Joe Smith, American

1942 "Thrilling! It Will Lift You to the Skies!"
6.2| 1h3m| NR| en
Details

Joe Smith is an ordinary American family man who works in an aircraft factory. Shortly after being a promoted to a much higher position, Joe is kidnapped by enemy agents who are determined to get military secrets out of him by any means possible. Will Joe keep quiet or betray his country...

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Reviews

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!
Beanbioca As Good As It Gets
Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.
Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
LeonLouisRicci This one came so Early after Pearl Harbor that it can be seen more as a Rousing Call to Arms and is often Mislabeled a Propaganda Piece. It is also so "In Your Face" and Unambiguous in its Flag Waving that it actually seems Refreshing because it is so Honest.Everything here is Quintessential "Americana". The Title, Married Couple with Child in Suburbia, the Pledge of Allegiance (without "Under God" by the way), the Nathan Hale Story, the Factory, References to Church Going and Sunday School, Home Mortgages, the Kid's Writing Tablet, and more.It's Surprising Robert Young didn't ask His Wife to Pass the Apple Pie when They Gather for a "Father's Day" Dinner. Taken at Face Value (and that's all there is) it is a Good Thriller with a Brutal Torture Scene, made Tolerable by Flashbacks of more Americana and a Patriotic Voice inside Joe's Head telling Him to "Keep a Secret" for His Family's and Country's sake. Viewed Today it can seem to Drag its Message Heavy and Long, but it all Works as an Interesting Time Capsule, circa 1942 America through the Eyes of an Average "Joe".
TxMike It was 1942 and the USA had just entered WW II, courtesy of the Japanese who attacked Pearl Harbor. I wish I knew exactly when this movie actually was filmed, whether before or after that attack.Robert Young, whom many of us got to know really well on later TV series' like "Father Knows Best" and "Marcus Wellby, MD" is Joe Smith. What a generic name, likely chosen to be representative of any citizen in 1942. Joe goes to work in a defense-related job, and thereafter is kidnapped and grilled by men who wanted him to reveal secrets regarding the military plans.We see that they run him off the road at night, then take him to a place where they grill him, threaten him and his family, and beat him up. We can hear the "voice in his head" telling him to think of other things so it won't hurt so much. Also telling him that he swore he would not reveal any secrets.Marsha Hunt is his wife, Mary Hewett Smith. His son Johnny is played by young Darryl Hickman, brother of now more famous Dyawne Hickman of "Dobie Gillis" TV fame.An interesting movie from an interesting period in US history. It drives home the importance of keeping secrets.SPOILERS: After Joe fails to give away any secrets, he is taken away in a car, blindfolded. But he makes a mark on the door of the room he had been held in, and as the car travels listens for clues to where they are, tar strips in a road, a "carvival" sound, etc. When he gets a chance, he jumps out of the car and the crooks, not wanting to get hit on the highway, leave him, injured, on the side of the road. He eventually gets rescued, cops come to his aid, and they track down the crooks with his clues, reversing the order. The mark on the door proves he was there. It turns out one of the crooks was an "inside" man with law enforcement.
whpratt1 This film deals with a man called Joe Smith, (Robert Young), who works in a airplane factory and is assigned to working on a new bomb-sight and has knowledge of the blue prints which is top secret. Joe is married to Mary Smith, (Marsha Hunt) and they are a very happy couple until one day Joe is kidnapped by four men who want all the information concerning Joe's knowledge of the bomb-sight plans. Joe is beaten and blind folded and as he is being transported Joe uses all the sounds that he hears while riding in a car to locate just where the kidnappers are taking him. This is a great B film and is very well produced and directed and Robert Young and Marsha Hunt give an outstanding performance.
kccole-1 Interesting movie on a number of levels. As a patriotic retrospective it is good to see how well the "pledge of allegiance" stands up without the "under G*d" inserted by the brave cold warriors of the Eisenhower era and defended with such valiance by the boobs of the new millennium.Another poster mentioned a strange fascist-like salute to the flag. What they were doing was not saluting the flag. When they stood sideways and raised their right hands, palms forward, fingers flattened and pointing at the flag, they were *presenting* the flag as one would present an honored guest at a banquet. I remember doing that as a child in school.