Joe (1970)

Director:

John G. Avildsen

Writer:

Norman Wexler (written by)

Release Date:

15 July 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Keep America Beautiful

Plot:

Bill, a wealthy businessman, confronts his junkie daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend; in the ensuing argument...

Plot Keywords:

Bar | Drug Dealing | Factory Worker | Bathtub Scene | Hospital

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Peter Boyle	...	Joe Curran
Dennis Patrick	...	Bill Compton
Audrey Caire	...	Joan Compton
Susan Sarandon	...	Melissa Compton
K Callan	...	May Lou Curran (as K. Callan)
Patrick McDermott	...	Frank Russo
Tim Lewis	...	Kid in soda shop
Estelle Omens	...	Woman in bargain store
Bob O'Connell	...	Man in bargain store
Marlene Warfield	...	Bellevue nurse
Mary Case	...	Teenage girl buying drugs
Jenny Paine	...	Teenage girl buying drugs
Reid Cruickshanks	...	American bartender
Rudy Churney	...	Man in bar
Robert Emerick	...	TV newscaster

Also Known As:

The Gap (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:R (Ontario) | Australia:R | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Trivia:

The shots of the foundry where Joe works were taken in Avildsen Metals, the family business of director John G. Avildsen.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Microphone briefly visible over Joe's head in phone booth.

Quotes:

Joe: Forty-two percent of all liberals are queer, that's a fact. The Wallace people did a poll.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Magic Time: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon (2002) (V)

Perhaps the ultimate 60's generation gap exploitation film ...

... "Joe" captures the spirit, fears, angers, and prejudices of the time as perhaps no other film does. Joe Curran, as played by Peter Boyle, is a super-malevolent Archie Bunker to the n-th degree. He makes the Carroll O'Connor - Norman Lear TV character seem as loveable and cuddly as Tickle Me Elmo by comparison. In contrast to Bunker, Joe Curran most definitely would burn a cross on your front lawn, instead of just toasting a marshmallow on one he found already burning there, to borrow the words of young Lionel Jefferson, spoken to Sammy Davis Jr. about Archie Bunker. Released hard on the heels of the Kent State University "massacre", and the CSNY track "Ohio", and the Isley Bros. medley of "Ohio" and Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun", it's as hard-hitting as the probably by now mostly forgotten CBS TV play, "The People Next Door". Bill Compton's ironic comment about the vacuity of much upper-echelon white-collar work, "All we do is sit around all day making little paper airplanes and sail them up people's asses !" is as relevant today as it was then. Equally memorable is the retort of the hippie girl Joe has just had sex with, "How could I lie to you ? You just balled me !" Free love as a hippie litmus of truth ? The film is as much a part, and sign of,its times, as Altamont, "Gimme Shelter", "Putney Swope", and "M.A.S.H." and "Patton" playing on the same bill in many theaters in 1971. Joe Curran's "42 % of all liberals are queer !" is a worthy companion prejudice to Archie Bunker's "England is a fag country !"