AFI's
Greatest Movie Musicals
of All-Time

25 Greatest Movie Musicals

The American Film Institute's (AFI) 2006 polling, Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time, highlighted the 25 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time. Other AFI pollings were for:

• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies (1998)
• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Stars/Legends (1999)
• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Laughs (2000)
• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Thrills (2001)
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions (2002)
• AFI's Heroes and Villains (2003)
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs (2004)
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes (2005)
• AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers (2006)

A ballot was distributed in 2006 with 180 nominated musicals to a jury of over 500 leaders from the creative community, including composers, musicians, film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors and cinematographers), critics and historians. Due to the extensive number of memorable movie musicals in American film, jurors were also allowed to write in votes for musicals that did not already appear on the ballot.

The jurors were asked to consider the following criteria in making their selections:

• MUSICAL - A feature-length American film* in which music and lyrics significantly advance the
  plot, develop character or are otherwise integral to the film narrative.

• HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE - Musicals that have left an indelible mark on the history of the moving image—through innovation in song and dance, visionary narrative devices or other groundbreakingachievements.

• CREATIVE IMPACT - Musicals with songs that evoke the memory of its film source, thus ensuring and enlivening both the music and the movie’s historical legacy.

• LEGACY - Musicals that continue to inspire artists and audiences alike.

*AFI defines an American film as an English language motion picture with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States. AFI defines a feature-length film as a motion picture of narrative format that is typically over 60 minutes in length.

See also this site's informative sections on Greatest Musical Song/Dance Movie Moments and Scenes (illustrated) and the genre of Musical Films.

Note: The films that are marked with a yellow star are the films that "The Greatest Films" site has selected as the 100 Greatest Films.