Bill Compton (Dennis Patrick) and his wife Joan (Audrey Claire) live in an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment whilst their 19-year-old daughter, Melissa (Susan Sarandon), is confined to a psychiatric ward suffering from a drug overdose. When Bill accidentally kills her drug-dealing lover Frank (Patrick McDermott), he flees the scene and runs into a drunken factory worker named Joe (Peter Boyle). Joe hates hippies, blacks, and anyone who is "different" and so, despite an obvious dislike for each other, he and Bill bond over their realization that the American Dream has soured for them. When Melissa discovers that her father has murdered Frank, she runs off to a hippy commune where Bill and Joe eventually track her down, with violent consequences.

Joe remains a powerful and all too relevant example of golden era 1970s American cinema. Directed by John G. Avilsden, who six years later was to score bog time with Rocky, this was Susan Sarandon's film debut and earned an Oscar nomination in 1970 for Norman Wexler (who went on to write the scripts for Serpico and Saturday Night Fever) for Best Screenplay.

Joe arrives on DVD for the first time in the UK on 12th January 2008 at a price to be confirmed from Optimum Home Entertainment. there no extras on board.