For the most part, I agree with it. Sadly, watching the special on TV last night has shown me that I really haven't gotten anywhere in my quest to see all the classic movies I can find (though Strangers on a Train is sitting on my desk at the moment, waiting for the weekend).
Also, after watching that, you'd think that Sidney Poitier was the only black actor before 1970... hehe.
Anyway, here's my list of inspirational movies that I felt should have been on the list, but weren't:
* The Neverending Story
* The Flight of the Phoenix (Jimmy Stewart version)
* Joe vs. the Volcano
* The Goonies
* LOTR: Return of the King
* October Sky
* UHF
* Network
* Mr. Holland's Opus
* The Jerk
Neverending story should be obvious; it's about letting your imagination take you anywhere you want to go.
Flight of the Phoenix should also be obvious; it's about never giving up, no matter how dire the situation is.
Joe vs. The Volcano is one of those movies that have been forgotten by most people, I'm not really sure why. I wasn't a big fan of it when it came out, but I saw it again 2 years ago and twice since, and it's really grown on me. It's about a hypochondriac who comes to term with the world and learns how to live without being a prisoner to your own life.
The Goonies, such a classic. "Down here it's our time!".
LOTR has always been an inspirational story to me. I've always seen it as an allegory of little people (literally!) who have the courage to become the bravest people in the world. It's like Willow, except not bad. :P
October Sky is one of my favourites. It's about a coal miners son who wants to become a rocket scientist after seeing Sputnik in the sky, but he lives in a west virginian coal mining town.
UHF... yeah, it will probably be forgotten after my generation dies, but it really does have a good inspirational message behind it. This is probably just my generational bias including this movie, but as a kid I loved it and it inspired me to never let the "big guys" put me down.
Network; the movie doesn't have a particularly happy ending, but I guess that's not really needed for the AFI's list, since they included Thelma and Louise. The famous Peter Finch scene, "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANYMORE!". That's the inspiration in a nutshell. Yeah, he was having a mental breakdown... but it was still inspirational. :)
Mr Hollands Opus, I would imagine this is obvious.
The Jerk; a Steve Martin classic. Shows you that an idiot can do anything :)
edit:
Here's a link to the list of the movies, by the way.
And to run a game show about fish.
I found the original Night of the Living Dead to be very inspirational. Remember, no matter how many goddamned zombies there are left, if you can survive the night you'll be shot dead by racist hicks bent on terminating all potentially undead people.