wealthy businessman bill compton ( play by dennis patrick ) accidentally kill his daughter hippie boyfriend after an argument . panic stricken and he retreat to a bar and and meet joe curran ( play by peter boyle ) represent a loud mouth and angry and bigot who be bitter over how his beloved country have become . unintentionally and bill allow joe to find out that he just kill a hippie . and this be only the beginning . joe be a classic film of an unlikely friendship . a bond between two men and one of a white collar background and the other of a blue collar background . bill and joe have one thing in common and they be disgrace over how crazy the world have become . dennis patrick and peter boyle have both give very realistic portrayal of their character . director john g. avidsen with this pre rocky effort and direct this low budget gem with the same finesse a a movie with a $ 100 million budget . the script be load with excellent character development and very snappy and realistic dialog . in spite of it strength this film do have it weakness . the script fall asleep roughly 3/4 of the way through and but it wake up just in time for the jarring climax . this film also feature a very early and uninspiring performance by a 24 year old susan sarandon a bill daughter melissa and along with her hippie boyfriend frank and portrayed very blandly by patrick mc dermott . one could only be thankful that he be kill off early in the film . in spite of it few flaw this be one of those forgotten film of the 70 that should not be . even though joe be very dated to today standard and the chemistry between dennis patrick and peter boyle be completely relevant today and and it be the glue that hold the whole film together .