AFI's 10 Top 10

"AFI's 10 Top 10" honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008.

Clint Eastwood, James Woods, Quentin Tarantino, Lesley Ann Warren, Gabriel Byrne, Kirk Douglas, Isabella Rossellini, Sean Astin, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Elizabeth Perkins, Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Earl Jones, Nathan Lane, Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Michael J. Fox, Dennis Hopper, Gene Hackman, Amy Madigan, Dominic Monaghan, Rita Wilson, Andie MacDowell, Harold Ramis, Roman Polanski, Robert Loggia, Talia Shire, Susan Sarandon, Daniel Stern, Norman Jewison, Sidney Lumet, Rob Reiner, Ray Liotta, and Jane Fonda discussed their admiration for and personal contributions to the films cited.

Like previous specials in the AFI 100 Years... series, the entire list of 500 nominated films is available on the American Film Institute website.

Animation

Presented by Jennifer Love Hewitt.

=Sports=

Presented by Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Science fiction films

Presented by Sigourney Weaver.

=Epics=

Presented by Kirk Douglas.

List breakdown

*Alfred Hitchcock has a record number of movies in the mystery category, with four films he directed: "Vertigo", "Rear Window", "North By Northwest", and "Dial M for Murder".

*Steven Spielberg has directed two epics on the list with "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan", and one science fiction film, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial".

*Stanley Kubrick directed multiple films on the lists with "" and "A Clockwork Orange" on the science fiction list, and "Spartacus" on the epic films list.

*The Walt Disney Company has more films per category on the list than any other director or producer. In the animation category, they had nine animated films that they either produced (seven) or released under their Walt Disney Pictures banner (two produced by Pixar). The only non-Disney animated film on the list is "Shrek".

*James Stewart is the most represented leading actor with six films. He makes his mark in four categories: fantasy with "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Harvey", mystery with "Vertigo" and "Rear Window", romantic comedy with "The Philadelphia Story", and courtroom drama with "Anatomy of a Murder".

*Tom Hanks stars in four ranking films: fantasy with "Big", romantic comedy with "Sleepless in Seattle", epic with "Saving Private Ryan", and animation with "Toy Story".

*Gene Hackman appears in four of the list's films: the gangster movie "Bonnie & Clyde", the epic "Reds", the sports film "Hoosiers", and the Western "Unforgiven".

*Diane Keaton also appears in four ranking films: gangster with "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II", romantic comedy with "Annie Hall", and epic with "Reds". She had a lead role in "Annie Hall" and "Reds", but only a supporting role in "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II".

*Actors John Wayne, Grace Kelly, Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Warren Beatty and James Earl Jones each have three films on the list.

*Ward Bond appears in five films on these lists: "It Happened One Night", "Gone with the Wind", "The Searchers", "The Maltese Falcon", and "It's a Wonderful Life", but all of them in varying degrees of support.

*There are a total of thirteen Academy Award Best Picture winners in six categories that appear on the lists: "Rocky" in sports, "Unforgiven" in the westerns, "The Godfather" and "The Godfather Part II" in the gangsters, "Annie Hall" and "It Happened One Night" in the romantic comedies, "Kramer vs. Kramer" in the courtroom dramas, and finally, "Lawrence of Arabia", "Ben-Hur", "Schindler's List", "Gone with the Wind", "Titanic", and "All Quiet on the Western Front" in the epics.

*The most recently released film on the list is "Finding Nemo" (2003). The oldest film on the list is "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924). They were released seventy-nine years apart.

*Warner Bros. owns some or all rights (for certain films, in certain countries only) to 26 films on the list - more than any other studio - this includes the 8 pre-1986 MGM films on the list, DVD rights to "City Lights", and rights in certain countries to "King Kong" and "Stagecoach", in addition to those films from WB themselves.

* 8 of the films on the romantic comedy list (Annie Hall, City Lights, Harold and Maude, Moonstruck, When Harry Met Sally... Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, and It Happened One Night) were on the "100 years... 100 laughs" list, and another 8 (Annie Hall, Harold and Maude, Sleepless in Seattle, The Philadelphia story, It Happened One Night, When Harry Met Sally..., Moonstruck, Roman Holiday, and City lights) were on the "100 years... 100 passions" list.

External links

* [http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/10top10.aspx AFI's 10 Top 10]