Ridley Scott’s 1977 debut, The Duellists, is often hailed as one of his most visually stunning films, and any list of the best Scott films would be incomplete without it.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, The Duellists received critical acclaim and won the prestigious Best First Film prize. However, according to Scott, it was originally intended to win the Palme d’Or, had it not been for alleged bribery within the festival’s jury. Speaking to The New York Times, Scott revealed the story behind the award season controversy.
“When I made The Duellists, they told me, ‘We want this to be the British entry at Cannes,'” Scott recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow, OK.’ Now I’m at Cannes, and [Jury President] Roberto Rossellini was on the board. I wonder if I should tell you this. You judge, be careful what I’m going to tell you.”
Rossellini, Scott said, pulled him aside and expressed his admiration for the film. “Listen, I love the movie. I want to give you the Palme d’Or,” Rossellini reportedly told him. However, the jury had other plans. “The committee is rejecting it because somebody in there has bribed the committee to vote for somebody else… Money had been thrown in at the top,” Rossellini told Scott.
In the end, the Palme d’Or went to the Taviani brothers for Padre Padrone, while The Duellists took home the Best First Film prize. Despite not winning the top honor, Scott’s film remains one of the most noteworthy entries in Cannes history that almost claimed the coveted Palme.
This isn’t the first time allegations of jury tampering have surfaced at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1979, the jury was reportedly less enthusiastic about Apocalypse Now, but a significant intervention from the festival president, Robert Favre Le Bret, led to an unexpected resolution. According to Jury President Françoise Sagan, Le Bret personally requested a meeting where he instructed her that it was in Cannes’ best interest for Apocalypse Now to be named the winner. A compromise was later reached, and the Palme d’Or was awarded to both Apocalypse Now and Volker Schlöndorff’s The Tin Drum.
