Trama

Two men - a wealthy ad executive and a far-right factory worker - form a dangerous bond after the former confesses to the latter about murdering his daughter's drug-dealer boyfriend.

Wealthy businessman Bill confronts his junkie daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend and kills him in the ensuing argument. Panic-stricken, he wanders the streets and eventually stops at a bar, where he runs into a drunken factory worker named Joe, who hates hippies, Black people, and anyone who is "different", and would like to kill one himself. The two start talking, and Bill reveals his secret to Joe. Complications ensue.—Anonymous

In New York, Bill Compton's daughter is living with a drug dealer. One day she overdoses, and her father goes to the drug-dealer/boyfriend's house to confront him; during the ensuing fight, he kills him. Afterwards, he goes out and walks around, finally ending up at his neighborhood bar. He goes in and admits to the bartender, Joe, During the ensuing fight, he kills the drug dealer. Afterwards, he goes out and walks around, finally ending up at his neighborhood bar. Going in, he admits to the bartender, Joe, that he had just beat a man to death, then says he was just kidding. Later, watching the news, Joe and his wife see the story about the drug dealer being beaten to death and he makes the connection. Calling Bill up, he congratulates him for his act and they decide to meet for dinner with their wives. They find that they agree on a lot of things, especially on how disgraceful hippies and drug dealers are and what a bane on society they are. Meanwhile, Bill's daughter leaves the hospital and, returning home unannounced, overhears her father talking about killing her boyfriend, and runs away. Later, Joe arranges for Bill and himself to meet up with some hippies and party. During the party, the men steal the drugs that Bill and Joe brought, along with the dead drug-dealer's wallet. Bill and Joe beat one of the girls present until she tells them that the men hang out at a commune upstate. With Joe providing rifles, the two men go to the commune. Loosely based on a real event.—TXFred

WWII vet Joe Curran, who lives in Astoria with his wife Mary Lou, is a working-class bigot, the primary targets of his tirades being liberals, homos, Blacks, and hippies. Bill Compton, married to Joan Compton, is an upper-middle-class Madison Avenue ad executive, and he and Joan live in an upscale Park Avenue apartment. The lives of Joe and Bill intersect when Bill goes into a bar, one of Joe's regular hangout, to calm his nerves with a few drinks after he accidentally kills his junkie daughter Melissa's artist/junkie/dealer boyfriend Frank Russo in a fit of rage in which he blamed Frank for Melissa's situation: she's currently in the hospital going through withdrawal after a near-overdose. Bill, who eventually only tells Joan about what he did to Frank, feels initial remorse and guilt. In a moment of weakness in front of the barflies including Joe, who was going on one of his alcohol-fueled tirades at the time, Bill announces that he just did what Joe is talking about, namely kill "one of them", which they are all able to laugh off as Bill ribbing Joe. When news of Frank's unsolved murder hits the airwaves three days later, Joe knows that that was who Bill was talking about killing. Joe contacts Bill, who initially believes it is to blackmail him. However, Joe sees Bill as his hero: he did something Joe had only talked about doing. Despite Bill's uneasy feeling in associating with Joe, the two men begin a friendship as they discover that they have similar outlooks on life, despite expressing them in different ways due to their class differences. This friendship doesn't sit well with Joan, who believes that Joe is the type of person who can easily snap and continue Bill's legacy--or get even with Bill if Bill ever wrongs him.—Huggo

After cynical drug addict Frank Russo persuades his reluctant 19-year-old girlfriend Melissa Compton to try methadone, she is hospitalized for an accidental overdose. When her father Bill a New York City advertising executive, arrives at Melissa's apartment to gather her belongings, the addict taunts him. Infuriated by such callousness, Bill beats the youth to death. The dazed executive wanders into a workingman's bar and confides his crime to bigoted veteran Joe Curran. When Joe hears reports of the hippie's death on television, he phones Bill his congratulations. The uneasy executive and exhilarated worker are soon socializing. Melissa, however, overhears her father describing the murder and runs away to Greenwich Village. While searching for her, Bill and Joe participate in an orgiastic pot party.

So what about Joe? That's what he is-an average joe. He's a working-class man with working-class values. A man who loves bowling, brews, and above all his country. He's a stark spokesman of patriotism. Joe doesn't like the counterculture, whether it be dodge-drafters, druggies, free love, rock music, or just guys with long hair. He likes the modest, moralistic, and hard-working America he grew up with. So does Bill Compton, a business man with a teenage daughter (Susan Sarandon) considered to be a hippie and a drug addict, along with her drug-dealer boyfriend Frank.

After his daughter is taken to the hospital because of a drug trip, Compton confronts her boyfriend in bout of rage and accidentally kills him. Later he crosses paths with Joe at a bar, who's drunkenly mouthing off about the problems of the world. Compton doesn't say much, but he did mention the murder in passing, which threw Joe off. Joe later figured out it was Compton who murdered Frank. He was intrigued and pleased by it. Joe senses Compton may be caught in a real predicament, so later he meets with him to talk it over. Compton assumes blackmail at first, and so does his wife who also discovers his secret. However, Joe and Compton wind up becoming buddies, bonding over what happened. Two guys from different sides of the tracks. These men are not of the same social class, but they hold similar views of what society has become.

Comptons' daughter, home from the hospital, overhears him and mother discussing Frank's murder. The girl runs away out of shock and distress. Compton is devastated and must get her back, so Joe offers to help. They scour the city looking for her, amongst the hippies they loathe but try to blend with in hope of getting any information leading to her whereabouts. Eventually they're duped by a group of hippie punks who steal their wallets. Joe and Compton, in a state of agitation, find their hangout and pay them a visit. There things take a sudden turn for the worse, when both characters give in to peer pressure and their underlying hatred, setting off a mass murder. Joe shoots one of the thieves and suggests they get rid of all the witnesses. Compton, letting anger get the better of him, joins in the killing. Unbeknownst to Compton, one of the "hippies" he shot in the back turned out to be his daughter.