Angel and Big Joe (1975)

★★★★★ · A timeless movie · Murray Suid · 2007-06-15

The Internet Archive seems like a good idea. I'm all for giving scholars and historians resources for their work. But when I viewed Bert Salzman's amazing ANGEL AND BIG JOE, it wasn't as if I were witnessing a classic. Rather, I felt the same way I do when watching the latest first-rate movie: it was pure here-and-now. Because ANGEL is about realities that are always important to human beings--friendship, family, ambition, loyalty, dreams--this film will never grow old. While it may be of interest to scholars and historians, this short movie will surely be valued by "ordinary" people who…

★★★★★ · A thoughtful and uplifting short film · Robert B. Livingston · 2012-01-03

The Internet Archive has some gems hidden within it. It is really too bad that it can often be hard to discover them. Here is one short film really worth seeing. I am writing this review hoping it will get noticed. If you are searching around looking for something that is not tawdry, pedestrian, or gimmicky-- if you appreciate good acting, and also want to feel a bit more enlightened while being entertained-- try watching this. And write a short review so this film keeps getting noticed. Be sure to watch another great film by Bert Salzman here at the Internet Archive: The Shopping Bag Lady.

★★★★ · Should He Stay or Should He Go? · Christine Hennig II · 2017-03-01

This 70s sociodrama features a teenage Hispanic boy who befriends a lonely telephone lineman. The boy is a child of migrant workers and he lives in grinding poverty with his mother and younger siblings in a shack next to the tomato fields they just harvested. His family is waiting from his father, who has gone on to Texas to look for work. Angel befriends Big Joe after Joe fixes the pay phone that the family is waiting for the call to come in on. Angel is desperate to do any kind of work to help out his family, and he eventually convinces Joe to hire him to do odd jobs on his property. A…