The Strange One (1957)

Synopsis: Marking the beginnings of the raw intensity he's explored throughout his provocative film career, veteran actor Ben Gazzara makes his movie debut in this 1957 drama as the menacingly effeminate... Marking the beginnings of the raw intensity he's explored throughout his provocative film career, veteran actor Ben Gazzara makes his movie debut in this 1957 drama as the menacingly effeminate misanthrope Jocko de Paris. THE STRANGE ONE, a dark and deviant depiction of human behavior that's especially startling for its time, follows military-school student de Paris’s prolonged and eccentrically sadistic bullying of his fellow cadets in the aftermath of an incident in which he got the son of an executive officer expelled for drunkenness. The troubled de Paris uses any and all forms of humiliation and mental terrorization to silence his peers until he eventually finds his power challenged by a group of underclassmen. Based on a play by Calder Willingham, this film version of A STRANGE ONE was forced by the strict MPAA rules of the 1950s to tone down its homosexual themes, though certain suggestions remain palpable. [More]

Starring: Ben Gazzara, Pat Hingle, James Olson, George Peppard

Starring: Ben Gazzara, Pat Hingle, James Olson, George Peppard, Mark Richman, Arthur Storch, Paul Richards, Larry Gates, Clifton James, Geoffrey Horne, Julie Wilson

Director: Jack Garfein

Director: Jack Garfein
Screenwriter: Calder Willingham
Producer: Sam Spiegel
Story: Calder Willingham
Composer: Kenyon Hopkins

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