I feel very fortunate to have seen Fraternity Row at a special screening along with about 400 fellow members of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity in a theater at Knoxville's University of Tennessee campus. We were shown the film during our Leadership Seminar in mid-August of 1977. The producer and writer, Charles Gary Allison, introduced the movie and graciously stuck around for a Q & A afterwords. Needless to say, practically everyone was pretty misty- eyed by the time the end credits rolled.
My fraternity had passed a comprehensive anti-hazing policy in 1972, and Fraternity Row spoke volumes to a crowd that was involved in pioneering the idea that fraternities should abstain from hazing and abusive ritual practices. This movie is probably the most painful reminder to date of just how destructive fraternity hazing can be.
Allison's USC master's project received a token distribution by Paramount in art houses and college campuses later that year and has appeared sporadically on TV in the years since. Unfortunately, it has received hardly any exposure in the past couple of decades outside of USC's film library.
The hazing incident depicted in Fraternity Row's final act still hits home even though the story depicts some positive aspects of fraternity life in the 1950s. In spite of the movie's graphic re-creation of a cruel and ultimately deadly hazing incident, it's too bad that only a handful of college students will ever get the chance to see this film. In the years since its release, who knows how many fraternity chapter members might have avoided making similarly stupid choices if they'd watched this movie?
While I don't expect that this movie will ever become a staple of cable or satellite TV movie channels, it should become required viewing for college audiences that want to enhance their Greek fraternity and sorority community relations. A DVD of this underrated film project should see the light of day.
My fraternity had passed a comprehensive anti-hazing policy in 1972, and Fraternity Row spoke volumes to a crowd that was involved in pioneering the idea that fraternities should abstain from hazing and abusive ritual practices. This movie is probably the most painful reminder to date of just how destructive fraternity hazing can be.
Allison's USC master's project received a token distribution by Paramount in art houses and college campuses later that year and has appeared sporadically on TV in the years since. Unfortunately, it has received hardly any exposure in the past couple of decades outside of USC's film library.
The hazing incident depicted in Fraternity Row's final act still hits home even though the story depicts some positive aspects of fraternity life in the 1950s. In spite of the movie's graphic re-creation of a cruel and ultimately deadly hazing incident, it's too bad that only a handful of college students will ever get the chance to see this film. In the years since its release, who knows how many fraternity chapter members might have avoided making similarly stupid choices if they'd watched this movie?
While I don't expect that this movie will ever become a staple of cable or satellite TV movie channels, it should become required viewing for college audiences that want to enhance their Greek fraternity and sorority community relations. A DVD of this underrated film project should see the light of day.