Palme Pilots: 10 Important Cannes Winners

Influenced by the French New Wave, American directors launched a new wave of their own in the late 1960s, with such films as Bonnie & Clyde and Easy Rider. Cannes recognized this renaissance in American filmmaking by rewarding Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H. In some ways, it was a curious choice. Altman wasn’t an enfant terrible like some of the other directors who would define the early 1970s trend of personal, idiosyncratic filmmaking (including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Bob Rafelson, Brian De Palma, Monte Hellman, and Terence Malick). Altman was 45 when he made M*A*S*H, and screenwriter Ring Lardner Jr., who’d win an Oscar for M*A*S*H, had won his first back in 1943 for Woman of the Year.

Still, what these veterans did, both in form (the overlapping dialogue that became Altman’s trademark) and content (the brazen anti-war satire, with Korea standing in for Vietnam), seemed utterly fresh. After the Palme d’Or, M*A*S*H would go on to be a big box-office hit and spawn a celebrated (if tamer) long-running sitcom. Altman would go on to become one of America’s most prolific and acclaimed filmmakers for the remaining 37 years of his life, frequently returning to Cannes and living up to the promise of his 1970 prize.

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