Joe - Rache für Amerika

An odd thing about the movie is that no one comes off very sympathetically. That goes for life styles as well, whether working class, upper class, or hedonistic hippie. Everyone's compartmentalized and disdainful of non-peers. Of course, the movie's crux lies in working class Joe's (Boyle) alliance with white-collar Bill (Patrick) over their mutual hatred of hippies. And that's following Bill's pivotal murder of his daughter's drug dealer boyfriend.

The movie was much talked about at the time. After all, the hippie movement was widely seen and heard on America's airways, but not so working class America's reaction. For guys like Joe, it seemed everybody was making social progress except for working class white males. Plus, pot-smoking kids were doing things that beer swilling blue-collar guys could only dream about—free time, free sex, few responsibilities. Worse, these kids were insulting the nation's traditions, the very ones that afforded them the luxuries they enjoy.

The movie may exaggerate some, but the nub of Joe's hatred of those he thinks are ruining the country is on the mark. (Then too, I suspect a similar sentiment lives on in today's Tea Party, though not as pronounced.) The movie also suggests the potential of a broader cross- class reaction. Significantly, Joe's working class anger eventually spreads to white-collar Bill, as together they make war on what they see as a youthful parasitic class. To me, the movie's really about the emerging crisis of the Vietnam era, concerning not only who will shape the nation's present, but its future as well. Now, after 50-years, the hippie movement may have vanished, but the animus against minorities and others regarded as not fully American remains a potent force. The movie may have aged, but this aspect hasn't.

In passing-- note in the movie how the feminist movement has yet to have impact. Thus uppity women are not included in Joe's long list of cultural evildoers. Still, it's entertaining to wonder how Joe and especially his dutiful wife would react to housewives desiring more options.

The movie itself has a number of memorable scenes. I especially like it when our two crusaders guzzle booze while denouncing pot-smoking kids. Then too, Joe's barroom tirade came at a time when audiences were not used to such uncensored explicitness as gutter obscenities and hateful ethnic slurs. Thus Boyle's fiercely delivered rant was spellbinding at the time, and I suspect still is. But most of all is that subtle sequence of Joe and Mary Lou (Callan) sharing an awkward evening with their social betters Bill and Joan (Caire). What a masterpiece of staging, scripting and performance. It's almost wrenching to watch the two wives try to deal with the class barriers separating them once they've been thrown unceremoniously together. Caire is especially meaningful as she betrays hardly a hint of what she's really thinking, while the eager Mary Lou does her best to please. Yet every time the housewifely hostess does something agreeable, Joe steps on it with an uncaring remark. Comparisons with TV's Edith Bunker and All in the Family (1971-1979) do hit the mark.

It's easy to deride Joe's unabashed vulgarity. Still, he's always straightforward about what he thinks. No guess-work there, unlike the white-collar guy who plays up to him once he thinks Joe's going to be his new boss. Plus, Joe works hard at a demanding foundry job. In short, he's that average joe who does the sometimes dirty work that keeps the nation running. In that key regard he deserves respect, maybe not for everything he thinks, but surely for what he does. And maybe if hard working guys like him got more respect for what they do, they wouldn't be so ready to take frustrations out on others. To me, that's one of the most important issues raised in a movie that's as relevant today as 50-years ago when I first saw it.

Norman Wexler, who went on to encapsulate the zeitgeist in SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and to create deathless, hyper-offensive camp in MANDINGO, was a prince among hot-button-pushers in JOE. When a Madison Avenue type (Dennis Patrick) throttles to death the sneering drug pusher who was the lover of his daughter (Susan Sarandon), he meets an unlikely fan and friend: Joe Curran (Peter Boyle), a racist, hippie-hating hardhat type who's as far from the genteel Mr. Compton as warm root beer is from gravlax and eggs. The movie is as flummoxing, and as weirdly elating, as a deeply abusive boyfriend. One minute it's getting you to giggle along with the no-baloney Joe; a second later, he's a Hitlerian psychopath. At times, we're touched by the friendship and mutual respect that crosses class lines; at other times, we're made to chuckle at Joe and his wife's homely ways, and at still others Compton's brand of magazine-derived good taste comes in for a beating. Like another surprise hit of its year, PATTON, JOE has that non-lecturing, read-it-this-way-or-that quality. Nearly every scene has something for an audience to cheer or boo (and oftentimes, those are the same things). The director, John G. Avildsen, has a few real winners (SAVE THE TIGER, NEIGHBORS) in his undistinguished career; this may be tops among them.

New Yorkers contemporaneous with this film will recall how reflective of its time it is and how well cast and crew captured America, New York City of that era.

Norman Wexler's script delineates the different worlds the various sub groupings live in and Avildsen's direction brings out phenomenal performances all around. Peter Boyle's prodigious talent is on display as never before nor since. Clearly it is the best character portrayal the always likable Dennis Patrick ever accomplished.

What I will always remember about JOE is the feeling of having been in a virtual state of shock coming out of the theater. Knowing that what the screen portrayed was seething under the surface in neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs of the City of New York.

This film needs to be remembered.

Bill Compton is a wealthy, conservative advertising executive who would be living the traditional American dream were it not for one thing: his daughter is a hippie. She and her boyfriend spend their days doing drugs and wasting time. After she overdoses, Compton accidentally kills the boyfriend in a fit of rage. Later he meets Joe, an ultra-right-wing blue-collar worker, and drunkenly tells the man his murderous secret. Joe believes he's found a kindred spirit in Compton and the two form an unlikely friendship. However, Joe's virulent hatred for anything and anyone liberal makes both men's lives increasingly complicated, violent and dangerous.

Directed by John G. Avildsen, 'Joe' is a character study and a drama about evolving cultural mores, highlighting the ideological schism that emerged between generations following the counter-culture revolution of the 60's. Norman Wexler's screenplay is sharp and full of fantastic, grittily realistic dialogue. It is unhampered by bias, scathing of both old school conservatism and the 'free love' attitude of the hippie movement alike- not to mention political extremism and classism. While the story contains moments of violence and can be a tad melodramatic from time to time, at its' heart it's a clever, subtle examination of two multi-faceted, realistic characters.

Compton and Joe are disillusioned by a society in which they no longer feel comfortable. As many were at the time, they are threatened by the hedonistic lifestyle the youth of the film embody. However, they are also strangely attracted to it. Compton and Joe want to partake in the 'free love' but can't allow themselves to because of their deeply held conservative beliefs. Thus, they are left out in the cold so to speak, and their violent reaction to their uncertain place in the 'modern' world seems like a foregone conclusion from the beginning of the film because of the strength of Wexler's characterization.

Having said that, the supporting characters are all a little hollow and underwritten in comparison to Compton and Joe, most notably Compton's daughter, played by Susan Sarandon in her big screen debut. She comes across like a parody of a hippie, the kind you'd see dancing in the background of a Peter Sellers' farce from the 60's- or perhaps even one of the 'Austin Powers' films. What makes it all the worse is the fact that Sarandon is completely stilted, wooden and lacking in charisma. Though in a few years she'd start giving the powerful, nuanced performances she's known for today, it's a wonder her awfully mediocre work in 'Joe' didn't derail her career just as it was beginning.

On the positive side of things, 'Joe' features an atmospheric original soundtrack from Bobby Scott that makes good use of songs from the likes of Exuma and Dean Michaels. Michaels 'Hey Joe' is particularly memorable, with lyrics reflecting the narrative beats of the film, as well as the ideology of the titular character. Besides directing, Avildsen also acted as cinematographer and his work has a naturalistic quality that is most affecting. The film is also very well-edited, having a brisk pace that makes Compton and Joe's journey to the dark side all the more exhilarating and frantic.

Dennis Patrick stars as Compton, delivering a performance of style and subtlety. Not as colorful or as openly bigoted as the titular character, Compton is nevertheless a complicated person with darkness in his soul, a man capable of extreme violence. Patrick couldn't have been better in the role, bringing to it much depth and intelligence. He makes Compton sympathetic- which is no mean feat considering the actions the character takes in the film- and he and co-star Peter Boyle work together marvelously.

Always a reliable actor, Boyle is brilliant as the bigoted blue-collar worker Joe. While not a likable character by any means, Boyle imbues Joe with a certain seedy charm and complexity that is intensely interesting and effective. He plays Joe as a regular man whose perception of reality is skewed by his political inclination, as one who can't see the truth from behind a blinding veil of conservative dogmatism. Boyle's assured performance is a joy to behold, and one can tell that he understood the character's motivations perfectly.

In short, John G. Avildsen's 'Joe' is a powerful and clever parable about bigotry, principles and violence boasting a fine Norman Wexler screenplay and a great soundtrack from Bobby Scott. Dennis Patrick and Peter Boyle deliver two fascinating, impactful performances of great depth and complexity that are highlights in both men's filmographies. Although the supporting characters are a little underwritten- and some questionably acted- 'Joe' is a terrific movie that has only gotten more relevant and entertaining with time.

... "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 lovable 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 fall 1968 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 !"