Angel and Big Joe
- Paul Sorvino: Big Joe
- Dadi Pinero: Angel
- Gloria Irizarry: Mother
- Irizarry Nicky Nicky
Angel and Big Joe is an American short film drama directed by Bert Salzman from the year 1975.
Action
Angel is the oldest child of a Puerto Rican family who emigrated to the U.S. and there denies their livelihood mainly with the collection of crops. The father is gone away to find work, and so wait Angel, his mother and his brother for a long time on a call from him, so that they can descend after him. During the period of waiting is the money that the Father has prep them less and less. When the phone one day no longer works, says Angel to a technician who repairs an overhead line near the premises. Through his stubbornness Angel brings the man who calls himself Big Joe, to repair the phone.
A few weeks later, the two meet again. Big Joe takes him home and both cover the roof of Big Joe's villa. Angel marveled at the large property, but which is not planted. Big Joe tells how he started with his son Pete a greenhouse construction, but broke off when Pete was drafted into the Navy. Angel and Big Joe are friends. Big Joe asks Angel one day, to help him, prefabricated greenhouse. Both eventually begin to grow roses. Angel spends at this time more than hours at Big Joe with his mother and has a guilty conscience because he secretly hopes that the father never calls you, even if he sees his mother suffering from the situation. One day, the roses are cut ripe and Angel and Big Joe can sell the flowers for a good price. Big Joe is already planning ahead and want to build with Angel two more greenhouses, so they can do business really well in a few years. Angel points out that he is then certainly not be there anymore. Big Joe offers him to join him and to remain forever in the city - he himself had previously worked to support parents with them in a mine, eventually recognized, however, that he also has a responsibility for themselves and the family his support in the form did not need. Angel walks and Big Joe promises to call him the next day. Angel is expected on his return from the mother: the father called and the family is the next day to travel to him. Angel is crying, but decides to follow his family. Big Joe, he leaves a farewell letter with proposals for its new rose breeding plans.
Production
Angel and Big Joe was commissioned by the Learning Corporation of America ( LCA), educational films could turn for the classroom. Bert Salzman was shooting for the LCA first three films that dealt with three different ethnic groups: Geronimo Jones ( 1970), about a Papago - Apache, Felipa: North of the Border ( 1971) about a Chicano girls, and until 1975 Angel and Big Joe about a puerto Rican immigrant family.
Angel and Big Joe was published in 1975 and appeared on both VHS and DVD.
Awards
Angel and Big Joe won the 1976 Oscar for Best Short Film.