Joe

Rating:
Summary: An American Classic- finally, an anti-hero we can all love!
Review: "...we gotta get this country off of welfare. Back our boys in Vietnam. Show the world we'll fight for freedom. But does anybody give a good goddamn?..." -Title Song from "Joe"

Peter Boyle's debut as the bigoted hard-hat Joe Curran should send a message that is as pivotal now as it was back in 1970- racism and hatred of counterculture are simply signs of confusion of the times we live in. His emotional depth that he puts in his role was more than Oscar-worthy, simply because he was a man of limited emotion and limited feeling. Joe Curran, one of cinema's first anti-heroes, is a lovable and favored character trapped in the walls of his frustrations. He was a man who needed an escape from his blue-collar existence. This is why we empathize with his flag-waving, freedom-loving persona.

"Joe," adapted from Norman's Wexler's worthy script, was a sleeper hit back in its initial release and a personal triumph to all involved (specifically director, John G. Avildsen, and actress, Susan Sarandon) and rocketed them all to stardom. To put it simple, the film is a swan song in waiting about the complex blue collar view of the hippie generation of the 1960's, actually being a film suitable for any counterculture generation. It shows how often confused past generations are with new lifestyles and fads, etc. This is an excellent film that is worthy of being a favorite of mine for years to come. It is a shame that it is has long since faded from memory. Although I somewhat differ from his opinions and idiosyncrasies, I love Joe Curran in my own way that is different from any character-audience relationship-- simply because he doesn't force the charm on his audience... and this is helped by John G. Avildsen's thoughtful connection. His charcter is what part of makes the final image haunting.

The story is of wealthy advertising executive William Compton (Dennis Patrick) who murders his daughter's hippie-druggie boyfriend (Patrick MacDermot)for turning her onto drugs and overdoses her on speed- resulting in her hospitalization. Leaving from their hip, low-class apartment (disgraceful for their bourgeoise existence), he meets Joe Curran (Peter Boyle) in a bar. He listens to Joe preach to a bored bartender about his racist and anti-hippie views. He identifies with it and catches Joe's ear. When Joe finds that Bill actually murdered someone, he takes him under his wing and they become unlikely friends. When Bill's daughter (Susan Sarandon) finds out that her father murdered her boyfriend, she goes missing in Greenwich Village. Joe now becomes obsessed with helping him find her (after a rather humorous dinner sequence involving Joe, Bill, and their wives). Their search takes them to a marijuana party that later results in violence.

This is a movie that our golden boy, Oscar, totally and unfairly ignored and underrated. These performances in "Joe" are top notch and tour de force and the direction is just as effective, even more than the 1970 winner "Patton." It was terribly and brutally underrated at the Academy Awards which is a shame. This is a beautiful film. Simply and lovingly accomplished. I loved it. It boils over in its humor ("Stop it, for Chrissake, you'd think the Pope was comin'") and steaming social commentary. It would be a noble gesture to restore it and release it to DVD. Putting it bluntly, it needs more attention and more of a following. 1970 was awarded with this fine gem.

This is the #2 film on my Top Ten list and Amazon.com has an asset with this sprawling "epic." A 10!

"Hey Joe! Doesn't it wanna make ya go to war once more? Hey Joe! Why the devil did we go to war before? What the hell for?" -"Joe"'s Title Song

This film is Rated R for nudity, a brief orgy scene, profanity, mild violence, adult situations, and simulated sex.

Is suitable for pre-teen viewing.

Daniel Kremer, film critic

Rating:
Summary: An American Classic- finally, an anti-hero we can all love!
Review: "...we gotta get this country off of welfare. Back our boys in Vietnam. Show the world we'll fight for freedom. But does anybody give a good goddamn?..." -Title Song from "Joe"

Peter Boyle's debut as the bigoted hard-hat Joe Curran should send a message that is as pivotal now as it was back in 1970- racism and hatred of counterculture are simply signs of confusion of the times we live in. His emotional depth that he puts in his role was more than Oscar-worthy, simply because he was a man of limited emotion and limited feeling. Joe Curran, one of cinema's first anti-heroes, is a lovable and favored character trapped in the walls of his frustrations. He was a man who needed an escape from his blue-collar existence. This is why we empathize with his flag-waving, freedom-loving persona.

"Joe," adapted from Norman's Wexler's worthy script, was a sleeper hit back in its initial release and a personal triumph to all involved (specifically director, John G. Avildsen, and actress, Susan Sarandon) and rocketed them all to stardom. To put it simple, the film is a swan song in waiting about the complex blue collar view of the hippie generation of the 1960's, actually being a film suitable for any counterculture generation. It shows how often confused past generations are with new lifestyles and fads, etc. This is an excellent film that is worthy of being a favorite of mine for years to come. It is a shame that it is has long since faded from memory. Although I somewhat differ from his opinions and idiosyncrasies, I love Joe Curran in my own way that is different from any character-audience relationship-- simply because he doesn't force the charm on his audience... and this is helped by John G. Avildsen's thoughtful connection. His charcter is what part of makes the final image haunting.

The story is of wealthy advertising executive William Compton (Dennis Patrick) who murders his daughter's hippie-druggie boyfriend (Patrick MacDermot)for turning her onto drugs and overdoses her on speed- resulting in her hospitalization. Leaving from their hip, low-class apartment (disgraceful for their bourgeoise existence), he meets Joe Curran (Peter Boyle) in a bar. He listens to Joe preach to a bored bartender about his racist and anti-hippie views. He identifies with it and catches Joe's ear. When Joe finds that Bill actually murdered someone, he takes him under his wing and they become unlikely friends. When Bill's daughter (Susan Sarandon) finds out that her father murdered her boyfriend, she goes missing in Greenwich Village. Joe now becomes obsessed with helping him find her (after a rather humorous dinner sequence involving Joe, Bill, and their wives). Their search takes them to a marijuana party that later results in violence.

This is a movie that our golden boy, Oscar, totally and unfairly ignored and underrated. These performances in "Joe" are top notch and tour de force and the direction is just as effective, even more than the 1970 winner "Patton." It was terribly and brutally underrated at the Academy Awards which is a shame. This is a beautiful film. Simply and lovingly accomplished. I loved it. It boils over in its humor ("Stop it, for Chrissake, you'd think the Pope was comin'") and steaming social commentary. It would be a noble gesture to restore it and release it to DVD. Putting it bluntly, it needs more attention and more of a following. 1970 was awarded with this fine gem.

This is the #2 film on my Top Ten list and Amazon.com has an asset with this sprawling "epic." A 10!

"Hey Joe! Doesn't it wanna make ya go to war once more? Hey Joe! Why the devil did we go to war before? What the hell for?" -"Joe"'s Title Song

This film is Rated R for nudity, a brief orgy scene, profanity, mild violence, adult situations, and simulated sex.

Is suitable for pre-teen viewing.

Daniel Kremer, film critic

Rating:
Summary: "Joe"-An anti-countercultural figure.
Review: "Joe" is a portrayal of an angry, seething hardhat who simply cannot come to grips with the idea that "'dose hippies" have seized the culture and are gleefully butchering everything America stands for in the process. The first scene which introduces us to Joe Curran features him in a downtown New York bar drunkedly screaming about "nigga'-luvin' hippies and social workers, "niggas screwin' and gettin' paid for makin' babies", and, finally crescendoing to reveal his raging desire to "kill one 'uv 'em...I would.I'd like to kill one 'uv 'em". He confesses this to someone who only minutes before did just that: William Compton, nicely played by Dennis Patrick, whose daughter Melissa (Susan Sarandon) was under the drug-induced spell of the late 'Frank' (Patrick McDermott). The two come to form an alliance that has an interesting duality. Joe embraces him out of enormous respect because it ia something that Joe can only hollar about doing. Compton yields to Joe's affection for him out of fear that he'll tell the police or possibly even try to blackmail him, as his "I just did" response to Joe's bar rant about killing "one 'uv him" leads Joe to discover that Compton is the killer. And it is how this unusual alliiance begins to grow into almost a true friendship between a suit and a blue-collar "joe" that truly intrigued me about the film. And much of what Joe says throughout the movie-while boorish and harsh in tone-do represent legitimate gripes of a contentious war veteran experiencing a type of change which he is simply not able to cope with. While bleeding-hearts of that era rationalized on and on about a "new generation that demanded change"-especially anyone writing for The New York Times then, Joe cursed this "change" as a concerted effort to destroy the America that he knew, loved and fought for. It continually reminded me of a riot in the financial district of New York in 1969 where a legion of hardhats pummeled a group of NYU students vociferously protesting the Viet Nam War, tore down some flag that they had hung outside a major edifice there, and in its place hung the American Flag. Even just after viewing te movie, newsreels of that day flashed through my mind and I kept thinking, "That's Joe".

Rating:
Summary: CULT MOVIES 22
Review: 22. JOE (drama, 1970) Joe (Peter Boyle) is a factory worker who's known to hate "hippies and niggers". He's a loudmouth who despises them saying that if he had the chance he'd go on a killing spree. He meets Bill, a businessman who has just murdered the lover of his drug addict young daughter Jill (Susan Sarandon). Finding out Jill runs away and joins a hippie commune at the outskirts of town. Bill turns to Joe for help. Their search leads them through the seediest parts of town where both men's inner hatred and loath is furthered tested. They finally discover Jill and the climax that ensues turns bloody.

Critique: This was director John G. Avildsen's first sleeper-turned smash hit (an amazing run of others include: Rocky, The Karate Kid, Split-Image, Weekend at Bernie's). Film is interesting enough in that it served to encapsulate the themes and ideas of the turbulent 60s (Vietnam War, black power, women's lib etc.). It also has a good performance from Peter Boyle as Joe, one of the cinema's first antiheroes. He's always been good at playing creepy, bossy heavies whose abstract ideas are enforced by his intimidating presence (he would play the Frankenstein monster in Mel Brook's spoof Young Frankenstein). He reminds me of a little kid trapped in a big, dumb, awkward body. Film has a weak script (the meeting of Joe and Bill, for instance, is a bit coincidental), but it has a particularly gruesome, post-Taxi Driver ending.

QUOTE: Title Song: "I saw a fella selling junk to children He gets nervous everytime I pass Cause he knows that if I catch him I'm gonna kick his head and kick his fat ***."

Rating:
Summary: Joe's America
Review: Peter Boyle's performance and the theme song, "Hey Joe" are almost worth another star on their own. The film 'Joe' is the ultimate late 60's early 70's time capsule. Dennis Patrick is a white collar executive whose daughter is hooked on junk. When he confronts her dealer live-in lover a violent clash ensues leaving the pusher dead. The nervous father retreats to a neighborhood tavern where he inadvertantly confesses to Joe, a lunch-pail toting opinionated bigot sitting on the next barstool and who probably voted for George Wallace in the last election. Joe begins something of a blackmail relationship with Partick - but for friendship rather than money. Their uneasy realtionship develops into an alliance of one generation vs. another as they go in search of Patrick's daughter, and here is where the movie slips a star. The film gets bogged down a bit and looses its way somewhat as the older duo thread their way through the hippie underground. The concluding scene goes from powerful to rather ham-handed in its final frame. Still well worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Joe's America
Review: Peter Boyle's performance and the theme song, "Hey Joe" are almost worth another star on their own. The film 'Joe' is the ultimate late 60's early 70's time capsule. Dennis Patrick is a white collar executive whose daughter is hooked on junk. When he confronts her dealer live-in lover a violent clash ensues leaving the pusher dead. The nervous father retreats to a neighborhood tavern where he inadvertantly confesses to Joe, a lunch-pail toting opinionated bigot sitting on the next barstool and who probably voted for George Wallace in the last election. Joe begins something of a blackmail relationship with Partick - but for friendship rather than money. Their uneasy realtionship develops into an alliance of one generation vs. another as they go in search of Patrick's daughter, and here is where the movie slips a star. The film gets bogged down a bit and looses its way somewhat as the older duo thread their way through the hippie underground. The concluding scene goes from powerful to rather ham-handed in its final frame. Still well worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: Joe's America
Review: Peter Boyle's performance and the theme song, "Hey Joe" are almost worth another star on their own. The film 'Joe' is the ultimate late 60's early 70's time capsule. Dennis Patrick is a white collar executive whose daughter is hooked on junk. When he confronts her dealer live-in lover a violent clash ensues leaving the pusher dead. The nervous father retreats to a neighborhood tavern where he inadvertantly confesses to Joe, a lunch-pail toting opinionated bigot sitting on the next barstool and who probably voted for George Wallace in the last election. Joe begins something of a blackmail relationship with Partick - but for friendship rather than money. Their uneasy realtionship develops into an alliance of one generation vs. another as they go in search of Patrick's daughter, and here is where the movie slips a star. The film gets bogged down a bit and looses its way somewhat as the older duo thread their way through the hippie underground. The concluding scene goes from powerful to rather ham-handed in its final frame. Still well worth seeing.

Rating:
Summary: The clash of conflicting values in counter-culture 1970
Review: Starring Peter Boyle as Joe, an angry blue collar worker and Dennis Patrick as an upscale business executive whose daughter is recovering from a drug overdose, this 1970 movie captured the essence of the era.

The world was rapidly changing then and values that were formerly held dear were being questioned and attacked by the counter-culture movement. When Joe sits in a bar and vents his anger at this changing world, he presents a picture of a very real human being.

An act of violence brings the business executive into Joe's world, and the two men form an odd kind of bonding. They might be from different economic classes but they share a similar anger and confusion of a changing world that they are struggling to understand.

Susan Sarandon plays the hippie daughter. This was her first movie role and the part is small but significant. She's young and fresh and just at the beginning of her career.

The film has a rather unsettling effect and manages to capture all the complexities and contradictions of its time. I sat on the edge of my seat as the drama unfolded, glad for the comic relief of the satirical humor. I wonder why the sound track of the songs never became popular. The words were hard hitting and emotion stirring. Perhaps it was because it played to the festering unease that lay simmering below the surface, just waiting to erupt.

Every single scene was laced with irony and contrast. And every scene had its moments that made me squirm uncomfortably. There were no subtle nuances; everything was crisp and clear. And the script brought the voices of its time to the screen without any pretty packaging.

The screenplay was good, and so was most of the acting, although in retrospect it seems a little overdone. But that's easy to say thirty years later, when the hippies have all grown up and the results of the upheaval in our country turned out to be more of social awareness than confrontative violence. In 1970 though, it was different.

Don't miss this video. It's an historical view of a bygone era. And totally fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: The clash of conflicting values in counter-culture 1970
Review: Starring Peter Boyle as Joe, an angry blue collar worker and Dennis Patrick as an upscale business executive whose daughter is recovering from a drug overdose, this 1970 movie captured the essence of the era.

The world was rapidly changing then and values that were formerly held dear were being questioned and attacked by the counter-culture movement. When Joe sits in a bar and vents his anger at this changing world, he presents a picture of a very real human being.

An act of violence brings the business executive into Joe's world, and the two men form an odd kind of bonding. They might be from different economic classes but they share a similar anger and confusion of a changing world that they are struggling to understand.

Susan Sarandon plays the hippie daughter. This was her first movie role and the part is small but significant. She's young and fresh and just at the beginning of her career.

The film has a rather unsettling effect and manages to capture all the complexities and contradictions of its time. I sat on the edge of my seat as the drama unfolded, glad for the comic relief of the satirical humor. I wonder why the sound track of the songs never became popular. The words were hard hitting and emotion stirring. Perhaps it was because it played to the festering unease that lay simmering below the surface, just waiting to erupt.

Every single scene was laced with irony and contrast. And every scene had its moments that made me squirm uncomfortably. There were no subtle nuances; everything was crisp and clear. And the script brought the voices of its time to the screen without any pretty packaging.

The screenplay was good, and so was most of the acting, although in retrospect it seems a little overdone. But that's easy to say thirty years later, when the hippies have all grown up and the results of the upheaval in our country turned out to be more of social awareness than confrontative violence. In 1970 though, it was different.

Don't miss this video. It's an historical view of a bygone era. And totally fascinating.

Rating:
Summary: Still True after All These Years
Review: Susan Sarandon initiates her film career in this twisted little film from 1970. Sarandon, about twenty-two years of her, plays a rich man's daughter trying to be a rebellious hippie smack user to please her boyfriend. The movie isn't about Sarandon's character; although she's integral to the plot, she in no way stars in this film. The reason I mention her is that I rented this film in the first place because I'm a fan of hers. I wasn't disappointed; she may not be the star, but does she ever shine. she has a very touching piece of business early in the film that could be hackneyed, but when she does it, I actually begin to cry. She is trying to connect emotionally with her boyfriend, but he's interested only in shooting up. They go to bed, and she tries to hold him, but he's far gone. When he passes out, she turns over to hug her Raggedy-Ann doll.

But the film isn't about Sarandon. It's about a guy named Joe, an anti-hero with a tragic flaw. His flaw is the inability to understand that what he fought for in WWII was not the perpetuity of life as it was in 1945, but for freedom. Freedom implies change, and the country he thought he knew is rapidly changing. He feels betrayed. He feels that "dose hippies" he perceives as responsible for the change have turned their backs on him, have thumbed their noses at all he has done.

At this point, when the film begins, in a bar where Joe is bathing his grievances in alcohol, he meets Jill's (Sarandon)father. Joe is muttering to anyone in earshot that he would love to kill a hippie. They form an unholy alliance.

Becoming further rebellious, Jill runs away, out of contact with her father (she has a reason, but I won't spoil things for you), so her father and Joe go looking for her.

This doesn't seem like much for the plot of a movie, but trust me, it becomes intense; intense and riveting. Edge of your seat stuff. And the ending is a shocker. It's up there with the ending of The Blair Witch Project. In fact, I don't recommend anyone watch this film alone.

I do recommend that people watch the film, however, in groups. The camera style is a little dated, but it's still effective, and the sound track is great! The use of the sound is great too: restrained, none of that music video halfway through the film, as in all the films from the nineties. There are plenty of places where there's no dialogue, and no soundtrack, and this is very effective.

Its message is still quite relevant; WWII and hippies may be gone, but they're replaced by other things; anyone can identify with this film.