest of the rankings can come or go. I do think “Nevada Smith,”  where Steve McQueen played a half-breed who avenged his parents’ deaths, should have been in that top mix. And I believe “The Outlaw Jose Wales” was much better than 15.

Of course I’m not a professional movie critic. I just know what I like. Now you can take that, some fried fish roe and five bucks to Starbucks, and people will stare at you.

(Email: dwain.walden@gaflnews.com)