The Strange One

The Strange One is a 1957 black-and-white film about students faced with an ethical dilemma in a military college in the Southern United States. The film is adapted from a novel and stage play by Calder Willingham called End as a Man, and the film is sometimes referred to by that name.

The cast includes Ben Gazzara, George Peppard, Pat Hingle, Geoffrey Horne, James Olson, and Larry Gates, some of them members of the original cast of the stage version. The film was produced by Sam Spiegel, directed by Herb Gardner and Jack Garfein and is noteworthy due to the entire acting and technical staff being from the Actors Studio of New York City.

The film 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 homosexual 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.