AFI Ain’t Got Nothin’ on Me [Again]

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The American Film Institute has come up with their list of The 10 Greatest Films in 10 Classic Genres. Here are my top 3 from each genre:


Animation:

  1. The Lion King (mostly because of my memories of seeing how much my sons enjoyed it when we saw it on the big screen)
  2. Toy Story (same reason as #1)
  3. Beauty and the Best (same reason as #1)


Romantic Comedies:

Wow! There are quite a few in the top 10 that I haven’t seen. Makes it easy to pick my top 3:

  1. When Harry Met Sally (mainly because of the classic deli scene — it still makes me chuckle)
  2. Sleepless in Seattle
  3. Moonstruck (Cher and Nic Cage before he became an action star!)


Western:

This is a much tougher category. I love a good western.

  1. The Searchers (The AFI got this one right!)
  2. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  3. Stagecoach

Ask me again next week and Unforgiven, The Wild Bunch, Shane or even Red River could make the list at 2 or 3.

Sports:

Ah, my all time favorite movie makes this list…

  1. Rocky
  2. Raging Bull
  3. The Hustler
Of course we all know that Sly “Rocky” Stallone and Robert “Raging Bull” DeNiro co-starred in Cop Land! [But did we all know that in 1976, both Stallone and DeNiro duked it out for the Best Actor Oscar!]


Mystery:

Another tough category…

  1. North by Northwest
  2. The Maltese Falcon
  3. The Usual Suspects

With Rear Window, Vertigo and Chinatown just missing out.

Fantasy: The AFI and I agree on the top film! [It’s my all-time #2 favorite movie.]

  1. The Wizard of Oz
  2. King Kong
  3. The Lord of the Rings


Sci-Fi: A bunch of great films made the list, but where is Aliens, The Matrix, Highlander, etc?

  1. Terminator 2: Judgment Day
  2. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
  3. Alien


Gangster: The AFI got it right again… at least with the number 1 slot!

  1. The Godfather
  2. The Godfather, Part II
  3. Pulp Fiction


Courtroom Drama: Wow! The AFI and I are in sync… at least for the top2.

  1. To Kill a Mockingbird
  2. 12 Angry Men
  3. A Few Good Men


Compulsion would have been my third choice if it had made the AFI list.

Epic:

  1. Spartacus
  2. Ben-Hur
  3. Saving Private Ryan


Lists like these make me want to pull down some of the classics and watch them again.