The Strange One (1957) User Reviews

Night Boy

[Lechuguilla · 8/10 · 21 September 2009]

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.

Offbeat Military Drama Offers Early Glimpses of Some Major Stars...

[cchase · 7/10 · 2 July 2007]

Of all the movies offered during TCM's "Screened Out" Festival through the month of June, the inclusion of the little-seen THE STRANGE ONE certainly makes the most sense. I had never heard of the film before this program, and I am still trying to recover from the shock of seeing a treasure trove of matinée idols and character actors in the rawest, earliest stages of their careers. Because of this, many moments of the performances here teeter dangerously on the edge of pure camp, but this film was made well before the military school drama became a cliché with other movies such as THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE and DRESS GRAY. It's also worth noting that the homoerotic context of some of the characters' interactions were more than a little daring at the time of this movie's release, and that the filmmakers ran afoul of the Production Code in more than one instance before it ever saw life in a darkened theater.

Adapted by Calder Willingham from his own play, "End As A Man", the story centers around a manipulative sociopath named Jocko DeParis (Ben Gazzara in his first major role.) Jocko never met a rule he didn't want to break, and his main goal in life at a Southern military academy is to break them all, while using his intuitive knowledge of human nature to get everyone else to do it for him.

This would include his roommate, Harry Koble (Pat Hingle), and two lower classmen he keeps under his cruel thumb, cadets Robert Marquales (George Peppard, also in his first movie,) and the thoroughly unlikeable Simmons (Arthur Storch), Marquales multi-phobic roomie, who hates liquor, gambling and girls - in other words, everything DeParis enjoys.

I'm not sure exactly what scenes were supposedly trimmed from the film previously, but it all seems to be pretty intact with this showing. The opening sequence that takes place during bed-check features some not-so-subtle S&M references as DeParis, with Koble's help, browbeats (or just plain beats) Marquales and Simmons into scamming a hulking rube of a cadet into a fixed poker game, the dim-witted Roger Gatt (a very young James Olson). Knowing the kind of violent mood that liquor provokes in Gatt, DeParis uses this to cause the brutal assault of the cadet next door, George Avery Jr., (Geoffrey Horne) whose father also happens to be the OIC running the academy.

The remainder of the film is all about the cat-and-mouse game between DeParis and his unwitting and unwilling co-conspirators, who finally bring about his comeuppance in a manner that feels justified but curiously unsatisfying.

Worth noting are the production values and the tone of the film, all that seem to be suffused with a pulsating gay undercurrent. An earlier review commented that the image in the opening titles could have been taken directly from a Tom of Finland painting, but it seems that such images abound throughout the film; any one scene framed as a still picture could have been inspired (or an inspiration for) any one of that artist's most famous paintings. (A scene where backroom poker games are played by sweaty, mostly shirtless cadets comes to mind.)

But the most striking scenes are shared by Gazarra and a cadet nicknamed "Cockroach", the unsettling Perrin McKee (Paul Richards). It's somehow apt that even as the despicable DeParis dishes out liberal doses of abuse to McKee, the nebbishy underclassman seems to be undeterred in his hero worship and admiration for Jocko, which at times threatens to cross the line from the sexual into the erotic. Not so strange is DeParis's reaction to "Cockroach's" attentions, which feeds into his egotism. The scene in which McKee reads to DeParis from an autobiographical novel he's been writing about Jocko's life are only lacking stolen kisses and quick embraces, so charged are they with homoerotic metaphors in both the body language and the dialogue.

THE STRANGE ONE is hardly one of the best films ever made about its particular subject matter, nor is it the first, but it is a unique look at the initial launch of the careers of its stars, which also includes (Peter) Mark Richman and Clifton James.

A bit better than the overall score would suggest.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 1 April 2021]

"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.

A strange one indeed

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 18 June 2007]

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.

"Nightboy"

[Handlinghandel · 7/10 · 13 June 2007]

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.

GAZZARA'S DEBUT IS A DOOZY...!

[masonfisk · 7/10 · 14 March 2021]

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.

One of the great 'lost' films.

[MOscarbradley · 10/10 · 18 September 2015]

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.

Tightly written military school drama.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 12 June 2007]

Ben Gazzara is Jocko de Paris, a senior cadet at a military school and a real sadistic rat. His fellow students include some familiar names including Pat Hingle and George Peppard. This is one of those military schools in which senior cadets constantly rag the plebes, making them do and say foolish things, within reason. The problem is that Gazzara doesn't seem to recognize the limits of the permissable. At the very beginning, he sets up a phony poker game to cheat a rather dull football-playing senior, James Olson, out of ninety-some dollars -- after they get Olson drunk.

So far, so good. But then we are sort of blindsided by a shift in the plot. The bilking of Olson is shunted aside as Gazzara pounds on the wall in a deliberate attempt to arouse the cadet, Geoffrey Horne, sleeping in the next room -- knowing all the while that Horne, the son of the commanding officer, is bound to report the noisy and illegal goings on. Horne duly reports the ruckus but when the guards investigate, all seems to have been restored to normal.

Then some important events occur but are elided from the narrative. At the next morning's roll call, Horne is absent but is found bloody and drunk elsewhere on the campus. Subsequent dialog, which is a little fuzzy, indicates that Jocko de Paris beat Horne unconscious, then shoved a tube down into his belly and poured whiskey into it from a douche bag. Peppard, Hingle, Richards, and Olson were also involved somehow, but it's not clear how. "The room was so dark Ah didn't know whut was happenin'," explains Hingle.

Anyhow, Horne is convicted of enough offenses to get him expelled, which happens apace, though it breaks his father's heart (Larry Gates, not the only 50s utility player with no discernible talent).

Does Gazzara feel any remorse? Like heck. Then why did he do it, having nothing against Geoffrey Horne to begin with? He did it because he enjoys seeing people in pain, a statement that reminds me a little of my marriage, so better to say Gazzara did it for reasons similar to those of the two dudes who first climbed Mount Everest. Or maybe Rhoda in "The Bad Seed." Not only does Gazzara get another cadet kicked out, but when Hingle questions him about the ethics of the deed, Gazzara tells him that he, Hingle, will be held responsible as the ringleader. "I used to think you was a card, Jocko, and you are. You the ace of spades, boy." Well, very briefly, the other cadets involved have a crisis of conscience, and confess to the cadets' honor society. They kidnap Gazzara after making him sign a confession, blindfold him, tote him around while he threatens them and screams with fear, and dump him on a train that departs the town. The end.

It's an interesting film for a number of reasons, if not an especially important one. The problems dealt with seem rather minor in some ways. We don't get to know Goeffrey Horne's victim at all, so his victimization is drained of some of its dramatic potential. And although we want to see Jocko punished for his misdeeds, it would be nicer if the system itself handed out justice. Instead we have to rely on a couple of dozen cadets who take matters into their own hands, coercing a confession out of Gazzara and then committing crimes in the course of getting rid of him. Gazzara aptly compares them to the Ku Kux Klan. The plot also isn't true to itself. Throughout, Gazzara has displayed cunning and self discipline, yet at the end is shrieking with horror, whining not to be hurt, babbling beggarly pleas. The climax would have been more effective had Gazzara faced his punishment bravely, if not necessarily with dignity.

What's interesting about it is seeing so many familiar faces so near the beginnings of their careers. Can you imagine Pat Hingle as a young military cadet? Or James Olson with a full head of hair? Gazzara gives what is probably his best performance as the sinister, sadistic Jocko, although his outrageous hamminess as Al Capone later in his career, an imitation Marlon Brando, his cheeks stuffed with what appear to be rolls of toilet paper, is much funnier. There are also intimations of homosexuality on the part of two of the cadets. (One is not very covert.) There were to be a number of films in the two decades to follow that were set among the cadet community at The Citadel or somewhere, splashier than this one, but this was an original by Calder Willingham. The one I enjoy most, actually, is an episode in the TV series "Colombo," called "Dawn's Early Light." The heavy is Patrick McGoohan and in his acting he outshines anyone else in any of the military cadet movies.

The launch of some brilliant careers.

[mikeschiffrin · 9/10 · 11 May 2001]

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.

One View of the Film's Subtext

[dougdoepke · 29 December 2014]

No need to recap the plot, which is character-driven, anyway. Instead I want to pick up on what I think is an important thread in this unusual 1957 production.

As another reviewer points out this is a movie heavy on subtext. In 1957, the Production Code still hung heavily over what could be portrayed on the big screen and what couldn't. Thus to make its points about a particular military school, or perhaps such schools in general, Willingham's screenplay and Garfein's staging resort to near grotesqueries. In fact, several of the cadets come across as etched in the extreme—the Machiavellian DeParis (Gazzara), the sycophantic Perrin (Richards), and especially the grotesque Simmons (Storch). Now I take the point of these character exaggerations as reflecting on what author Willingham sees as problematic within such schools where military hierarchy prevails among young men. But instead of making a frontal assault that might anger censors or the military, these points are wrapped in melodramatic foil.

For example, consider that it's a sergeant's rank that allows an insidious schemer like DeParis to flourish. He manipulates the system in part by using his authority over newer cadets, intimidating them into cooperating. Of course, his schemes are melodramatic as befits a commercial film. Nonetheless, as a guy who graduated from a prestige junior academy, I know that the hierarchy of cadets can indeed encourage sadistic tendencies. DeParis may be an exaggeration, but the point is made, nonetheless. Secondly, I take Simmons' antipathy toward alcohol, sex, and pleasure as a reflection on fundamentalist beliefs, often found in the Deep South, and grotesquely parodied in Simmons' physical appearance. So when he mouths the refrain about hypocrites taking over, it's really his own fears he's releasing. Certainly, he needn't worry about his anti-hedonism being challenged within the confines of the academy, though the sadistic DeParis may have other plans. And lastly, there's Perrin whose budding homosexuality is attached to the lordly DeParis. Trouble is Perrin's adulation only adds to the Sergeant's inflated ego making him even worse. It's also telling, I believe, that the one character with conscience, Marquales (Peppard), wants to leave the school soon after experiencing life on the inside, that is, what's too often beneath the spiffy uniforms and regimented behavior. Then too, note that it's not the system that finally catches up with DeParis. Instead it's other cadets to whom he's become a menace. But when he threatens to come back, it may not be he himself who returns. Rather it's the brutal spirit whose nature the academy cannot eradicate. Still, the ending does comport with Code requirements with the guilty one being punished.

All in all, it seems that author Willingham is using these exaggerated characters to bring out in heightened form what he may have experienced as a cadet himself. There are likely other interpretations of the subtext than this particular one. Nonetheless, it's apparent that there is more to the storyline than what meets the melodramatic eye. Mine is simply one way of looking at these lurking undercurrents.

The movie itself is an actor's powerhouse, especially Gazzara who rivets attention throughout. Still, I agree with others that the junior cast is about ten-years too old for their cadet parts. Nonetheless, it looks like the producers dipped heavily into New York's prestige acting schools for the likes of Gazzara, Hingle, and Peppard. Also, director Garfein appears to hail from the Elia Kazan school of directing, which is apparent in the focus on performances rather than lighting or setting, for example.

Overall, the movie remains an interesting oddity despite passing decades. Moreover, the subtextual message remains, I think, a relevant one for those contemplating a military school education.

All the worms turn

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 21 March 2015]

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.

The 1957 film of an incident in a Southern Military Academy

[jaybob · 9/10 · 18 June 2009]

In 1957 Movies were still under the censorship guidelines of the notorious Breen Office. Most of the adult phrases allowable in books & plays of that era were still not allowed in movies.

The Strange One first saw light as a novel & play under the title of END AS A MAN. Calder Wallingham wrote the novel & play as well as the Screenplay.Jack Garfein directed in a crisp fast style.

The cast includes mostly Television stars of the time, most in there first film role. Ben Gazzara is Jocko DeParis a most despicable cadet Seargent, who makes life miserable for all those near him,including the Headmaster in charge.There is nothing likable about Jocko. Ben Gazzara created a memorable role,his first of many over the 40 or so years. In major support in in his first major film role is George Peppard & its easy to see why he was a big star.Pat Hingle is about the only other name actor in the movie. Most of the others did have movie careers & you may recognize them.

As I said this is a 1957 movie & there was much you could not say or see back then, There major plot is Hazing & its after effects, also some beatings, no nudity,we do hear sounds of a broom being applied and of course no sex or hints of.We can imply what is not said.

The main problem & was prevalent in all college type movies, The actors were older than there characters. I liked this today as much as I did in 1957.

Ratings ***1/2 out of 4;93 points out of 100;IMDb 9 out of 10

There's no way a man can get drunk and not drink!

[sol1218 · 7/10 · 12 June 2007]

(There are Spoilers) Strange to say the least "The Strange One" is a story about a military college in the deep south that's been more or less taken over by this swaggering and full of himself cadet Jocko DeParee, or DeParis as it's spelled in English, played by 27 year old Ben Gazerra in his motion picture debut. Jocko is in a way a lot smarter then both the cadets and military officers at the academy and uses his smarts to get people to do things for him. Jocko uses his vast knowledge of the human mind, whatever you say about this low down rat he certainly knows his stuff, to manipulate everyone he comes in contact with there.

We first see Jocko in action as he sets up cadet George or Georgie Avery, Geoffrey Horne, for the big fall. Getting him involved in this off the wall plan that Jocko cooked up with the help of two freshman cadets who had no idea at all what they were in for Marquales & Simmons, George Peppard & Arthur Storch. In what at first looked like a weird initiation rite Jocko had Marquales and Simmons get involved in a game of poker with another cadet the academy's star football tackle Roger Gatt,James Olson, by having both of them serve him up drinks as Jocko cheated Roger, who by then was too drunk to even notice, out of $90.00 in the card game.

Turning on Simmons who's deep religious belief's forbid him to drink or serve anyone else drinks Jocko really lets the confused and bewildered cadet have it by having a broom, used by both him and a very drunken Roger, whacked against his behind. This beating of Simmons didn't stop until Georgie who's in the next room charged in and tried to brake this lunacy up. With Georgie's dad the commandant of the academy Maj. Avery, Larry Gates, coming over to see what was going on he finds Jocko sound asleep as if nothing at all happened. The next morning Georgie is found, fully dressed, outside the barracks savagely beaten and his body stinking from bottles of whiskey and vodka that were lying all around him.

It's obvious to everyone watching the movie that Jocko and his friends, willing or unwilling, put Georgie in the mess that he was found in but all the evidence, Jocko saw to it, pointed that he got himself juiced and fell down a flight of stairs ending up at the quadrangle with his head broken. Thrown out of the academy from drunkenness and conduct unbecoming of an officer in the US military Georgie actions bothers his dad Maj. Avery to no end. It's not only that his son ended up being a disgrace to his uniform Maj. Avery feels deep down inside, and rightly so, that Georgie was set up by Jocko as an act of revenge.

Jocko besides being a master manipulator is also very sadistic as well in his dealings with his fellow cadets. Jacko takes sadistic pleasure in needling Simmons into both going out on a date with a girl and getting drunk. Simmon's deep religious beliefs forbids him to drink and his vow of celibacy forbids him to have anything to do with the opposite sex, like going out on a date and possibly getting laid that would take away his virginity that he claims that he's saving for his wedding night; that only encourages Jocko to torment the poor guy even more. With Jocko now on a roll in having Georgie kicked out of the academy he turns his sights on Georgies dad Maj. Avery. Whom he hates even more then Georgie in that he busted him the year before for being too rough, to say the least, with the freshman cadets in his charge.

As if by accident or by plan Jocko is called into Maj. Avery's office and told that he's AWOL from guard duty. It's then that the Major finds out that Jocko's been excused from guard duty by the commanding officer of the military academy. This leads to a major confrontation with with Maj. Avery with Jocko getting slapped silly for inferring that the Major was a bad influence to his boy Georgie, whom he drove to become a sloppy drunk, with everyone within earshot seeing it! The Major himself is now in danger of being kicked out of the academy for the unprovoked, since he never raised a hand to him, attack on Jocko!

Jocko's actions get so out of hand that in the end the cadets including his roommate Harry Koble, Pat Hingle, just had all that they can take from him. Now they set him up in a mock trial for all the mischief he committed at the academy and Jocko is forced to sign a confession of his crimes. It's then that he's run out of the academy on a rail as he, when he recovers from the shock, swears to those gleeful and happy cadets who are glad that their finally rid of him that he'll be back and back with a vengeance.

About the only cadet who had any liking for the sleazy Jocko DeParis was the creepy Perrin McKee, Paule E. Richards, who's also known as "The Cockroach", because he crawled around the academy like one. Perrin ironically was the only one who could have fingered him in what he did to Georgie Avery in being an eye witness to the whole sickening act. Perrin seemed to be so in love with Jocko, going so far as writing his biography that took all of 92 chapters, that he just overlooked or was blinded by his love and admiration for Jocko in just what a lowlife creep he really was. In the end it was fitting that "The Cockroach" would end up being the only friend that Jocko has left in the entire world.

So much of the content is intimated, touched upon, that the final result feels half-empty...

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 15 November 2015]

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 ****

"The Strange One" isn't the only strange one at The Southern Military Academy!

[Poseidon-3 · 15 June 2007]

Due to the censorial constraints of the time, Calder Willingham's source novel and play had to be rinsed off quite a bit before passing muster as a film. The result is a tense, mean, but veiled story of a sadistic military school cadet who runs roughshod over those around him, especially freshman who aren't in any position to complain. Gazzara is the title character, a needlessly cruel bully who uses other people to inflict pain on his enemies when he isn't busy doing it himself. The film's main concern is his scheme to oust Horne, a fellow cadet he dislikes, by setting a plan into motion that involves Gazzara's chief sidekick Hingle, tall bruiser Olson and new students Peppard and Storch. Following the incident, Gazzara attempts to keep everyone's mouth shut through intimidation, though he has one fly in the ointment which is clingy, nerdy Richards who worships Gazzara and has seen everything take place. Meanwhile, Horne's father, a Major at the school, is bent on getting to the bottom of the situation. Gazzara gives a charismatic performance, despite having certain aspects of his characterization hindered by the Production Code's cuts. He, and all of the actors (and technicians) on the film, were students of The Method school of acting from the Actors Studio in New York. Though most of the actors seem a bit old for their roles, this was standard procedure in the day. Many of them had done these roles on Broadway prior to filming. It's interesting to get a look at busy character actors like Hingle and Olson when they were young, not to mention Peppard who was at the beginning of his film career. Wilson doesn't have much to do besides pat her hair and was added to the story strictly to provide a female presence. Most of the performances are good, including those from James, as another authority figure, and Gates, as the frustrated and agitated father. Two performances stand out as poor. Richards as the sycophant admirer is way over-the-top in his creepiness and effeminate oddity. Storch, as a buck-toothed, bespectacled ninny is extraordinarily bad. He can barely speak behind his fake teeth and his expressions and body language are always, always insanely overstated and cartoonish. His ridiculous, embarrassing characterization tends to drain the film of the necessary grit and tension since he is so ludicrous. Still, those who enjoy unintentional humor may find him a treat. The original story contained heavy homosexual content and that had to be all but removed for the big screen in 1957. In it's place are some grotesque stereotypes disguised more as geeks or prudes rather than gays and a lot of phallic imagery involving swords. Also, the cadets all seem to take turns striking suggestive poses (i.e. - leaning over basins with their behinds to the camera, doing push-ups on the floor, sitting spread-eagled in a tree, etc...) in an effort to get a certain feeling across. It's a striking film, nonetheless, with some unsettling moments. Gazzara and Gates have a very strong showdown at one point and the ending is fairly memorable if a bit unrealistic. It's more of a curio now than a meaningful film, but it's worth a look to see its stars in their earliest years of performing.

it IS strange...

[JasparLamarCrabb · 6/10 · 12 December 2009]

It IS strange! An unhinged cadet at a Southern military academy runs rampant over the other students in this creepy, little known film. Ben Gazzara has the lead (with the kinky sounding name of Jocko DeParis). He's great and the supporting cast includes Pat Hingle, George Peppard, Arthur Storch and Geoffrey Horne. With the exception of Horne, they're all way to old looking to be convincing as cadets, but there's enough sinister goings on to make for a very involving movie. Calder Willingham's script (from his novel and play) is terrific, full of bizarre undertones and offering Gazzara one of his few really good film roles. Peppard, in his film debut as a newbie, was never better. One of only two films to be directed by Jack Garfein, the other being 1961's equally strange SOMETHING WILD.

This movie shows what can be defined as standard practice when superiors are not looking.

[jordondave-28085 · 7/10 · 4 April 2023]

(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.

Unusual

[Billiam-4 · 6/10 · 11 January 2022]

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

It's hard to know who exactly the strange one is in this film full of them

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 23 October 2008]

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.

Every dog has their day, including the pure breeds.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 4 October 2022]

It's obvious that the military college cadet played by Ben Gazzara thinks he's top dog, but what he is is a stinking, rotten bully. He turns on fellow cadets just for fun, but I certainly wouldn't want him next to my side during a war. He's obviously a sociopath of the highest order, framing a cadet for public drunkenness, and his big mistake is doing it to the son of Captain Larry Gates who does a complete investigation of the case. Gazzara has backing from several of his fellow cadets, and that leads to a violent confrontation between Gazzara and Gates that gives further evidence of Gazzara's malevolent capabilities.

Gazzara has other victims including those he manipulates into supporting his evil schemes and another he refers to as "cockroach" who for some reason seems to have a crush on him. George Peppard, Peter Mark Richman and Geoffrey Horne are among the other cadets, and they make for an outstanding ensemble for a rather depressing story. After all, this is supposed to represent the best of what the American military has to offer, and Gazzara's character is completely evil with no guilt about who he hurts. Broadway musical vet Julie Wilson has a small part as Gazzara's date.

This is better than I remembered it to be from a previous viewing, probably because I see it from a more realistic view of the evils of humanity than I did when I was younger and how people can be controlled by them in order to protect themselves. Gazzara But as bullies get over, they find that they're not consistently successful and eventually the bones they grab onto in order to devour end up causing them to choke.

Amusingly over-heated military school drama...

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 7 November 2022]

...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.

' I'll be back '

[jromanbaker · 10/10 · 27 September 2020]

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.

*1/2

[edwagreen · 3/10 · 5 December 2015]

Not even fine acting by Ben Gazzara as a twisted cadet out to destroy a fellow cadet and the latter's father at a military acting can save this dreadful film.

What contributes to the misery of the film is the cast of dreadful characters led by a want-to-be chaplain and writer, both cadets at the academy who really know what has happened. There is an element of homosexuality in the film as the writer shows effeminate traits and the chaplain-to-be refuses to take a bath with the other cadets in the shower.

Gazzara is twisted and vicious here, somethings we often saw in his emotionally type performances.

The ending shows how the cadets coalesce to bring this character down. The film itself is totally unappealing.

louse Actors Studio style

[petershelleyau · 31 March 2003]

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.

Military noir

[nickenchuggets · 8/10 · 14 December 2023]

While films related to military matters are among my favorite things to partake in, it's not everyday you see one that fits within the noir genre. This little known movie brings the process of hazing to the forefront, and shows how nepotism is one of the worst aspects of modern society. The Strange One begins with a cadet sergeant named Jocko De Paris (Ben Gazzara) bullying a freshman at a southern military college. Most people at the school are terrified of Jocko due to his father's influence with the place, and Jocko can do what he wants with impunity. The victimized recruit in question is cadet Simmons (Arthur Storch), who is singled out by Jocko and his football player friend Roger. They beat him with a broom in one of the dorms. Later on, Jocko makes it look as though George Avery, son of a high ranking officer at the college, has been drinking too much on campus by using an apparatus to pump whiskey down his throat while he sleeps. The plan works in Jocko's favor and Avery is removed from the school. All the people involved with this are looked into by the officers at the school, but Jocko's involvement is not suspected (yet). As De Paris continues to brutalize other cadets, some of them (including his own roommates) band together in order to put a stop to what he's doing. While attempting to get Simmons to meet a girl named Rosebud (Julie Wilson) at a bar, Jocko is arrested and brought before Major George Avery Senior. He finds out the charge is false, and the major wanted him arrested for deserting his post while on guard duty, but he was relieved by someone else shortly before. Nevertheless, the major accuses Jocko of pouring alcohol down his son's throat in order to get him expelled, to which Jocko replies if he really did that, he wouldn't be stupid enough to leave whiskey in the apparatus for the major to find. The latter hits Jocko in the face and throws him out of his office. Jocko then takes Rosebud with him to the bar they were at earlier, intending to let her meet Simmons for sure this time without being interrupted. However, upon entering, Jocko is confronted by dozens of cadets from the college who hold him hostage inside the place. Angry and wanting revenge, they force him to sign a paper confirming his involvement in the whiskey scandal and trying to cover it up. Smug at first and convinced he did nothing wrong, Jocko is eventually forced to sign the paper and is then blindfolded and carried to a nearby railroad track. Instead of throwing him onto it and killing him, the cadets place Jocko on the train once it comes to a halt. Once Jocko realizes what's going on, he yells at the cadets from the caboose, saying he'll get them for this. This is quite an effective movie. While it doesn't have one of the staples of the genre (a female character who ruins somebody's life), this is more than made up for by Ben's devious performance. He perfectly epitomizes every jerk that you've probably ever known, and enjoys tormenting those around him for one reason: he knows he can get away with it. While I thought Rosebud was kind of a wasted character seeing as how she doesn't really do anything (but complain about Italian food). She's also the only female character in the whole movie aside from the major's secretary. Overall, due to great acting from the lead antagonist, and how it shows schools (even colleges) to be safe havens for bullies under the right circumstances, The Strange One is one of the most unique noirs you'll come across.