Rent Joe (1970)

Interesting American Social Drama - Joe review by GI

A somewhat dated 70s social drama with aspects of the thriller thrown in. It's an interesting film for it's varied themes around American class structures and attitudes and in particular the conservative side of US society's attitude to the growing counter-culture of free love, drugs and rejection of authority. Bill (Dennis Patrick), a middle class businessman is distraught when his wayward heroin addicted daughter (a first screen role for Susan Sarandon) is hospitalised after an overdose. In a fit of rage he kills her drug dealer boyfriend but bizarrely confesses this to a working class man he meets in a bar who applauds his actions. This is Joe (Peter Boyle) a bit of a bully with old fashioned ideas around the status of women and young people and who despises the hippies. They form an unlikely friendship and so when Bill's daughter goes missing again Joe offers to help to find her. The search ends in murder and tragedy as Joe reveals he has a more extreme streak than Bill realised. This is a very 70s style film in many ways and is a good example of American cinema allowing more adult themes and scenes including drug taking, nudity and violence. Some of the depictions here are a little unpleasant but it's a good example of cinema exploring the hypocrisies of America at that time.