The Leather Boys

Description

Set in the cult world of fast cycles and loose sex, THE LEATHER BOYS is a shocking view of rebellious teenagers seeking their independence: Dot, the immature bride who finds that legal sex is not so excitingReg, her restless young husband who longs to see the world astride his motorcycleand Pete, his best friend who closets a harrowing secret. A disillusioned trio that discovers independence alone is not enough, and that lifes harsh realities are inescapable. Controversial at the time of release in 1964, THE LEATHER BOYS was one of the first movies that dealt with the then taboo subject of homosexuality.

Customer Reviews:

good film -- bad edition.......2007-05-20

An engaging hybrid of British 'kitchen sink' drama and American biker film, this atmospheric feature was considered daring in 1964 as it touched upon homosexuality, however obliquely. It has a suitably somber appearance in B&W but, filmed in CinemaScope, there is a certain elegance to its images.

Dot (Rita Tushingham) and Reg (handsome newcomer Colin Campbell), a young working-class couple, get married. She is sixteen, shallow, selfish, and vain. He is sweet, generally light-hearted, and thoughtful, but under pressure reverts to macho, blue-collar stereotype. As a result, they fight constantly and soon separate. Reg meets Pete, a flamboyant and extroverted biker, who becomes his best mate. They move in together while Reg sorts out his life. Despite Pete's constant mothering, possessiveness, and jealousy, naive Reg only figures out that his friend is in love with him when Pete is outed in a dockside bar at the end of the film. Typically, there could be no happy endings for gay men in 1964.

The film is especially interesting due to the photography, period locations, and the early cinematic homosexual reference. Colin Campbell is beautiful, a wonderful actor, and quite suited to the role of a confused youth trying hard, but not prepared, to be an adult. His pretty, boyish presence is essential to the theme of sexual repression which precipitates all the minor tragedies and frustrations in his life.

This Televista version is a poor Pan&Scan version. There are two widescreen issues, from Kino (out of print) and Blackhorse (Region 2), well worth searching for. It makes a great difference to see the film in its original form without half the screen missing. The wide format is especially convincing in the road and racing sequences.

Average customer rating:

Definitely NOT homosexual
Good drama, not really dated
A Different Look At The Lonely
A Different Look At The Lonely
Out of the Past

The Leather Boys (DVD) 1963

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Amazon.com

Though Sidney J. Furie's Leather Boys was controversial in its day, its boldness has dissipated with time. Set in the world of the leather-jacket-clad motorcycle clubs of British youth, this product of the British social-realist "kitchen sink" movement is at its best capturing the details of working-class life: the holiday camps, the claustrophobic studio homes, the pubs and cafés that dot neighborhood streets. Schoolgirl Dot (the engaging Rita Tushingham) and mechanic Reg (Colin Campbell) marry too early and quickly discover adulthood is not nearly as much fun as they expected. She's a social gadfly and he's a stick-in-the-mud homebody and they bring out the worst in each other. Mere months after exchanging vows he moves out to care for his widowed grandma, inviting his new mate Pete (Dudley Sutton) to bunk with him, but Pete's interest in Reg, as we learn, is more than just friendly. Tushingham is marvelous as Dot, an immature young woman alternately selfish, sincere, and desperate, and Campbell makes the soft-spoken Reg as blind to her needs as she is to his, but Furie barely hints at what brings them together in the first place--the moment the vows are spoken they seem to be at loggerheads, disagreements turning to vicious bickering. The film's reputation largely rests on its oblique exploration of the gay underground, provocative in its time, but today it's a lesser companion to such classics as The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and This Sporting Life. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Definitely NOT homosexual.......2005-05-12

This British New Wave film is in the social comment style of A Taste of Honey and A Kind of Loving and it is one of the best of these films. The relationship between the two mates in the story has been misunderstood since gay liberation and so therefore has the film. The film is about the disillusionment of youth in the modern world. The story has two young mates enjoying the freedom of the roads on their motorbikes while facing having to grow up in the modern adult world. One of them gets married and finds himself entangled in the responsibilities of marriage, while the other (Dudley Sutton's character) is determined to avoid this fate and keep his motorbike and the freedom of the roads, so he has nothing to do with girls. However at the end of the film, when the two mates finally part to go their separate ways, Dudley Sutton's young man is left facing a future of rootless drifting with the spectre of homosexuality lurking ahead of him. The homosexual figure at the end of the film is delberately intimidating and the film's ending would not have the power that it does if he was already a homosexual. The film is about the fall of innocence and youth. Seen this way (as it was in the 1960s) the film is very powerful.

Good drama, not really dated.......2004-07-02

If you've read other reviews you know about the plot. I think the movie is quite good.
Some people call the movie dated, but I think it's a consequence of its time-capsuling quality. I mean, the movie looks and sounds so real, it's true that this characters wouldn't exist today, but it's also so human, we can still relate to them, and at the same time we get the feeling of life in another era.
The acting is excellent, uncompromised. I hear the leading lady was an iconic pop idol. Well, hers is a really unflattering character and she doesn't try any trick to make her more sympathetic. But we still care for her, or at least understand her behaviour, becouse the script is so true and balanced, I'd say it's a fair script to every character.
I think the most troublesome character from today's audience's point of view, is the young husband played by Colin Campbell. I guess becouse it takes him a really loooong time to realize that his new buddy is gay. But if you look at it in its context time-wise, this may be easier to understand. Also, there's the hint that he might really know about it much sooner, but doesn't want to acknoledge it, the same way he does with the troubles with his wife.
About the dvd: this is a 2.35 non-anamorphic transfer, and not a very good one. There's a lot of aliasing, everywhere and most of the time. The sound is so-so, but worst of all for me is that there are no subtitles or captions at all.

A Different Look At The Lonely.......2002-01-22

This film is a really wonderful example of the fact that anyone can feel polarized, alone, and alienated. Reg is a young straight biker mechanic who gets married to a harpy of a woman who is just awful to him. Rita Tushingham plays his young wife as a woman with seemingly no love just a desire to complain and be absolutely nasty to Reg. So along comes Pete, a homosexual motorcylist who befriends Reg. Reg does not realize Pete is a homosexual, and can't quite figure out Pete's motivations some times, but he really likes Pete and consider's Pete his best friend. As the relationship between Reg and his terribly cruel wife (who obviously has no soul) deteriorates he spends more and time with Pete. Pete believes that they should go off to America together (he and Reg) as Reg has no intention of staying with the gorgon back at home. Reg finally realizes Pete likes him and doesn't quite no how to take it but since Pete is the best friend he ever had he does not want to lose him. Reg and the medusa try once more to get back together but as usual she shows her true colors. Really, her character is the most unsympatheticly written person ever in a movie...you can't help but hate this woman because she is just awful and not satisfied with anything. So Reg tells Pete that the trip to America is on. But on the way to the boat Pete leaves Reg in a gay bar where several very aggressive men hit on him. Reg is sort of taken aback and realizes that maybe he does not belong with Pete in his world either. The film ends with Reg leaving Pete standing in front of the gay bar and Reg walking away absolutely alone. This film dispels the myth that gay men are the only ones with identity problems. At the end, Pete still has his idendity, the horrible wife does. But the straight guy is left with nothing. He is alone, and fits in nowhere. He does not belong in the straight or gay world. He is a misfit. Doomed to walk off alone onto the highway. He doesn't know where he's going and who know's where he'll ever end up.

A Different Look At The Lonely.......2002-01-22

This film is a really wonderful example of the fact that anyone can feel polarized, alone, and alienated. Reg is a young straight biker mechanic who gets married to a harpy of a woman who is just awful to him. Rita Tushingham plays his young wife as a woman with seemingly no love, just a desire to complain and be absolutely nasty to Reg. So along comes Pete, a homosexual motorcylist who befriends Reg. Reg does not realize Pete is a homosexual and can't quite figure out Pete's motivations some times, but he really likes Pete and consider's Pete his best friend. As the relationship between Reg and his terribly cruel wife (who obviously has no soul) deteriorates he spends more and time with Pete. Pete believes that they should go off to America together (he and Reg) as Reg has no intention of staying with the gorgon back at home. Reg finally realizes Pete likes him and doesn't quite no how to take it but since Pete is the best friend he ever had he does not want to lose him. Reg and the medusa try once more to get back together but as usual she quickly shows her true colors. Really, her character is the most unsympatheticly written person ever in a movie...you can't help but hate this woman because she is just awful and not satisfied with anything. So Reg tells Pete that the trip to America is on. But on the way to the boat Pete leaves Reg in a gay bar where several very aggressive men hit on him. Reg is sort of taken aback and realizes that maybe he does not belong with Pete in his world either. The film ends with Reg leaving Pete standing in front of the gay bar and Reg walking away absolutely alone. This film dispels the myth that gay men are all the only ones with identity problems. At the end, Pete still has his idendity, the horrible wife does. But the straight guy is left with nothing. He is alone, and fits in nowhere. He does not belong in the straight or gay world. He is a misfit. Doomed to walk off alone onto the highway. He doesn't know where he's going and who know's where he'll ever end up.

Out of the Past.......2000-04-02

"Leather Boys" is a black-and-white noirish film of the kitchen sink school directed by Canadian Sidney J. Furie and starring '60s pop icon Rita Tushingham. However, it is Colin Campbell, as Tushingham's young husband, who takes center stage in the drama, and his performance is heart-breaking. "Leather Boys" is essentially a drama about consequences. Campbell's character marries Tushingham because that's what a young man from his class and with his prospects does. But he is unhappy in marriage and with the lack of options available to a young man in the era before London began to swing in the 1960s, without really knowing why. Then a new mate comes into his life, played by the great character actor Dudley Sutton, and his world is suddenly turned upside down. Can a couple of motorcycle jocks find love in England in 1963? You probably already know the answer to that one, but see for yourself how it plays out on film. The closing scene is a study in ambivalence. To my mind, this is a little-known classic of early "gay" cinema.

Average customer rating:

The Leather Boys KINO DVD 1963
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Manufacturer: Kino Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

US DVD Kino Video Official Release
Letterboxed (2.35.1)
From the Novel by Elliot George
Special Features Theatrical Trailer Photo Gallery Orig., Press Book
Black and White 105mins

ASIN: B000VZIZ88

Product Description

US DVD Kino Video Release Region 1 UK Film 1963 B&W 105mins Letterboxed A bold and engaging drama set against the decadent motorcycle clubs of the 1960's England. The Leather Boys combines the sexual frankness and harsh realism of the British New Wave with the homoeroticism of Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising.

DVD:

DVD

DVD