The Leather Boys

The Leather Boys (1964)

The frustrations of sexual conflict.

Reggie and Dot are a young South London couple who get married before they really get to know each other. After the marriage, they quickly begin to drift apart. Dot seems content to pursue her own interests, until Reggie meets Pete, a fellow cyclist, and begins to explore his own identity.

Date of release
1964-03-08
TMDB
6.6 / 10 (24)
Runtime
1h 48m
Genres
Drama, Romance
Director
Sidney J. Furie

Casting

Interesting facts

The Leather Boys is a 1964 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Sidney J. Furie, adapted by Gillian Freeman from her 1961 novel. It stars Rita Tushingham, Colin Campbell, and Dudley Sutton. The story is set in the early 1960s following the ton-up boy rocker subculture in London and features a gay motorcyclist.

Production

The film is based on the 1961 novel The Leather Boys, commissioned by the London literary agent and publisher Anthony Blond, who suggested that Gillian Freeman write about a "Romeo and Romeo in the South London suburbs". Freeman published the novel using the pseudonym Eliot George, but she is credited under her own name for the screenplay "based on the novel of Eliot George".

Rita Tushingham said much of the dialogue was improvised after the actors complained that the script "was nothing like how the youth living in London spoke at the time".

Locations include the Ace Cafe and the Tidal Basin Tavern in Silvertown, East London.

The 27th February 1964 edition of UK magazine, Motor Cycle reported that Triumph Engineering refused to supply motorcycles for the film in view of the subject matter. Instead, the magazine reported that used motorcycles were utilised, the film "thereby, probably, gaining in authenticity".

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended