It's a Wonderful Life tops list of inspirational films

I am a sap of the highest order, I must admit. I even cry at Hallmark ads.

However, no one could deny that the number one film on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Cheers list deserved that honor. Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" came out on top of the American Film Institute's list of the most inspirational films. The fable stars Jimmy Stewart as an all-American family man whose life seems to fall apart in a moment. On the verge of suicide, he prays for help, and gets an angel who shows him what the world would be like if he had never existed.

The top of the list was fairly predictable, as Capra's film was followed by "To Kill a Mockingbird," the classic featuring Gregory Peck as the Southern lawyer who stands up to his entire town by representing an innocent black man. Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama "Schindler's List" came in third, followed by sports epic "Rocky." "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," another Capra-Stewart piece, ranked fifth.

Incidentally, Sidney Poitier led the pack as the most-often inspiring actor. He was in five of the selected films: "A Raisin in the Sun" (No. 65), "The Defiant Ones" (No. 55), "Lilies of the Field" (No. 46), "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (No. 35), and "In the Heat of the Night" (No. 21).

Jean Picker Firstenberg, director of the American Film Institute, which has previously created lists such as the greatest movie quotes, the best heroes and villains, and the top 100 films of all time, explained the logic for this year's list: "This was kind of an interesting moment in American history, coming off September 11, being at war, having natural disasters of such tremendous impact... I think the movies are fundamentally a very inspirational way we communicate, and we thought this was an exciting opportunity to recognize those films."