- Casino Royale Review
- Carrie (1976)
- Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- Rain Man (1988)
- Fatal Attraction (1987)
- Targets (1968)
- An Education (2009)
- Mirror, The (1974)
- Fargo (1996)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Do The Right Thing (1989)
- Report (1967)
- Is "The Sting" The Best Gambling Film Ever Made?
- Pink Flamingos (1972)
- Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943), Or 28 Angry Men
- Rome, Open City (1945)
- Spring in a Small Town (1948)
- Drive (2011)
- Vinyl (1965)
- Seconds (1966)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- A Hollywood Invasion of Casino Halls
- Thin Man, The (1934)
- In The Heat of the Night (1967)
- All In: The Poker Movie, Player’s Best Tricks
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- 1001 Club - Skyfall (2012)
- 1001 Club - When Harry Met Sally... (1988)
- 1001 Club - Rain Man (1988)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Genre: Period Drama (India)
Starring: Uma Das Gupta, Subir Bannerjee
Directed By: Satyajit Ray (Aparajito • The World of Apu)
Overview: This is the story of a young Indian girl, her family, their trials and tribulations in their poor Bengali household at the turn of the century.
Pather Panchali (Song of The Little Road) opens with a young girl, Durga, running through a neighbor's farm, stealing a few guavas, and taking them back to the old woman who lives with them. We quickly learn how impoverished this turn-of-the-century family is when their father, a poet and priest, is looking for work to feed the family and repair the run down house. Durga's mother soon gives birth to a second child, Apu, and from there, the majority of the film involves the relationship between Durga and her younger brother, Apu, played with incredible skill by Subir Bannerjee, as they experience life, pleasure and pain.
Pather Panchali is director Satyajit Ray's first feature film, and one that quickly landed him as the winner for "Best Human Document" at the 1956 Cannes Film festival. What it did for Indian cinema was to be the first independent film to receive international acclaim. Its roots, I've read, come from the Italian Neorealistic style, defined by Wikipedia as "characterized by stories set amongst the poor and working class, filmed on location, frequently using nonprofessional actors". I myself have not yet seen any of the listed champion films of that style which include Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero and Stromboli as well as '1001 Must See' listers Bicycle Thieves and Umberto D. by Vittorio De Sica. What Song of The Little Road does remind me of is American Neorealist film Killer of Sheep, and most definitely the French New Wave Les 400 Coups of François Truffaut - so much so like Les 400 Coups, that I found it just as entertaining, which was, sadly, not enough.

Performance: 7 Cinematography: 7 Script: 7 Plot: 6 Mood: 7
Overall Rating: 68% (Enough Road, But Not A Lot)
1001 Club Aftertaste:
I suspect that the next film in the trilogy, Aparajito (1956), had a much bigger budget, and with Satyajit having some directorial experience for this one, I expect it to be a more entertaining and better film technically, so I'm looking forward to it.