The Leather Boys
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| The Leather Boys | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Sidney J. Furie |
| Produced by | Raymond Stross |
| Written by | Gillian Freeman |
| Starring | Rita Tushingham Colin Campbell Dudley Sutton |
| Music by | Bill McGuffie |
| Cinematography | Gerald Gibbs |
| Editing by | Reginald Beck |
| Distributed by | British Lion-Columbia |
| Release date(s) | January 1964 |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Leather Boys is a 1964 British drama film showing a biker gang which had in it a gay member. This film is notable as an early example of a film that violated the Hollywood production code, yet was still shown in the United States, as well as an important film in the genre of queer cinema.
A hybrid of British kitchen sink realism and American biker film, it was considered daring in 1964 as it touched upon homosexuality, however obliquely. Some reviewers have noted that it contains naturalistic photography and [1] period locations[2].
The film is based on a novel commissioned by the London literary agent and publisher Anthony Blond.[3][4] He suggested that Gillian Freeman write about a "Romeo and Romeo in the South London suburbs".[5]
The film plot was changed considerably, presumably to make it more palatable to 1964 movie-goers. Only one of the main male characters is gay in the film (with Reggie leaving Pete upon finding out his sexuality at the film's end) but, while neither has a happy ending, in the novel there is no ambiguity whatsoever regarding the love between Pete and Reggie.
The book was published in 1961 under the pseudonym Eliot George[6]--an inversion of the famous 19th century female author, Mary Ann Evans, who published as George Eliot. Freeman is credited in the film as the author of the screenplay based on the novel of Eliot George.
