La guerra del cittadino Joe

Caution-possible spoilers ahead….. Just watched 'Joe' for the second time. The first time was 30+ years ago on an Air Force Base. I was reminded of that by the Air Force overcoat with Tech. Sgt. stripes wore by the boyfriend/dealer; we airmen had quite a laugh the first time that appeared on the screen because that is a 'lifer' rank. Over the years I have carried several other images from the film. Foremost was the absolutely beautiful and vulnerable daughter of the executive. As someone else commented, you could not take you eyes off her. I did not realize until now that this was a 20-year old Susan Sarandon in her first movie. What a loss that she did not do more movies when she looked like that. I also recall the irony of having a counterculture hero like Peter Boyle playing the title role of a right-wing gun nut. Not unlike George C. Scott playing generals in Dr. Strangelove and Patton. And of course the shocking ending made a lasting impression.

30+ years ago it was the most talked about movie that ever played on the base. We thought it was a great film then and I have been reluctant to see it again because I was afraid that it would be as disappointingly dated as Easy Rider. But watching it today I was amazed at how well the film has held up. It is a very strong script with few holes although you have to wonder about the boyfriend immediately getting out of the bathtub when Sarandon gets in with him.

Searching for an explanation of why this film is still so entertaining I have to think it has something to do with the perfect physical casting. Boyle was physically believable as Joe (as others have pointed out his portrayal would inspire the Archie Bunker character a few 'years later). Did Ted Knight model his 'Caddyshack' character-Judge Smails after the Dennis Patrick's advertising executive in 'Joe'? They look alike and sound alike. Patrick was totally believable as the wrapped-too-tight upper middle class executive. And Sarandon's doe-eyed innocent with the Raggety Ann doll still evokes a protective response from all male viewers-perfect casting.

The nude and drug scenes actually hold up (they were very provocative for their day) and are as explicit as anything to be found in 'Thirteen'. About the only thing that dates this film is that the violence is not realistic or graphic. 'Joe' was about the same time as 'The Wild Bunch', and the tone of movie violence had a just begun to change.

Another reason this film holds up is that events in the past couple of years have brought back the relevancy of the theme and context of this film. In the film both types of 'conservatives' are portrayed as full of fear and hate toward the unconventional ways of the counterculture; and filled with envy at their free and hedonistic lifestyle. The counterculture is portrayed as mocking the straight culture; and although paranoid toward conservatives (legitimately so given that this was just a couple months after Kent State) they cannot resist flaunting their lifestyle in an attempt to antagonize. The political landscape is not all that different 30+ years later. I'm not sure conservatives envy young people and liberals as much as 1970, but they fear and hate them more.

An excellent film that surprisingly is as relevant now as it was in the early 1970's.

Wealthy businessman Bill Compton (played by Dennis Patrick) accidentally kills his daughter's hippie boyfriend after an argument. Panic-stricken, he retreats to a bar, and meets Joe Curran (played by Peter Boyle): a loud-mouth, angry, bigot who is bitter over how his beloved country has become. Unintentionally, Bill allows Joe to find out that he just killed a hippie. And this is only the beginning. "Joe" is a classic film of an unlikely friendship. A bond between two men, one of a white-collar background, the other of a blue-collar background. Bill & Joe have one thing in common, they are disgraced over how crazy the world has become. Dennis Patrick & Peter Boyle have both given very realistic portrayals of their characters. Director John G. Avidsen with this "pre-Rocky" effort, directs this low-budget gem with the same finesse as a movie with a $100 million budget. The script is loaded with excellent character development and very snappy, realistic dialog. In spite of its strengths this film does have its weaknesses. The script falls asleep roughly 3/4 of the way through, but it wakes up just in time for the jarring climax. This film also features a very early and uninspiring performance by a 24-year old Susan Sarandon as Bill's daughter Melissa, along with her hippie boyfriend Frank, portrayed very blandly by Patrick Mc Dermott. One could only be thankful that he was killed off early in the film. In spite of its few flaws this is one of those forgotten films of the 70's that should not be. Even though "Joe" is very dated to today's standards, the chemistry between Dennis Patrick & Peter Boyle is completely relevant today, and it is the glue that holds the whole film together.

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.

"Joe" is one of those movies where, although you think that it might go along smoothly, ends up hitting you like...I can't come up with an analogy. It showed not only that America's long-standing idea of unity was moot, but also the various aspects within our society. Melissa Compton (Susan Sarandon) is the ultimate flower child, while her father Bill (Dennis Patrick) is a clean-cut executive. One day, Bill accidentally kills Melissa's boyfriend. In the immediate aftermath, Bill gets acquainted with Joe Curran (Peter Boyle), an ultra-right-wing, rabidly racist working stiff. As a result, the two of them end up associating more and more with the hippies, whom Bill finds unpleasant and Joe outright hates. But in the end, everything has dead serious consequences.

True, some parts of the movie are a little bit dated, but it's a good juxtaposition of America's two sides during the Vietnam War. And rest assured, the residual effects of all that will probably never go away.