Something unexpected happened in this poll of Martin Scorsese’s filmography: a few critics simply couldn’t participate, not because of disinterest, but because they couldn’t narrow down their choices. The legendary director has made 26 feature films, not counting docs, and the task of selecting just three “best” titles was, for some, too daunting.
Still, we managed to gather 120 ballots from critics, programmers, filmmakers, and scholars. Each was asked to submit an unranked list of three Scorsese films. The results aren’t entirely surprising at the top — “Goodfellas,” “Taxi Driver,” and “Raging Bull” took the top three spots, as expected — but the rest of the list provided some real intrigue.
The most fascinating results came just below the top tier. “The King of Comedy,” once dubbed a career misfire and “flop of the year” in 1983, surged to #4. Even more impressive was the showing of Scorsese’s manic 1985 cult comedy “After Hours,” which landed at #5 — a sign that its reappraisal continues to grow.
Among his 21st-century output, “The Departed” fared the best, finishing at #7 and earning the unofficial title of Scorsese’s most beloved film of the last 25 years. “The Wolf of Wall Street” came in at #12, while “The Irishman” and “Hugo” both earned a respectable nine votes each.
“Killers of the Flower Moon,” his most recent feature, only received two votes, likely due to its recency and limited exposure, particularly among international voters. There’s also the broader notion that Scorsese’s 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s run remains untouchable — his artistic peak.
Interestingly, two films received zero votes: his debut “Who’s That Knocking at My Door” and his 1972 Roger Corman-produced “Boxcar Bertha.” Meanwhile, “The Aviator,” “The Color of Money,” and “New York, New York” scraped by with one vote each.
His documentaries were eligible, though few were cited. The lone exception was “The Last Waltz,” his 1978 concert doc on The Band, which earned a strong 11 votes. Other nonfiction works — including “No Direction Home” and “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” — were completely absent.
Perhaps the most contrarian take came from longtime critic Myron Meisel, once dubbed “America’s best film critic” by Cahiers du Cinéma. Meisel submitted a list, but noted: “While Scorsese has had a career full of superlative pictures, in my estimation, he has never made a true masterpiece.”
A bold opinion — and not one many in the poll seemed to agree with.
Scorsese, 83, has said, “I’m old. I want to tell stories, but there’s no more time.” If this poll proves anything, it’s that he’s already told more stories, and better, than almost anyone else in the history of cinema.
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
20) 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
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in the fall of 2023 to coincide with the release of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”