Alex da Silva asks Susan Sarandon (Melissa) of her father Dennis Patrick (Bill) after she overhears him discussing that he has killed her drug-dealer boyfriend Patrick McDermott (Frank). She goes on the run in the hippie communes of New York and Patrick goes in search of her with his new buddy Peter Boyle (Joe). Boyle is a racist bigot who admires Patrick for taking out a hippie. He wants to do the same.It's a hard-hitting film because of the ending. At the beginning, I didn't mind the killing of McDermott because he was such an awful person. There is no excuse for selling people drugs that aren't actually drugs. It's the sort of thing that gives drug-dealers a bad name. So, when he is killed, we feel for Patrick's character and hope he can get away with it. When we meet Boyle, his character is so unappealing that I found him funny and I enjoyed the friendship that formed between him and Patrick. Indeed, it becomes a sort of buddy-buddy movie especially once they go into the hippie world of drugs and orgies. It's great watching them join in and get involved. And they enjoy it. The film has many funny moments as we follow them on their journey.However, just as at the film's beginning with the drug dealer, the hippies are portrayed as nasty characters who steal and cheat and pimp out their girls. This is what ultimately leads to the powerful end sequence where Boyle and Patrick take things into their own hands. Are they so unjustified in their actions? Well, maybe they go a little too far but I suspect that what we find so offensive about this film isn't the opinions of Boyle's character. It's the fact that we are secretly on his side and we don't want to admit it.I don't have a bad opinion of hippies and certainly not in the context of the times. I do, however, have a problem with drug dealers who rip you off and the stealing vermin who are portrayed in this film. Is Boyle doing mankind a service?

LeonLouisRicci A Film that could be Made Today with Slight Variations. The Power of this Product, Tapping into the Zeitgeist of the Late Sixties, Few Films Exhibit the Realism of Character and Setting so Profoundly and Accurately.Herman Wexler's Script is Excellent and Peter Boyle's "Joe" was so Realistic and Disturbing, as is the whole Production, that the Movie was Rejected by the Public's Consciousness and the Emotional Pain it Caused and Pushed it to the Fringes in some sort of "Denial" akin to Trauma, Blotted Out for Self Preservation.The Movie is Surprisingly Minimalist in Style, Drawing its Power from the Great Acting all around with Characters that Literally Come Alive on the Screen.Timeless in its Message of Social/Economic/Political Divide, it is a Chilling "Bad Trip". Once Seen, cannot be Forgotten. To call this Dated is Absolutely Inaccurate.Mesmerizing Low-Budget Movie that Hits all the Right Notes, even the Music is Contemporaneously "Right On" and not Cringe Inducing like most Hollywood Productions of the Time that were Clueless.This Great Film is the Closest You can get to Time Travel and Places the Viewer in 1970 America with Verisimilitude. No Easy Task. One of the Best Films to Capture the Ugliness that was this Time when it was "Changing".Note...Susan Sarandon's Film Debut.

thejcowboy22 Still a powerful movie that's hard to pull away from. This is not The Sound of Music by any means but a cold hard look at America in the late 60's. The anti establishment clashing with the old school generation of post World War II. In a weird ironic twist of fate Ad executive Bill Compton learns of his only daughter's Melissa (Susan Sarrandon) drug overdose on methamphetamine. Bill decides to go to his daughter's Greenwich Village apartment to gather up some clothes and personals while she's convalescing. Bill to his dismay, milling through the dilapidated filth ridden apartment, (pills and drug paraphernalia cluttered,) runs into Melisssa's drug dealing boyfriend who happens to say all the wrong things about his daughter, taunting the troubled man to no end which infuriates Bill to point where he grabs the druggie and bashes him against a wall till his skull cracks. Laying lifelessly on the floor Bill flees the apartment and ends up at a Tavern where a bald, overweight individual is mouthing off about Blacks and hippies and the sorry state of the world. Enter Joe Curran (Peter Boyle) who captivate you, the viewer, and drags you into his 9-5 factory working slob world. Meanwhile our shaken ad executive/ first timer of manslaughter in the first degree, has the look of someone who just killed someone for the first time. Joe in his intoxicated state sees right through Bill as he admits to killing someone and Joe says, "Your kidding?" Bill looks right back at a stunned Joe and takes the bold statement back by saying "Just Kidding!" But Joe is dubious and has this feeling about Bill as pleasantries are exchanged i.e. what do you do for a living etc... A few days later Joe and his simpleton wife watch the news about a drug dealer found dead in an apartment. A bell goes off in Joe's head as he realizes that Bill actually committed that act of violence. Joe is moved by that action rather than calling the authorities. Instead he looks up Bill Compton and reaches him at his Ad Agency by phone as per prior conversation that night at the bar. They meet at a bowling alley as classes clash throughout the rest of the movie. Bill with his important advertising executive position. Very distinguished professional, aged but handsome, tall and grey well reserved disposition and impeccably dressed. On the other hand we have Joe. The World War II veteran factory worker who is flamboyant, extremely uncouth due to his lack of education, making a meager salary, bigoted and hates just about everything from Blacks to Gays. Makes you wonder if Norman Lear got his Idea for the Television show All In The Family while watching this movie. I noticed the similarities when Joe tells his wife to be quiet during dinner. Despite the two men's backgrounds, Bill and Joe have a chemistry and a mutual admiration for each other as they both believe the world is going to the dogs. Joe invites Bill and his elegant yet snobbish wife Joan played by Audrey Caire to Astoria, Queens to Joe's Railroad styled tracked home. Joe's wife is preening in anticipation as the Royals (The Compton's) enter their home Joan is a pro at patronizing Joe's wife May Jo on her home, her drapes and unusual name. Joe boasts that not only does he have ginger ale in the house but he also has seven up to go along with the cheap scotch. After a gourmet meal of Chinese take out in the Curran's cramp dining area the men enter Joe's man cave full of bowling trophies and deer heads but Joe's pride and joy is his cabinet full of weaponry. Joe takes out a machine gun and says, "Your not supposed to have this it's illegal." Joe wants to make it quite clear that he won't tell a sole about Bill's involvement murder in his daughter's apartment. Joe summons Bill's Wife to the basement as Joe also reassures Joan that there's Nothing to worry about. May Jo tells Joan to her disdain that they should get together at her Manhattan upscale apartment real soon. The Compton's return to their luxury Central Park apartment as Bill pours some brandy for his wife and himself. Starts a fire in front of his elaborate fire place. Earlier that day at the Hospital, Melissa laying in bed relaxing has a visit from her girlfriend who breaks the shocking news that her boyfriend was murdered in her apartment. Melissa panic stricken gets dressed and runs out of the Hospital. Meanwhile at the apartment a soothing snort of brandy shared with the discussion of Bill's plight of the murdering of that no good hippie boyfriend is discussed as we hear noises from the other room as a devastated Melissa overhears the reality that her Father murdered her boyfriend . She runs out of the apartment as Bill tries to stop her without any luck . Melissa flees into the city night and Bill's is wondering what to do next. Don't worry cause Joe has a plan to find her with resounding results and an ending you'll never forget. Wonderful screenplay by Norman Wexler and kudos for his early work of cinematography/director by John Avildsen who is also famous for physical movies such as the Rocky and Karate Kid films. Great period piece which still resonates with today's social climate.

MrGKB ...John "Rocky/Karate Kid" Avildsen's breakthrough feature "Joe" propelled two hitherto unknown actors, Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon, onto the path to fame and fortune along with Mr. Avildsen, all the while creating a remarkably telling snapshot of the American psyche at a dangerous nadir. Indeed, the film enjoyed serious attention and financial success for a low-budget effort, mostly by dint of serendipitous release shortly after the Kent State shooting and the attendant protests, as well as a few other germane incidents that I'll leave to the few who may read this to discover, which is when I first saw it, freshly minted from high school. Exposure in magazines like Playboy didn't hurt, either. Retrospective viewing, though responsive to the film's timely, emotional impact, still reveals the clunkiness of a risibly Oscar-nominated screenplay. Said script evinces every brief moment of its purported eight day creation in a number of suspect plot devices: Joe putting two and two together via unlikely headlines and news broadcasts and Bill bringing his entire purloined stash to the hippie pad being the most egregious examples. Likewise, the dialogue runs the gamut from embarrassing cliché to occasional brilliance, but overall feels a bit too forced to be quite genuine. The film is overtly, painfully political, an O. Henryesque morality play transcribed for the dawning of the Seventies and seasoned with a generous helping of product placement masquerading as picaresque realism, a harbinger of developing trends.Perhaps this (and despite its flaws) is what makes "Joe" so much fun to watch, and why I give it a higher-than-it-deserves rating. Its blatant polarization and core pessimism make it as relevant now as it was over four decades ago. It taps a bellicose and resentful nerve that's hard to ignore.