The American Film Institute unveils its top 100 heroes and villains in the history of Hollywood. Did your favorites make the list? David Germain reports.

　　Movie buffs love debate. The American Film Institute has added to the conversation by releasing its list of the best heroes and villains. Each list represents memorable moments and a plethora of screen legends that will have cinema fans arguing latesintosthe night.

　　Atticus Finch from "To Kill a Mockingbird" beat out an army of swashbuckling idols for the top spot of the best screen heroes while Hannibal Lecter from "The Silence of the Lambs" led the list of film villains.

　　The rankings of the top role models and dastardly foes in American cinema debuted on the CBS television special "AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Heroes and Villains" last week.

　　Finch, played by Gregory Peck in the 1962 classic, was a faultlessly noble widower raising a daughter and son amid Southern racial unrest as he defended a black man accused of raping a white woman.

　　"I think Atticus Finch just represents the goodness all of us want to see in others and feel in ourselves," said Jean Picker Firstenburg, the institute's director. "This is a hard time in human history, and we look for the bright spots that show us the way."

　　Lecter, played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1991 thriller plus the sequel "Hannibal" and the prequel "Red Dragon," was a delectably fiendish serial killer who boasted about eating a man's liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti.

　　Arnold Schwarzenegger, host of the AFI special, was the only actor to place essentially the same character on both lists. His malevolent cyborg from "The Terminator" was No 22 among villains, while his nice-guy cyborg in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" placed 48th among heroes.

　　"I am absolutely ecstatic about it," Schwarzenegger said. "To say you are one of the 50 favorite villains and one of the 50 favorite heroes in the history of American motion pictures, that is un-believable, and I felt very honored."

　　There is a certain gender bias in the rankings. Only eight heroines made AFI's list. Surprisingly, the fairer sex was better represented in the nasty category with 14 women making the grade.

　　The 100 heroes and villains were chosen from 400 character nominees on ballots sent to 1,500 actors, directors, critics and others in the movie business.