Something happened in this poll of Martin Scorsese’s best films that didn’t happened in the previous ones I have conducted: there was such an abundance to choose from that some of the critics decided not to participate.
Scorsese has directed 26 feature-length films in his career, and some participants, who were asked to submit his three best films, unranked, couldn’t narrow it down to just three. It was too difficult. With that being said, I still gathered up 120 lists.
On the other end of the spectrum, Myron Meisel, once called by Cahiers du Cinema as “America’s best film critic,” had an opinion that might not be shared by the majority:
What was interesting in reviewing his filmography for this poll was that while Scorsese has had a career full of superlative pictures, in my estimation he has never made a true masterpiece.
The top three (“Goodfellas,” “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull”) were going to be a foregone conclusion, but the rest of the results are quite fascinating. You have “The King of Comedy,” a film that was called the “flop of the year” in 1983, finishing at #4. More surprising, Scorsese’s 1985 cult comedy, “After Hours,” finished at #5
Of his 21st Century output, critics believe “The Departed” (#7) to be his best film of the last 25 years, followed by “The Wolf of Wall Street” (#12). “The Irishman” and “Hugo” got some love as well, nabbing 9 votes each.
As for “Killers of the Flower Moon,” it only garnered two votes, but that could be due to it having been barely seen. Recency might have played a role in Scorsese’s modern films ranking lower than his more pronounced classics, but there is also an argument to be made about how his earlier films, from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, were his absolute peak.
There were only two films that garnered zero votes: “Boxcar Bertha,” and “Who’s That Knocking at My Door” — they also happen to be the first two films of Scorsese’s career. Whereas, “The Aviator,” “The Color of Money” and “New York, New York” all got a single vote each.
Although there was no rule to prevent any of Scorsese’s docs from being voted in, his 1978 concert film of The Band, “The Last Waltz,” had a great showing with 11 votes tallied up. His other docs, such as the Bob Dylan dissection “No Direction Home,” were not recognized by a single voter.
All in all, Scorsese’s staggering body of work speaks for itself. Unmatched by most. The legendary filmmaker is turning 81 this coming November and, in his own words, “I’m old. I want to tell stories, but there’s no more time.” We hope he’s wrong.
1) Goodfellas — 83 votes
2) Taxi Driver — 66
3) Raging Bull — 38
4) The King of Comedy — 25
5) After Hours — 22
6) Casino — 21
7) Mean Streets — 17
8) The Departed — 16
9) The Last Waltz — 14
10) The Age of Innocence — 14
11) The Last Temptation of Christ — 12
12) The Wolf of Wall Street — 11
13) Silence — 10
14) The Irishman — 9
14) Bringing Out the Dead — 9
14) Hugo — 9
17) Kundun — 4
18) Cape Fear — 3
18) Shutter Island — 3
18) Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore — 3
21) Gangs of New York — 2
22) The Aviator — 1
22) New York, New York — 1
22) The Color of Money — 1
In case you missed them, our previous directors polls were for Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan.