User reviews

Back in the 1950s the movie Production Code in the U.S. censored topics and dialogue that it considered morally offensive or too provocative for a general audience. To get around this, Hollywood disguised the plot and dialogue in some films. The disguise allowed the presentation of underlying subversive themes, but in veiled form. "The Strange One" is a film with a provocative premise rendered opaque by its plot and dialogue.

A Machiavellian-minded Cadet named Jocko DeParis (Ben Gazzara) throws his weight around at a Southern military academy. DeParis is a terrible human being: bullying, manipulative, and sadistic, yet unemotional, always in control of the situation. In the film's plot, he carries through on a well-thought-out scheme to have a cadet he doesn't like expelled. He uses other cadets to implement his plan, so that he personally cannot be blamed. One of his puppet cadets is a visually unappealing Cadet Simmons (Arthur Storch), a guy with a mouth full of conspicuous teeth, who doesn't approve of alcohol and doesn't like women.

Another Cadet in Jocko's orbit is Perrin, (a.k.a Cockroach), a slightly effeminate guy, played by Paul Richards. Cockroach hero-worships Jocko, which thus allows Jocko to humiliate him in front of others. Yet, Cockroach, who refers to Jocko as "Night Boy", has his own plans, disguised by the script's dialogue, when he tells Jocko: "All I want to have is your confidence and your friendship". Well, you can see where this is headed in one sense, though the plot implies something else. The dialogue is heavy on subtext. And the film was quite subversive in its day.

The film's B&W visuals are rather dark, in keeping with the story's subversive theme. A jazzy score amplifies the seedy nature of these inter-relationships. The film's casting and acting are quite good, Arthur Storch's bizarre performance notwithstanding.

On the negative side, the plot doesn't explain why Jocko had such a grudge against others at the academy, nor do we learn the basis for his apparent political hold on the academy's higher-ups.

Yet these are fairly minor issues. And my overall impression of "The Strange One" is highly favorable. In addition to a deeply thematic story, we get to see a number of actors early in their careers, including Gazzara, Pat Hingle, James Olson, and George Peppard, among others. This is a film that would have been all but forgotten had it not been released recently on DVD. It's worth a look.

"The Strange One" is a very good film but its current score on IMDB would seem to indicate it's an average film and nothing more. Well, as for me, I loved it as the story was very compelling and it was a nice chance to see some very good actors before they became famous (such as Ben Gazzara, James Olson and Mark Richmond).

The story is set in some fictional southern military college...similar to VMI or The Citadel. The story mostly centers around Gazzara's character, an upper classman who is a sociopath who loves mistreating his underclassmen. He also is a master manipulator and all around jerk....and his latest 'prank; results in a cadet being badly beaten and framed for getting drunk....when the young man in question did nothing wrong and the alcohol was forced down his throat.

During course of the story you learn tow important things. First, he was caught tormenting underclassmen before. Second, his fellow classmates hated him...and it took this incident to bring this to the surface. And, in the end, the students come up with a great plan to deal with this jerk.

Well written, exciting and well worth your time. I found this sleeper on YouTube and hope you also give it a try.

Film takes place at a military academy. Cadet Jocko DeParis (Ben Gazzara) concocts an elaborate scheme to get another cadet thrown out of the school. He has the unwilling help of two freshman--Simmons (Arthur Storch) and Robert Marquales (George Peppard). He orders them to keep quiet--but they're not sure if they can and Jocko is a very dangerous man...

Bizarre movie. I hated it at first--it took some time for me to get used to the characters and figure out what was going on but I eventually did. It's not an ordinary Hollywood movie--it was independently made and had trouble with the censors. There's a VERY obviously gay character named Cockroach (Paul E. Richards) who has a crush on Jocko and a shower scene that is homo erotic to a strong degree. There's also a hint of sex between some of the cadets. Pretty raw for 1957.

The acting is just OK. Gazzara and Peppard made their debuts with this film so their overly mannered performances can be forgiven. The rest of the cast is pretty good and carry the film. This was not a commercial success and is rarely screened but it's so strange and different it deserves some recognition. Worth catching if you're interested in offbeat films. A 7.

An interesting look at gay themes from the 1950s. At the time this movie came pout, homosexuality was still a crime in most (maybe all) states. It had another decade and a half to go before being declassified as mental illness.

This opens with a drawing that looks like Tom of Finland. The people involved in making this may never have heard of Tom of Finland. It was the stylized gay zeitgeist. (I guess. I was not there.) Ben Gazzara plays the central character. He is a horrible, thoroughly unlivable bully. It all takes place at a military academy. A fey student who seems to worship him, despite his cruelty, is writing a novel based on his life. It's called "Nightboy." And John Rechy was still a youngster! It's a worthwhile movie. The acting is good all around. The plot is not entirely plausible. But it's exciting and consistently well done.

Ben Gazzara stars (in his film debut) in this military drama about a vicious Alpha male getting his comeuppance from 1957. Gazzara is the big dog at this military academy where he rules w/an iron hand making his fellow cadets cower in his wake. Things take a turn when he messes w/the son of the commander (getting him drunk where in a fit of rage & trickery he ends up beating up another) prompting Gazzara to visit the commander's office where in a turn of events, Gazzara threatens him! Finally the rest of the cadets band together to confront Gazzara where he'll either talk the talk or walk the walk. Adapted from his novel, Calder Willingham (The Graduate) eschews a sadistic hierarchy among the soldiers who are at a point in their careers when they're the most malleable & impressionistic, letting Gazzara hold sway over them like some fascist keeping his underlings beneath the knuckles of his tyranny. There is also (whether intentional or not) an undercurrent of homo-eroticism, since women are almost non-existent on the campus, letting our despot control his minions w/every tool in his arsenal. Also starring Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon from Tim Burton's Batman series) as one Gazzara's loyal boys, Clifton James as a military higher up & George Peppard (from the A-Team in his film debut) as one of the cadets who fight back.

Jack Garfein made "The Strange One" in 1957. It was adapted by Calder Willingham from first his novel and then his play "End as a Man". Actually the title "The Strange One" doesn't really do it justice; a better, if somewhat declamatory, title might have been 'The Evil One' since its central protagonist, Jocko De Paris, is one of the most sadistic and warped anti-heroes in all of fiction. The setting is a military academy in the Deep South and Jocko is cock of the walk. He rules with a combination of charm and viciousness but it all goes belly-up for him when he targets a young cadet and his father, who happens to be an officer there. His scheme involves four other cadets whose fear of him he's counting on. It's a melodramatic scenario that culminates in a bravura, sustained passage of mounting hysteria but it's brilliant in the way that the best of Tennessee Williams or William Inge are brilliant. Willingham's dialogue has the ring of poetry to it and Garfein, whose first film this was, (he's only made one since), directs it superbly.

Of course, it would have been nothing were it not for its cast, many of whom were totally unknown at the time. Ben Gazzara may already have been a star on the New York stage, (he was Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), but was an unknown quantity in the movies, (it was also his first film). His performance as Jocko should have made him a much bigger star than he ever became and it remains a career-best performance. Those who fall under his spell include Pat Hingle, James Olson, Arthur Storch and George Peppard. They are all terrific; Peppard, also making his screen debut, shows real promise and Hingle in outstanding.

There's also one overtly gay character, (though the whole picture is suffused with homo-eroticism), a cadet who fancies himself a writer and who is obviously in love with Jocko. He's played by Paul Richards as a grotesque and flamboyant queen, part Truman Capote and part Gore Vidal. In any other film this character would be offensively out of place but here he's just one more poisonous plant in this insidious hothouse. The film wasn't successful and is almost impossible to see now, at least here in the UK but it's a masterpiece and one of the best American films of the fifties. Essential.

This film is a real sleeper. It launched some brilliant careers, especially that of Ben Gazzara. But also those of Pat Hingle, George Peppard and Arthur Storch, who became a fine stage director. Look for this one to see some interesting characters and a compelling story.

Calder Willingham started a career in Hollywood by writing the book, the Broadway play it was based on and finally the screenplay for his work End As A Man. Now on the screen with the title The Strange One it presents a really nasty picture of a southern military academy and some of the cadets there.

There's more than one strange individual in The Strange One. But the title refers to protagonist Ben Gazzara who is both charismatic and evil. A good old southern boy he holds the rest of his set in some kind of sway and they're all afraid of him.

What Gazzara has put in motion is a carefully laid out scheme to embarrass Larry Gates the second in command of the academy by getting his son Geoffrey Horne expelled. With the aid of some lower classmen and a couple of sycophants he gets Horne drunk and leaves him out all night on the parade grounds. Horne is expelled and later Gates loses control when confronting Gazzara.

But at some points all the worms turn. I suspect in both the novel and the play Gazzara gets worse than what he got here.

The play ran 105 performances on Broadway during the 1953-54 season and besides Gazzara, Pat Hingle, Paul Richards, Arthur Storch, and Peter Mark Richman all repeat their roles from Broadway.

Richards is a halfway out of the closet gay man who Gazzara just toys with, catch that deliciously erotic scene as Richards who fancies himself a novelist reads some of his writings to Gazzara as Gazzara plays with his ceremonial sword. The shy and introspective Storch is another closet case who is just crushing out big time on roommate George Peppard who was making his big screen debut as was Gazzara.

It seemed like half the Actor's Studio got involved in this project. But they all do a fine job especially Gazzara who is terrifying and twisted.

And these are the guys who will be defending America.

Not an easy picture to dissect. Director Jack Garfein's first film, an adaptation of Calder Willingham's novel and play "End as a Man", scripted by Willingham, is rather like "The Lord of the Flies" as filtered through the Actor's Studio. Military college cadet Ben Gazzara intimidates his roommate and the terrified freshman class after instigating the beating of a rival; seems he's such a proficient con-artist, he makes the unprovoked attack look like a one-man drunken rampage and gets the unfortunate kid expelled. Despite Willingham's penchant for high-flown prose (especially in regards to Gazzara's bully, who talks like he's been hustling on the streets of New York City for 40 years), this is an extremely well-crafted, well-acted psychological drama, though the movie ultimately lacks punch because the plot is just a series of quick hits on the viewer. Willingham and Garfein want to make several important points and observations, but the restraints of the era seem to have the filmmakers tied up in knots. None of this explains how Gazzara so easily demoralizes everyone with a few well-chosen words and stern expressions, or how he manages to get even his superior (the victim's own father!) stammering with exasperation. The third act of the film is drawn out for very little purpose; instead of getting a substantial look into these complex personalities, we're offered a showy revenge fantasy. These hysterics are useless and, ultimately, irrelevant. ** from ****

(1957) The Strange One DRAMA

Adapted from a novel by Calder Willingham called "End as a Man" centering on students of a military college with senior military cadet Jocko De Paris (Ben Gazzara) bullying new freshmans, Simmons (Arthur Storch) and Robert (George Peppard) concocting the situation so that the major's (Larry Gates) son, Georgie (Geoffrey Horne) would incriminate himself by getting him expelled from the academy, as a result of being caught drinking. The ending is supposedly much more different than the ending of the novel it is based on. Reminiscent of "Taps" and "The Lords of Discipline" to name a few. This movie shows what can be defined as standard practice when superiors are not looking.

An upper class man at a rigid southern military academy abuses his power in a highly conceived plot in order to orchestrate an expulsion of another cadet. We're left to wonder why he's motivated to do so, and the acting and scenes in this part of the film do seem to be too staged, but the film makes for riveting viewing as in its portrayal of the overall ambiance of the the academy, a strange hierarchy with bizarre scenes of interaction between the lower and upper class men. And a final military brand of cadet justice that unites the two classes gets born out of the incident, and reveals a lot, and ends in a chilling finale with superior night scenes.

Unusual military academy drama with some debut performances of Actors Studio including an especially vicious Be Gazzara is clearly stage-bound but suspenseful.

...featuring Ben Gazzara as an upperclassman who bullies and torments his classmates at a military school. Eventually his antics go too far, and the others begin to turn against him. Ben Gazzara, George Peppard and Julie Wilson all made their film debuts here. The film was presented in conjunction with the Actors Studio, with all cast and crew being members of that organization.

Based on Calder Willingham's novel and play End as a Man, this film adaptation had to tamp down the more overt gay themes present, but they are still there, and some aren't hidden very much. The character played by Paul E. Richards (an actor that looks like the love child of John Cassavetes and Jerry Lewis) is clearly meant to be gay, and his interactions with Gazzara have a lot of blatant symbolism, like Ben fondling and polishing his sword while Richards gazes on admiringly, or a group shower scene with Richards being the one guy wearing a shower cap. There's also a lot of talk about gag reflexes, Gazzara shoving rubber tubes down guys' throats, and spanking guys with a broom.

The film's chief flaw is with Arthur Storch, playing a very over-the-top buffoonish character wearing coke-bottle glasses, ill-fitting fake buck-teeth, and overdoing it to a degree that nearly every scene he's in is ruined. I can't blame Storch, who played the role on stage as well, as much as director Jack Garfein, who should have seen that this wouldn't play well on screen. In the end, I felt this was a seriously flawed film, but worth seeing for those interested in off-beat 50's cinema and boundary-pushing subject matter. On a side note, Roger Corman's Sorority Girl, released this same year was an unofficial adaptation of the same play, with the setting and genders changed.

Jocko de Paris was a gay anti-hero before his time. 1957, the year American films tackled so called subversive subjects, but homosexuality could only be presented as ' Strange ' or as one reviewer here cutely puts it ' The Evil One '. Yes, for most people it was evil and one of the characters is called Cockroach. He is the most visibly gay of all of the cast and what do the disgusted do to a cockroach; they cry out in horror and want to stamp it out. Jocko has to be ' bad ' to survive and he has to have power to survive among all these young guys who are there to end as men. ' End as a Man ' was the title of the book and play on which the film was based and at least in the UK they gave it its original title. Ben Gazzara is great at playing dirty seeing all too clearly around him that he does not want to end up as society's definition of a nice clean man. It could be no other way for him to succeed in the world he is in, but when the so called ' good ' seem to conquer him he cries out in a sort of manic triumph, ' I'll be back '. Perhaps I am being too prescient but these words seem to me to say that he and others will come forward and fight against the rigid rules of ' normality '. I might add that this film has been in the closet for years in the UK, only released again on DVD and BLU-RAY in 2019. At the time it was released it was a flop in a double bill with a comedy called ' Full of Life ' which seemed to me an act of camp normality against its unwelcome partner. I find the film extraordinary in its blatant eroticism. The shower scene alone tells all and the guys are playing away in their naked freedom, their military uniforms cast aside, and there is a sense in that scene that the freer decades were on their way. A must see film for its 1950's audacity.

Originally advertised as the first picture filmed entirely by a cast and technicians from the Actor's Studio, this tale of power play amongst the cadets of a Southern military academy, only comes alive when it features the material that the Production Code of the 1950's demanded be cut.

Based on the autobiographical novel and play End as a Man by Calder Willingham, director Jack Garfein uses the music of Kenyon Hopkins noticably in the scenes between Ben Gazzara as an upperclass man and Paul E Richards as a presumably gay cadet Gazzara nicknames Cockroach, who wears a shower cap when the other cadets don't. Richards is a "creative writer" who names the Gazzara character in his novel "nightboy". Their best scene together is where Richards reads to Gazzara, who plays with his sword! Clearly Gazzara is not adverse to Richard's attention, and their farewell handshake is more a sensual than manly experience. Gazzara's relationship with Richards is also echoed in his friendship with football jock James Olson, where Gazzara reacts to being casually touched. I also like idea of Gazzara's cigarette holder, though his kissing his own wrist at one point is a little too self-consciously Method.

But whilst it is interesting to observe these subversive (for the period) elements, the narrative ultimately disappoints in the treatment of Gazzara as the academy's resident sadist. The Actors Studio adaptation needs to create an ensemble, as opposed to allowing Gazzara to star, which dissipates the tension and reduces his threat. Whilst it may be more psychologically truthful for him to underplay his psychotic nature, with the addition of Freudian insight which makes him more intellectual than physically violent, this doesn't help the drama, which is even more obvious when the far more satisfying climax uses mob intimidation and a physical act of revenge.

The worst of the Actors Studio excess is in the presentation of victim Arthur Storch who is said to be schizophrenic and thus an easy target. Storch has coke-bottle spectacles, buck teeth, cartoon at attention posture, ambition to become a priest, is a mommy's boy, afraid of women, and anti-alcoholic. Gazzara's interest in Storch is inexplicable, even if he does hold him down while Olson spanks him with a broom, but as a good part of the film has us trapped in one room (the stage origins show here) while we're supposed to observe how bad Gazzara is, proceedings crawl into tedium. Or perhaps this kind of s/m power play just doesn't hold that much interest for me. The academy rooms have cell-like iron gates in front of the doors, and even though they aren't locked, the film opens with a guard hitting each as he passes, doing a role call.

Watch for Gazzara's sci-fi buggy car, which has room in the back for a passenger.