Joe

Peter Boyle was amazing as the angry blue collar schlep fed up with drug adled hippies wanting to change the world. Susan Sarandon's first movie, was top less in one scene. She played the rich kid running from daddy to date a heroin junkie/drug dealer. Her rich father comes looking for her and runs into the ranting Joe ( played by Boyle) in a blue collar dive bar. The rich guy and the blue collar schlep find common ground in their disdain for passive lazy drug adled hippies. See this movie until the end. I loved it.

It made a splash when it came out and it still gives a nice picture of the times and the passions of its era.

I first saw this movie years ago and it has haunted me ever since. This is not a comedy or funny in any way (like I've read in other reviews). It's actually a very disturbing, realistic, well made film about the way things were in the early '70's seedy, social underbelly (both far left and far right) and the unfortunate consequences from being involved in all of it. Joe Curran is Archie Bunker run amok. Peter Boyle's portrayal of Joe is scary good! All around realistic and accurate performances from all involved. Could we substitute the hippies (and their fate) in this movie for us "far left leaning, radical, socialist commies" now? Hopefully not, but don't fool yourself into thinking all the "Joe's" are gone and have passed on. Times have changed but ignorance remains.

How did I miss this when it first appeared? I was in high school in Southern California when Joe was first released but despite a storyline which would have appealed to hipper elements at school, I don't recall Joe ever being mentioned by anyone who fit that description nor do I recall ever reading about it in the burgeoning and ubiquitous underground press. Anyhow, to this day I have never met anyone who mentioned anything to me about this movie and indeed, I found out about it only through an amazon recommendation that appeared because of something else I bought. Anyhow, that recommendation sounded interesting so I ordered it, watched it, and overall I enjoyed it.Joe is a thought-provoking film, but it is riddled with stereotypes. Ad exec Bill Compton's world is one of money, success, and a sort of metrosexual social milieu. Joe Curran's world is combatively blue-collar, where any man with any pretense to sophistication is seen as a "fag", a pinko, or a n*#*#*-lover. He may have been the inspiration for Archie Bunker, the ignorant TV bigot who came to epitomize the typical conservative to a generation of sneering liberals. Curran bowled (how gauche!), he ate junk food, drank cheap beer and liquor, loved to fondle and clean his guns, and constantly railed against hippies, contemporary music and culture, and welfare parasites. He is a time-bomb just waiting to explode. The film's hippies, too, are stereotypes with their cocktail of constant drug use, communal living, libertine attitudes, and even their eating habits.So how did two such unlikely friends hook up? Unlike many others, I don't see this as a weird kind of male bonding film. I see it as the story of a guy who got sucked into a world he didn't know, like, or understand by a careless comment he made to a raving drunk in a bar. Dennis Patrick, as ad exec Bill Compton has a lot to lose. After accidentally killing his daughter's degenerate boyfriend in a fit of rage, he stops into a bar for a drink. Peter Boyle, as Joe Curran, was already in the bar loudly pontificating on welfare bums and other human effluvium. He commented to Compton that he'd like to kill a hippie. Compton, still in shock from his struggle with his daughter's boyfriend, commented that he just did. Curran introduced himself and offered to buy him a drink, but Compton left. When the story of the dead drug addict hit the news, Curran put two and two together, sought Compton out and asked to meet him. Compton, fearing blackmail, went along to meet the cunning Curran and that meeting started the spiral of events which eventually led to a tragic ending.Though Joe is somewhat dated, it is still a story that speaks to legions of parents who have suffered the heartache of seriously wayward offspring as well as being a cautionary reminder of how easily events can spiral out of control with tragic consequences. If you grew up in the late sixties or early seventies and haven't seen Joe, do so now, its like riding a time machine.

Before Peter Boyle was Frank Barone on “Everybody Loves Raymond” he was Joe.What a move set in NYC and upstate it’s about two very different men with the same goal.Sometimes is funny. Violent for sure. And real as the 60s and 70s were.

Had to add to my yesteryear collection

it is the same story all the way thru and BORING

The messages in JOE are still relevant and a must watch for parents and young adults. It covers many issues, but primarily speaks to the disconnect between children and parents and the tragedies that can ensue when drugs are introduced. Peter Boyle spews out vile prejudices, but unfortunately represents many Americans. Susan Sarandon does a splendid job as the drug addict of an upper-middle class family that can't relate to her parents.

A great film illustrating bigotry and racism. Peter Boyle gives an excellent performance.

Acting

It's a Christmas gift.

Old movie from the Seventies. Lots of running around...lol

I love it