4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Touching kitchen sink

A Customer from London, 20th March, 2008

Excellent British kitchen sink film with a gay subtext - that becomes less and less 'sub' as the film goes on. I really felt for the main characters in this film as you can see that despite their hopes and dreams they are trapped by the expectations of the time and the limits on what they believe is possible. Clumsy and awkward the happily married couple soon fall apart and it is easy to sympathise with both of them while simultaneously seeing that they are both wrong. Add in a lonely old grandmother and a friend who becomes somewhat too friendly and there is a great little story that is all captured beautifully to make a film that I found extremely touching and evocative.

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Interesting movie, if not great

Film Flaneur from just by the beer tap, London, 30th October, 2007

Starring 60's film icon Rita Tushingham, The Leather Boys is an interesting film for those who seek something other than the more familiar kitchen sink dramas, or Free Cinema landmarks, which usually populate visible histories of this time in British cinema history. Tushingham plays one half of a newly married couple, at first sexually infatuated with each other, then drawing apart as reality sets in and the husband finds new friends amongs 'The Leather Boys' (ostensibly just bikers, but more and more code for the beckoning gay lifestyle). This side of things is, however considerably understated until the end of the film, when some will find the 'threatening' nature of such alternative ways of living at the end decidedly un-PC. Acting is pretty good all round, even if one misses the presence of a Finney, Bates or Harris amidst the working class on show. This edition is relatively frill free, but at least shows the original wide screen framing to best advantage, and its certainly worth a look.

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Interesting take on bikers

Cato from , 4th March, 2010

This is apparently a cult film amongst bikers, but whether they see themselves in the same light as the two leading young men in the story I wouldn't know. Rita Tushingham, at 23 a little too old to be playing the schoolgirl bride, gives a good performance, although her cockney accent sometimes strays back to Liverpool, and Dudley Sutton plays the male friend of her husband. He plays it well, but not until the end is it laid on the line that he's gay, although we've suspected as much a long time before that. It's a curious offering, shot in 1963 but with no hint of pop music on the juke box or in the score, and a strange mix of actors pretending to be hard bikers, yet being involved in domestic disharmony. Look out for the guy who went on to be a Coronation Street regular, he'sone of them. 'The Wild Ones' it most definitely is not. The racing footage is good but at times I think it's a bit speeded up as there's a lorry keeping up with the bikes.

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worthy but dated and no fun

Pufferfyshe from , 29th April, 2009

This one promises a bit of working-class counterculture, but it's so predictable and dreary. Once you've twigged that the pair are basically likable people, but a bad match, you have to sit through all the gory quarrels while the script catches up with you. 'Enjoy?' The acting is good. However, there's not enough tension in the plot to make it fun. There's a lot of old skool feminism behind it; but when the BIG QUEER CHARACTER with his BIG QUEER MANNERISMS waltzed onscreen, I decided this was one of very few films to send back at 30 minutes. Strictly for Sociology class.

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The Leather Boys - great British realism

A Customer from Hitchin, England, 26th January, 2009

I've been wanting to see this film for a long time, mainly because I'm into bikes and bike-related films. Several scenes were shot at the Ace Cafe on the North Circular, London in its heyday and the film used some of the cafe's regulars as extras. (I'm old enough to treat this as nostalgia.) When I did finally see the film, I discovered something unexpected. This is a great piece of down-beat British realism. It focus is relentlessly on working-class relationships in the decades after the Second World War and on a going-nowhere generation of youngsters. This is a Britain that has not yet escaped from the grip of war-time austerity though there are hints at social change and the boom time to come. There are some great performances from the leads and some hard-hitting dialogue. The bikes are not very prominent and are used mainly to develop themes of male bonding and identify the 1960s rocker culture. This is treated unjudgementally (perhaps even sympathetically in some ways) which was unexpected. Rather more dubiously, the film also picks up a jeer commonly thrown at the rocker culture by a, then, very hostile media and develops it into a major theme - dubious perhaps, but remarkable still for the direct way in which it treats a difficult subject. It's a tough ride and doesn't offer much hope, but if you like British film The Leather Boys is well worth exploring.

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Natural un affected

A Customer from West Bay, 24th September, 2008

Low key and very natural. Plenty of story lines that keep bubbling up homosexuality,lonliness, old age.Absorbing especially for the brilliant on location shots you know from the period endlessly fascinating. Bike fans will enjoy the banter and spot the Triumphs, Nortons Goldstars and the amazing performance from the little Ariel. did tthey really complete that very long run from South to North mand back in a a day!!! Also their bike's headlights seemed very bright! For me an average bordering on good film of period

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