Joe Blu-ray - Peter Boyle

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

Directed by John G. Avildsen
USA 1970

When executive Bill Compton's (Dennis Patrick) daughter, Melissa (Susan Sarandon), overdoses at the house of her drug-dealer boyfriend, Compton flies into a rage and kills the dealer. He tries to make it look like a robbery gone wrong but, in a bar afterward, confesses his crime to a stranger named Joe (Peter Boyle). Joe is a hippie-hater and approves of Compton's actions. Moreover, when Melissa goes missing, he helps Compton track her down in the hope of killing a few hippies himself.)

***

“I’m the ‘Joe’ everbody’s talking about,” heralded movie print ads for director John G. Avildsen’s (Rocky) film Joe, proving that there’s truth in advertising. The modestly budgeted film would go on to become a multi-million-dollar box-office success, garnering an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

Peter Boyle (TV’s Everybody Loves Raymond) stars as Joe Curran, the titular everyman and unabashed hippie-hater. Joe, who equates hippies with everything un-American, finds a kindred spirit in Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick, Chances Are), an advertising executive who makes Joe’s acquaintance at a neighborhood bar, boasting that he killed a drug-dealing hippie (Patrick McDermott, The French Connection). Bill, pressed for facts by the intrigued Joe, recants saying that he was merely joking. But when a news report confirms the incident, vigilante justice akin to Taxi Driver is set in motion.

Joe, directed by John G. Avildsen, written by Norman Wexler (Serpico) and featuring the screen debut of Susan Sarandon (Hunger), also stars Audrey Caire (They Saved Hitler’s Brain), K Callan (American Gigolo) and Patrick McDermott (The French Connection).

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Theatrical Release: July 15th, 1970

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Review: Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Olive - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:47:05.252
Video	Disc Size: 23,633,463,493 bytes Feature Size: 22,802,995,200 bytes Average Bitrate: 24.99 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio English 1821 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1821 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles	English, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: OIlive Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Disc Size: 23,782,509,083 bytes Feature Size: 23,072,139,264 bytes Average Bitrate: 23.90 Mbps Single-layered Blu-ray MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • Trailer (3:04) Blu-ray Release Date: April 24th, 2018 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 8

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Olive films give us this underrated film on a single-layered 1080p Blu-ray disc with a reasonable bitrate. The texture of the film has grain consistent throughout, but detail is a little soft. This is a gritty film-like presentation befitting a gritty movie . There are only a few moments with visible scratches. John G. Avildsen not only directed but also was the cinematographer, giving a 'real-life' grimy texture to the color palette.

Olive give us the original 2.0 channel mono track in DTS-HD (24-bit). The sounds of the city are pretty clear and dialogue levels are crisp and discernable. The music by Bobby Scott ("Hey Joe", "Where Are You Going", "You Can Fly") holds up and comes through sounding crisp. Scott is best known for writing the hit song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother".

Sadly the only extra is the films trailer (3:07). This seems to be par for the course with Olive Films who are mostly doing bare-bones packages.

"Joe" is writer Norman Wexler's first film. Wexler would go on to write such films as Serpico, Mandingo and Saturday Night Fever. Of course director Avildsen would go on to helm the 1976 best-picture winner, Rocky. This early film of theirs is notably dark and would probably never be made today, what with test-marketed happy endings and whatnot. Thanks to Olive for bringing this film to Blu-ray. Some extras would have been nice but the transfer is good enough to qualify a purchase.