Time Comes for Groundhog Day, Others, on Latest AFI Top 10 List

Several favorites get first due from American Film Institute as group unveils best-of list honoring genre movies

If you've been waiting for Groundhog Day to get its due, your wait, like Bill Murray's at the end of that film, is finally over.

The 1993 comedy about a weatherman's very, very long day was one of 100 films honored by the American Film Institute with its latest best-of list.

AFI's 10 Top 10, a list of lists, actually, covering genres from animation to Western, was revealed in a CBS special Tuesday.

The three-hour program was the least-watched show of the night on the big four networks, averaging an estimated 5.5 million viewers, per Nielsen Media Research.

Game 6 of the NBA Finals and the premiere of America's Got Talent might have proved bigger draws, but Marty McFly wasn't complaining.

Like Groundhog Day, 1985's Back to the Future was an AFI first-timer, coming in at 10th on the list of Hollywood's 10 best sci-fi movies of all time. (Groundhog Day was honored in the fantasy category, where it ranked eighth.)

Other newbies: The Lion King (4th, animation); Shrek (eighth, animation); Cinderella (ninth, animation); Finding Nemo (10th, animation); the 1924 silent version of The Thief of Bagdad (ninth, fantasy); Red River (fifth, Western); McCabe & Mrs. Miller (eighth, Western); and The Hustler (sixth, sports).

The courtroom drama category featured the most newcomers to an AFI list: six—Kramer vs. Kramer (third), Witness for the Prosecution (sixth), Anatomy of a Murder (seventh), In Cold Blood (eighth), A Cry in the Dark (ninth) and Judgment at Nuremberg (10th).

The romantic comedy, mystery, gangster and epic genres did not welcome rookies. Every film honored in those categories was on at least one previous AFI list, if not several others. The Wizard of Oz, for example, made the cut on 10 other AFI lists, more than any other film honored as a 10 Top 10 film.

In all, the AFI has now issued 13 best-of lists since 1998, when it unveiled its picks for the 100 top U.S. movies of the 20th century.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 genre categories:

ANIMATION

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

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

1. The Godfather, 1972
2. Goodfellas, 1990
3. The Godfather Part II, 1974
4. White Heat, 1949
5. Bonnie and Clyde, 1967
6. Scarface: The Shame of a Nation, 1932
7. Pulp Fiction, 1994
8. The Public Enemy, 1931
9. Little Caesar, 1930
10. Scarface, 1983

SCIENCE FICTION

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968
2. Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, 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

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

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

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

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

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

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