AFI's Top 10 Movies in 10 Classic Film Genres

The American Film Institute (AFI) is renowned for its definitive lists of the greatest American films of all time. Their extensive research has identified the top 10 films across 10 classic genres that represent the pinnacles of cinematic achievement. As a diehard old Hollywood fanatic, I was intrigued to delve into these lists and make it easier for all to visualise the timeless movies that have captivated audiences decade after decade.

We've done the work so you don't have to! Before we get into the list, let's break it down for you and extract any interesting data:

Here is the breakdown of how many AFI Top 100 films appear per decade:

Seems there is a downward trend happening? Shocker!

Here is a table listing the actors with more than one film on AFI's Top 100 list:

Here is a table listing the directors with more than one film on AFI's Top 100 list:

Seems 4 is the magic Number right? Could Francis Ford Coppola with his new project Megalopolis or Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones...meh!) get 1 more on the list?

Alright! This is what you came for...

Animation

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
  • Directors: David Hand, William Cottrell, Wilfred Jackson, Larry Morey, Perce Pearce, Ben Sharpsteen
  • Voices: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille La Verne
  • Nominated for Best Musical Score
• Pinocchio (1940)
  • Directors: Norman Ferguson, T. Hee, Wilfred Jackson, Jack Kinney, Hamilton Luske, Bill Roberts, Ben Sharpsteen
  • Voices: Dickie Jones, Cliff Edwards, Christian Rub
  • Won Best Original Song and Best Original Score
• Bambi (1942)
  • Directors: James Algar, Sam Armstrong, David Hand, Graham Heid, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Norman Wright
  • Voices: Hardie Albright, Stan Alexander, Bobette Audrey
  • Nominated for Best Sound and Best Original Song
• The Lion King (1994)
  • Directors: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
  • Voices: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas
  • Won Best Original Score and Best Original Song
• Fantasia (1940)
  • Directors: Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul Satterfield, Hamilton Luske, Jim Handley, Ford Beebe, T. Hee, Norm Ferguson, Wilfred Jackson
  • Narrator: Deems Taylor
  • Nominated for Best Sound and Best Original Score
• Toy Story (1995)
  • Director: John Lasseter
  • Voices: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn
  • Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Song
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)
  • Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
  • Voices: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White, Jerry Orbach
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Original Score
• Shrek (2001)
  • Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson
  • Voices: Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz
  • Won Best Animated Feature Film
• Cinderella (1950)
  • Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Hamilton Luske, Wilfred Jackson
  • Voices: Ilene Woods, Eleanor Audley, Verna Felton
  • Nominated for Best Sound and Best Original Song
• Finding Nemo (2003)
  • Director: Andrew Stanton
  • Voices: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould
  • Won Best Animated Feature Film

Romantic Comedy

• City Lights (1931)
  • Director: Charlie Chaplin
  • Cast: Charlie Chaplin, Virginia Cherrill, Harry Myers
  • No Oscar nominations
• Annie Hall (1977)
  • Director: Woody Allen
  • Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts
  • Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay
• It Happened One Night (1934)
  • Director: Frank Capra
  • Cast: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly
  • Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Writing
• Roman Holiday (1953)
  • Director: William Wyler
  • Cast: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert
  • Won Best Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Writing
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
  • Director: George Cukor
  • Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart
  • Won Best Actor, Best Writing
• When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
  • Director: Rob Reiner
  • Cast: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher
  • Nominated for Best Original Screenplay
• Adam's Rib (1949)
  • Director: George Cukor
  • Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday
  • No Oscar nominations
• Moonstruck (1987)
  • Director: Norman Jewison
  • Cast: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis
  • Won Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay
• Harold and Maude (1971)
  • Director: Hal Ashby
  • Cast: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles
  • No Oscar nominations
• Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
  • Director: Nora Ephron
  • Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman
  • Nominated for Best Original Song

Western

• The Searchers (1956)
  • Director: John Ford
  • Cast: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
  • No Oscar nominations
• High Noon (1952)
  • Director: Fred Zinnemann
  • Cast: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Thomas Mitchell
  • Won Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Original Song
• Shane (1953)
  • Director: George Stevens
  • Cast: Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin
  • Nominated for Best Supporting Actor
• Unforgiven (1992)
  • Director: Clint Eastwood
  • Cast: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman
  • Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing
• Red River (1948)
  • Director: Howard Hawks
  • Cast: John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Joanne Dru
  • No Oscar nominations
• The Wild Bunch (1969)
  • Director: Sam Peckinpah
  • Cast: William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan
  • Nominated for Best Original Screenplay
• Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  • Director: George Roy Hill
  • Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross
  • Won Best Screenplay, Best Score, Best Song
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
  • Director: Robert Altman
  • Cast: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois
  • No Oscar nominations
• Stagecoach (1939)
  • Director: John Ford
  • Cast: Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell
  • Nominated for Best Supporting Actor
• Cat Ballou (1965)
  • Director: Elliot Silverstein
  • Cast: Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin, Michael Callan
  • Won Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay

Sports

• Raging Bull (1980)
  • Director: Martin Scorsese
  • Cast: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci
  • Won Best Actor, Best Film Editing
• Rocky (1976)
  • Director: John G. Avildsen
  • Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
  • Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing
• The Pride of the Yankees (1943)
  • Director: Sam Wood
  • Cast: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan
  • Nominated for Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Writing
• Hoosiers (1986)
  • Director: David Anspaugh
  • Cast: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper
  • Nominated for Best Supporting Actor
• Bull Durham (1988)
  • Director: Ron Shelton
  • Cast: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins
  • No Oscar nominations
• The Hustler (1961)
  • Director: Robert Rossen
  • Cast: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie
  • Nominated for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction
• Caddyshack (1980)
  • Director: Harold Ramis
  • Cast: Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight
  • No Oscar nominations
• Breaking Away (1979)
  • Director: Peter Yates
  • Cast: Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern
  • Nominated for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay
• National Velvet (1945)
  • Director: Clarence Brown
  • Cast: Mickey Rooney, Donald Crisp, Elizabeth Taylor
  • No Oscar nominations
• Jerry Maguire (1996)
  • Director: Cameron Crowe
  • Cast: Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr., Renée Zellweger
  • Won Best Supporting Actor

Mystery

• Vertigo (1958)
  • Director: Alfred Hitchcock
  • Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes
  • Nominated for Best Sound and Best Art Direction
• Chinatown (1974)
  • Director: Roman Polanski
  • Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
  • Won Best Original Screenplay
• Rear Window (1954)
  • Director: Alfred Hitchcock
  • Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey
  • Nominated for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography
• Laura (1944)
  • Director: Otto Preminger
  • Cast: Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb
  • Nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematography
• The Third Man (1949)
  • Director: Carol Reed
  • Cast: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
  • Nominated for Best Director, Best Film Editing
• The Maltese Falcon (1941)
  • Director: John Huston
  • Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor
• North by Northwest (1959)
  • Director: Alfred Hitchcock
  • Cast: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
  • Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Art Direction
• Blue Velvet (1986)
  • Director: David Lynch
  • Cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper
  • Nominated for Best Director
• Dial M for Murder (1954)
  • Director: Alfred Hitchcock
  • Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings
  • No Oscar nominations
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
  • Director: Bryan Singer
  • Cast: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne, Chazz Palminteri
  • Won Best Supporting Actor

Fantasy

• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
  • Director: Victor Fleming
  • Cast: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Song
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
  • Director: Peter Jackson
  • Cast: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay
• It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
  • Director: Frank Capra
  • Cast: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director
• King Kong (1933)
  • Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
  • Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
  • No Oscar nominations
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
  • Director: George Seaton
  • Cast: Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn
  • Won Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Story
• Field of Dreams (1989)
  • Director: Phil Alden Robinson
  • Cast: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay
• Harvey (1950)
  • Director: Henry Koster
  • Cast: James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Peggy Dow
  • Won Best Supporting Actress
• Groundhog Day (1993)
  • Director: Harold Ramis
  • Cast: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott
  • No Oscar nominations
• The Thief of Bagdad (1924)
  • Director: Raoul Walsh
  • Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Snitz Edwards, Anna May Wong
  • No Oscar nominations (pre-Oscars)
• Big (1988)
  • Director: Penny Marshall
  • Cast: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
  • Nominated for Best Actor

Sci-Fi

• 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
  • Director: Stanley Kubrick
  • Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
  • Won Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction
• Star Wars (1977)
  • Director: George Lucas
  • Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
  • Won Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
  • Director: Steven Spielberg
  • Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote
  • Won Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
  • Director: Stanley Kubrick
  • Cast: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
  • Director: Robert Wise
  • Cast: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe
  • No Oscar nominations
• Blade Runner (1982)
  • Director: Ridley Scott
  • Cast: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
  • Nominated for Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction
• Alien (1979)
  • Director: Ridley Scott
  • Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt
  • Won Best Visual Effects
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  • Director: James Cameron
  • Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong
  • Won Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  • Director: Don Siegel
  • Cast: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates
  • No Oscar nominations
• Back to the Future (1985)
  • Director: Robert Zemeckis
  • Cast: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
  • Won Best Sound Effects Editing

Gangster

• The Godfather (1972)
  • Director: Francis Ford Coppola
  • Cast: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan
  • Won Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay
• Goodfellas (1990)
  • Director: Martin Scorsese
  • Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor
• The Godfather Part II (1974)
  • Director: Francis Ford Coppola
  • Cast: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
  • Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay
• White Heat (1949)
  • Director: Raoul Walsh
  • Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien
  • No Oscar nominations
• Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
  • Director: Arthur Penn
  • Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay
• Scarface (1932)
  • Director: Howard Hawks
  • Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley
  • No Oscar nominations
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
  • Director: Quentin Tarantino
  • Cast: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay
• The Public Enemy (1931)
  • Director: William A. Wellman
  • Cast: James Cagney, Jean Harlow, Edward Woods
  • No Oscar nominations
• Little Caesar (1931)
  • Director: Mervyn LeRoy
  • Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell
  • No Oscar nominations
• Scarface (1983)
  • Director: Brian De Palma
  • Cast: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer
  • No Oscar nominations

Courtroom Drama

• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
  • Director: Robert Mulligan
  • Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford
  • Won Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
  • Director: Sidney Lumet
  • Cast: Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay
• Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
  • Director: Robert Benton
  • Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander
  • Won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay
• The Verdict (1982)
  • Director: Sidney Lumet
  • Cast: Paul Newman, Charlotte Rampling, Jack Warden
  • Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay

In closing, the AFI's definitive lists offer a treasure trove of the most outstanding achievements in American cinema. Their rigorous selection process has identified the 100 films across genres that represent the highest levels of cinematic storytelling.

Tracing the evolution of each genre throughout Hollywood's rich history reveals how filmmakers have pushed the boundaries of the medium. The vivid characters, indelible images, emotional storytelling, and technical innovations of these movies have made them enduring classics appreciated by audiences for generations.

Whether it's the magic of Disney animation, Hitchcock's masterful suspense, or Scorsese's gritty portrayals of the criminal underworld, these diverse films reflect the breadth of cinematic artistry. Though tastes may vary, the AFI lists offer an authoritative guide to the films considered the pinnacle of their genre by the experts.

For cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike, seeing these critically and culturally revered works of American cinema allows one to be transported by the most inspiring feats of filmmaking. The heights achieved by these movies set the bar for future films to aspire towards. Audiences can only hope these lists will continue to grow as more instant classics emerge that push the boundaries of imagination.

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