The Strange One
1957 film by Jack Garfein
The Strange One is a 1957 American film noir about students faced with an ethical dilemma in a military college in the Southern United States. It was directed by Jack Garfein, produced by Sam Spiegel, and was adapted from a novel and stage play by Calder Willingham called End as a Man. It marked the film debut of Ben Gazzara, George Peppard and Julie Wilson. Gazzara, Pat Hingle, Mark Richman and Arthur Storch reprised their roles, after starring in the stage version. The film is noteworthy, due to the entire acting and technical staff being from the Actors Studio. It focuses on the dehumanization associated with the tradition of hazing within the college and is noteworthy for its portrayal of homoerotic themes – and at least one gay character – at a time when the Hays Code prohibited such expression.
Plot
Cadet Staff Sergeant Jocko De Paris is a senior at the fictional Southern Military College. Using the authority of his own rank, his father's connections with the school, and the college's tradition of allowing upperclassmen to bully new cadets, De Paris effectively does what he pleases. Everyone at the school is either afraid of him or believes he is a normal or even exemplary cadet.
One night, he frames George Avery, the son of a staff member, making it appear that he got drunk and fell unconscious on the quadrangle all by himself.
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Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2390868. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1957.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Strange One” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.