Joe is a 1970 drama film starring Peter Boyle, Dennis Patrick, and Susan Sarandon in her film debut. Joe, a furnace operator played by Boyle, and a business executive, played by Patrick, search for the latter's missing hippie daughter played by Sarandon.
The film was directed by John G. Avildsen, and was a reaction to the counter-culture movies of the time.
Joe was a predecessor to Taxi Driver, and was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar.
The film was spoofed in MAD Magazine in 1971 as "Schmoe."
Joe also featured an original soundtrack, introducing artists such as Exuma with the song You Don't Know What's Going On, Dean Michaels' variant of Hey Joe and other original songs by Jerry Butler and Bobby Scott.
In the sterile comfort of a psychiatric ward, Joe (David Aaron Baker) finds solace for his tortured soul in dull routine watching TV and polishing and re-polishing his meticulous black boots. But even the most tightly controlled refuge is not unbreachable, as Joe soon learns when his solitude is shattered by the arrival of an interloper (Jarlath Conroy). Written by Anonymous
Bill, a wealthy businessman, confronts his junkie daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend; in the ensuing argument, Bill kills him. Panic-stricken, he wanders the streets and eventually stops at a bar. There he runs into a drunken factory worker named Joe, who hates hippies, blacks, 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. Written by Anonymous