AFI’s 10 Top 10

In 2008 AFI’s 10 Top 10 honoured the ten greatest US films in ten classic film genres from 500 nominated films.

Animation

AFI defines “animated” as a genre in which the film’s images are primarily created by computer or hand and the characters are voiced by actors.

# Film Year
1 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937
2 Pinocchio 1940
3 Bambi 1942
4 The Lion King 1994
5 Fantasia 1940
6 Toy Story 1995
7 Beauty and the Beast 1991
8 Shrek 2001
9 Cinderella 1950
10 Finding Nemo 2003

Fantasy

AFI defines “fantasy” as a genre in which live-action characters inhabit imagined settings and/or experience situations that transcend the rules of the natural world.

# Film Year
1 The Wizard of Oz 1939
2 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2001
3 It’s a Wonderful Life 1946
4 King Kong 1933
5 Miracle on 34th Street 1947
6 Field of Dreams 1989
7 Harvey 1950
8 Groundhog Day 1993
9 The Thief of Bagdad 1924
10 Big 1988

Gangster

AFI defines the “Gangster film” as a genre that centres on organised crime or maverick criminals in a 20th-century setting.

# Film Year
1 The Godfather 1972
2 Goodfellas 1990
3 The Godfather Part II 1974
4 White Heat 1949
5 Bonnie and Clyde 1967
6 Scarface 1932
7 Pulp Fiction 1994
8 The Public Enemy 1931
9 Little Caesar 1931
10 Scarface 1983

Science fiction

AFI defines “science fiction” as a genre that marries a scientific or technological premise with imaginative speculation.

# Film Year
1 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
2 Star Wars 1977
3 E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982
4 A Clockwork Orange 1971
5 The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951
6 Blade Runner 1982
7 Alien 1979
8 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1991
9 Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1956
10 Back to the Future 1985

Western

AFI defines “western” as a genre of films set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier.

# Film Year
1 The Searchers 1956
2 High Noon 1952
3 Shane 1953
4 Unforgiven 1992
5 Red River 1948
6 The Wild Bunch 1969
7 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 1969
8 McCabe & Mrs. Miller 1971
9 Stagecoach 1939
10 Cat Ballou 1965




Sports

AFI defines “sports” as a genre of films with protagonists who play athletics or other games of competition.

# Film Year
1 Raging Bull 1980
2 Rocky 1976
3 The Pride of the Yankees 1942
4 Hoosiers 1986
5 Bull Durham 1988
6 The Hustler 1961
7 Caddyshack 1980
8 Breaking Away 1979
9 National Velvet 1944
10 Jerry Maguire 1996

Mystery

AFI defines “mystery” as a genre that revolves around the solution of a crime.

# Film Year
1 Vertigo 1958
2 Chinatown 1974
3 Rear Window 1954
4 Laura 1944
5 The Third Man 1949
6 The Maltese Falcon 1941
7 North by Northwest 1959
8 Blue Velvet 1986
9 Dial M for Murder 1954
10 The Usual Suspects 1995

Romantic comedy

AFI defines “romantic comedy” as a genre in which the development of a romance leads to comic situations.

# Film Year
1 City Lights 1931
2 Annie Hall 1977
3 It Happened One Night 1934
4 Roman Holiday 1953
5 The Philadelphia Story 1940
6 When Harry Met Sally… 1989
7 Adam’s Rib 1949
8 Moonstruck 1987
9 Harold and Maude 1971
10 Sleepless in Seattle 1993

Courtroom drama

AFI defines “courtroom drama” as a genre of film in which a system of justice plays a critical role in the film’s narrative.

# Film Year
1 To Kill a Mockingbird 1962
2 12 Angry Men 1957
3 Kramer vs. Kramer 1979
4 The Verdict 1982
5 A Few Good Men 1992
6 Witness for the Prosecution 1957
7 Anatomy of a Murder 1959
8 In Cold Blood 1967
9 A Cry in the Dark 1988
10 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961

Epic

AFI defines “epic” as a genre of large-scale films set in a cinematic interpretation of the past.

# Film Year
1 Lawrence of Arabia 1962
2 Ben-Hur 1959
3 Schindler’s List 1993
4 Gone with the Wind 1939
5 Spartacus 1960
6 Titanic 1997
7 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930
8 Saving Private Ryan 1998
9 Reds 1981
10 The Ten Commandments 1956




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