Angel and Big Joe

1976
27m

IMDb RATING

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Big Joe is a lineman for the telephone company. Angel is a teenage migrant worker. They form an unlikely alliance and start a rose-growing business. At first wary of each other, they grow to... Read allBig Joe is a lineman for the telephone company. Angel is a teenage migrant worker. They form an unlikely alliance and start a rose-growing business. At first wary of each other, they grow to trust and like one another. Eventually, Angel must leave the area when his father relocat... Read allBig Joe is a lineman for the telephone company. Angel is a teenage migrant worker. They form an unlikely alliance and start a rose-growing business. At first wary of each other, they grow to trust and like one another. Eventually, Angel must leave the area when his father relocates the family in search of migrant work. This touching little film won an Oscar for Best L... Read all

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IMDb RATING

6.3/10

126

YOUR RATING

1User review

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win total

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Top cast4

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Paul Sorvino

Big Joe

Dadi Pinero

Angel

Gloria Irizarry

Mother

Nicky Irizarry

Nicky

Director
- Bert Salzman
Writer
- Bert Salzman
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

User reviews1

6.3126

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10lee_eisenberg

friendship on the fringes makes for a good short

Bert Salzman's Academy Award-winning "Angel and Big Joe" tells the story of a friendship between a migrant boy and an electrician who has greater ambitions. It's a look at those on the fringes of society and how they try to relate to each other. Both of them have stories: Angel about how his family has to move around, and Joe about how he dropped out of school to work in the mines because he assumed that it was best for his family.

Paul Sorvino plays Joe. I don't know how famous he was when this got released, but he does a fine job, as he has in every role (he later starred in "Nixon" and "Romeo + Juliet"). This short isn't a masterpiece, but I recommend it.

As for Salzman, I don't know whether or not he directed any other movies. He died last year at the age of 85.

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Storyline

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Trivia
Phone lineman Big Joe gives his last name as 'Dzundza' when calling the office for authorization to fix Angel's phone and to test the repair. Paul Sorvino, who plays Big Joe, would take the role of Phil Cerreta, replacing Max Greevey, played by George Dzundza, on New York - Police judiciaire (1990) in season 2. While contemporaries, the two had acted together in King Lear (1971) for Great Performances (1971), and for a single episode only of Paul Sorvino's short-lived cop series in 1976. It is very likely an impromptu improvisation for Big Joe's short phone conversation.