Reel Thoughts: Strange Love

Who knew Ben Gazzara was such a gorgeous stud? Or George Peppard? Or even Pat Hingle? The three actors play cadets at a Southern Military Academy in 1957’s controversial drama, The Strange One, which makes its DVD debutnext week in its original, uncensored version.

Gazzara plays Jocko de Paris (a porn name if there ever was one — not to mention the Tom of Finland-esque portrait of him that graces the credits), a sociopath with a talent for manipulation. When the film opens, Jocko and his roommate (Hingle) barge into the room of two freshman cadets (Peppard and dumb hayseed James Olson) and haze them in a sadistic game that ends with a homoerotic spanking with a broom. The other cadets are actually Jocko’s pawns in a plot to get a hated rival (the commanding officer on campus) kicked out of the school. Jocko gets off on the fact that he uses his charisma to get others to do his dirty work, incorrectly imagining that no one knows about his scheming.


Unfortunately for Jocko, his amoral charm catches the attentions of a young cadet (Paul E. Richards), nicknamed “Cockroach”, who is considered “creative” (50’s code for queer, apparently). Jocko seems enamored of the young man’s attentions, stroking his sword while the young man recites a poetic novel based on Jocko, whose lead the smitten author named “Nightboy”. Their scenes crackle with such homoerotic electricity (for 1957 at least) the scenes were cut and only recently restored. Like Eve Harrington underestimated Addison DeWitt in All About Eve, so, too, does Jocko misjudge his Cockroach’s power over him. Thus begins the sadistic bully’s comeuppance, and it is fun to watch. That is due in no small part to the pleasure of gazing at the beautiful Peppard, as the lone student brave enough to stand up to the charming Jocko de Paris.

Originally a workshop at the Actors Studio, The Strange One was based on the novel and play End as a Man by Calder Willingham, author of The Graduate. Gazzara gives a superb performance (in his first film) as the kind of self-centered sadist who never imagines he can fail. Peppard was years from making Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and he shows a charisma similar to Paul Newman in his early prime. The story has a bit of the jerky plotting of an exploitation flick, but overall, the actors’ training comes through with flying colors.

The Strange One is a fascinating look at a mid-50’s military school, as well as fulfilling a little wish fulfillment for classic 50’s beefcake.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Women We Love: Sandra Bullock

Object of our affection: Sandra Bullock, actress/producer.

- Early television work included Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman and the part of Tess McGill in the short-lived TV version of Working Girl.

- Film roles followed in Love Potion No. 9, The Vanishing, The Thing Called Love and Demolition Man, but it was her spunky Annie Porter in the blockbuster Speed that made her a household name. She reprised the role in the less successful, Keanu-less sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control.

- Her first romantic comedy lead, in the hit While You Were Sleeping, garnered the actress her first Golden Globe nomination; she would also be so recognized for Miss Congeniality. Other rom coms on her résumé include Practical Magic, Forces of Nature, Two Weeks Notice, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous and her newest film, The Proposal, which opens next week following a special sneak preview this Saturday.

- No stranger to dramas as well, her notable films in that genre include The Net, A Time to Kill, In Love and War, Hope Floats, 28 Days, Murder by Numbers, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Crash, The Lake House and Infamous. She also voiced Miriam in the animated epic The Prince of Egypt.

- Also due later this year: the comedy All About Steve and the sports drama The Blind Side.

Tony Tube 2009

Here's a video round up of the best of Broadway, as seen on the Tony Awards this past Sunday night:

- Another openin', another show ... and what an opening number, a show tune smorgasbord complete with a viral video moment courtesy of Bret Michaels (surely not the first time that the word "viral" has been associated with Mr. Michaels). The Poison frontman suffered a broken a nose, while the unfortunate set piece he smacked into has since tested positive for gonorrhea ...
- Best Musical Billy Elliot rocks its number, while its young stars David Alvarez, Kiril Kulish and Trent Kowalik charm in their joint acceptance speech for Best Actor.
- Christopher Sieber steals the show with his campy Lord Farquaad song from Shrek The Musical, while his fairy tale co-stars strut their stuff in some never-before-seen audition footage.
- Here's the numbers from the other two Best Musical nominees, Next to Normal (introduced by Carrie Fisher and her pantsuit) and Rock of Ages (complete with Liza cameo).
- Best Musical Revival winner Hair brought the house down, led by its two hunky stars Gavin Creel and Will Swenson.
- Also in the Musical Revival category, the cast of West Side Story (including the dreamy Matt Cavenaugh as Tony) go for a "Dance at the Gym", while those Guys and Dolls (which, as I predicted, closes this Sunday) suffer through sound snafus and bad staging in "Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat".
- Touring shows were also on hand, represented by the "Dancing Queens" of Mamma Mia!, the sorority gals of Legally Blonde and no less than five Frankie Vallis from Jersey Boys.
- And last, but certainly not least: dapper Tony host Neil Patrick Harris and his already legendary "11 O'clock Number".

Reverend's Interview: Facing East with Playwright Carol Lynn Pearson

The aftermath of the ferocious religious debates over Proposition 8 provides a timely setting for International City Theatre of Long Beach’s new production, Facing East. This unexpectedly moving play, written by Carol Lynn Pearson, opens tonight and runs to July 5 at the intimate, recently renovated Center Theatre in the Long Beach Performing Arts Center.

The play introduces audiences to Ruth and Alex, a middle-aged, upstanding Mormon couple who are reeling from the recent suicide of their son, Andrew. Andrew was gay and had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. By the end of Facing East, hidden truths have been revealed, mistakes lamented, and faint signs of hope begin to glimmer.

Pearson relates that the play was inspired by a sadly similar, real-life situation. “The closest person to me that is reflected in the play is a friend of mine, Brad Adams, who passed away a few years ago,” Pearson shared. “He became a member of the Mormon Church in Provo, Utah and loved it. He was expecting to be ‘cured’ of his homosexuality and met each week with the bishop to be prayed over.”

Pearson continued: “After Brad decided he was never going to change, he attempted suicide on the steps of the Provo temple. A BYU professor found him and took him to the hospital. Brad survived and moved to San Francisco, which is where I met him.”


A fourth-generation Mormon herself, Pearson says, “The play is an indictment but also an invitation to dialogue. It has received a very positive reaction where it has played so far, starting with selling out its run in Salt Lake City.” Following that successful premiere, Facing East had productions off-Broadway in New York and in San Francisco.

Talking with Pearson, one gets a sense of how much she has grown in her own understanding of homosexuality. She was married at one time to a gay man, which Pearson did not know initially. They subsequently divorced but remained friends, and Pearson cared for him as he succumbed to AIDS. She recounts this experience in her autobiography, Goodbye, I Love You.

Her personal experiences have taught Pearson the lesson she hopes people take from seeing Facing East. It is, according to the playwright, “to believe in yourself before or more than you believe in anything else.” This applies to faith in religions, churches and even God.

Toward the end of Facing East, Alex expresses a sentiment that Pearson heard many of her fellow LDS church members say in the midst of the bitter struggle in California over same-sex marriage: “The truly awful thing is we are better than that.” Pearson indicated that many of the more moderate Mormons she knows were embarrassed by the Mormon Church’s strong backing of Prop 8.


Pearson’s play has even drawn praise in more official LDS circles. The theatre critic of the church-owned Deseret News publication in Salt Lake commended Facing East as the best local production of the year, tied with the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s Hamlet.

“Everyone there (in Salt Lake) had a story about how this subject interested them,” Pearson recalls. “It’s been thrilling to see how healing the experience of watching the play has been for many people, especially families. I’ve received so many e-mails from people saying ‘In our house, the conversation still hasn’t stopped’.” Pearson also treasures the memory of a lesbian viewer in San Francisco who credits the playwright with saving the life of her partner, who was contemplating suicide before she saw Facing East.

As she looks forward to the Long Beach production of Facing East, Pearson is busily promoting her new book, No More Goodbyes: Circling the Wagons around Our Gay Loved Ones. It includes many inspiring stories of families finding new and positive ways to relate to their gay and lesbian children.

Renowned author and rabbi Harold Kushner acclaims Pearson and her latest work “for reminding us that the task of any religion is to teach us whom we’re required to love, not whom we’re entitled to hate.” The potent Facing East also succeeds in this regard.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.