 The "Baltimore Afro-American"s review, while commenting on the character's shortcomings, praised Lee's portrayal.Historian Rebecca Sklaroff, while writing in 2009 that Joe's role was more "tokenistic" than black roles in the wartime films "Sahara" and "Bataan", wrote that Joe was depicted as compassionate, dependable and heroic.He is the only one who resists the impulse of mob fury that leads the other characters to kill the German.