Fraternity Row

At a tony Pennsylvania college in 1954, an idealistic young man--who has faith in his belief of true-blue brotherhood--becomes a new fraternity pledge and tries to change the hierarchy inherent to the somewhat sadistic them-vs.-us system. Oppressive with nostalgia, sentiment, and pathos, this rather unhappy enterprise begins as an affectionate remembrance but winds up a cautionary tale (all the while narrated by Cliff Robertson who, in his fare-thee-well manner, coats the production with a "Waltons"-styled solemnity). Some of the dialogue exchanges are interesting, and screenwriter Charles Gary Allison (who also produced) is deft enough to give us several good guys and not just one sacrificial lamb. However, for a seemingly-autobiographical drama, the film comes up short on dramatic inspiration, and we never get to know most of the characters on display. Allison works his way up to one major plot development, which is handled bluntly by director Thomas J. Tobin, while the impressive cast of young actors get stuck performing all on one note. *1/2 from ****

I saw this on TV when I was 6 or 7, I never forgot it and it haunted me for years until I was finally able to track it down thanks to search engines about 3 years ago. I thought this film was made in the 1950's, and that made it harder to find. All I could remember is it was about a fraternity and something about eagles, and I remember it being really depressing. It's funny how as a child things get filtered differently and what you remember is not necessarily accurate. When I re-watched it as an adult, I found it to be a fairly upbeat film with a real downbeat ending.

This is a very 1970's film, it is set in the 1950's, and while it isn't a bad period film, as a child I thought it was made in the 1950's, as an adult, I see the markings of a 1970's film.

The film is very well-made overall, and if it did not say this was student film, I likely would never have known. I see why it was picked up for distribution. The acting is good, it is well-scripted, filmed, and directed. It's not gonna blow your mind, but it has some likeable and not likeable characters, and is, for the time, decently realistic.

I am glad I tracked this film down, and if you like films about fraternities, I would rank this as one of the better ones. It is a solid drama with some comedy here and there, it is a good solid effort, and not many movies I watched on a Sunday afternoon stuck with me, but this is one of them.

God Bless ~Amy

When this film was released by Paramount, it was hyped as an anti fraternity, expose'. The marketers played up the alcohol, pledging rituals and other negative stereotypes commonly attributed to fraternities. In actuality, this film which was a student production at USC and depicts a true story from the late 50's, is the loving but critical tribute by its author/producer to his friend whose story is told in this film.

While it looks with an blinking and critical eye at the many shortcomings including bigotry and other evils of pledging in that era it also is clear that the writer has a love for the ideal of fraternity and what it can be to young idealists such as Zac, the protagonist. That the reality, in this instance, falls far short of the ideal and results in terrible tragedy, provides the irony and conflict of this really very well done thesis project.

Although it was released by Paramount, it is still owned by USC and for that reason has never been released to video. Probably the only way to see it is by direct rental from USC or when it occasionally shows up on television.

As I recall, this was a University of Southern California thesis project for Gary Allison, the writer and producer of the film. After the film was completed, it was sold to Paramount. Everyone of the student actors and technicians were offered union membership. Especially, for the technical people, this became their entry into Hollywood.

For whatever reason, it has never been available on tape or dvd. Watch for it, as it may be a little dated, but it is still very enjoyable.

I first saw this movie on vacation in San Diego in 1977 and was immediately struck by the star quality of the two leads, Gregory Harrison (who became a star) and the female (a film student who apparently never made another movie). I'd love to see this again, but have never seen it listed on T.V. and it doesn't appear available on video tape. It was a film project of the USC Film School.