The July/August 2009 issue of Film Comment polled several critics on the best films to win the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Taxi Driver placed first, ahead of films such as Il Gattopardo, Viridiana, Blowup, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, La Dolce Vita, and Pulp Fiction. Votes were cast by Melissa Anderson, Geoff Andrew, Richard Brody, Michael Chaiken, Chris Chang, Chris Darke, Scott Foundas, J. Hoberman, Alexander Horwath, Kent Jones, Laura Kern, Nathan Lee, Elisabeth Lequeret, Adrian Martin, Olaf Möller, James Quandt, Jonathan Romney, Gavin Smith, Chuck Stephens, and Amy Taubin.
1. Taxi Driver Martin Scorsese, 1976
2. The Leopard Luchino Visconti, 1963
3. Viridiana Luis Buñuel, 1961
4. The Conversation Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
5. The Third Man Carol Reed, 1949
6. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg Jacques Demy, 1964
7. Rosetta Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 1999
8. Blow-Up Michelangelo Antonioni, 1967
9. Apocalypse Now Francis Ford Coppola, 1979
10. The Wages of Fear Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953
11. La Dolce Vita Federico Fellini, 1960
12. Othello Orson Welles, 1952
13. Under the Sun of Satan Maurice Pialat, 1987
14. Taste of Cherry Abbas Kiarostami, 1997
15. If… Lindsay Anderson 1969
16. The Tree of Wooden Clogs Ermanno Olmi, 1978
17. The Cranes are Flying Mikhail Kalatozov, 1958
18. Kagemusha Akira Kurosawa, 1980
19. Padre Padrone Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, 1977
20. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days Cristian Mungiu, 2007
21. The Ballad of Narayama Shohei Imamura, 1983
22. Brief Encounter David Lean, 1946
23. The Working Class Goes to Heaven Elio Petri, 1972
24. The Go-Between Joseph Losey, 1971
25. The Eel Shohei Imamura, 1997
26. Pulp Fiction Quentin Tarantino, 1994
27. The Tin Drum Volker Schlöndorff, 1979
28. Wild at Heart David Lynch, 1990
29. Underground Emir Kusturica, 1995
30. L’Enfant Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2005
Film Comment Magazine March April 2019
Film Comment Digital Anthology – Rainer Werner Fassbinder (kindle)
Film Comment Volume 7 Number 1 Spring 1971
