The Strange One

Based on a play that ran briefly in New York's Lyceum Theatre in the mid-1950s, this film was not a hit in its stage incarnation on Broadway, nor did it do much on the screen. Gazzara and many of the others were reprising their roles under the guidance of the same man who directed the stage version, Jack Garfein. In a southern military school, Gazzara is the student leader who wields power over the younger students. He's abetted by Hingle and Olson, who take equal delight in causing pain to the frightened lowerclassmen, epitomized by Storch, a young man who is homosexual. Gates is one of the "adults" at the school (though many of the younger players seem too old fo...