THE LEATHER BOYS
US, 1964, 105 minutes, Black and white.
Rita Tushingham, Dudley Sutton, Colin Campbell, Gladys Henson.
Directed by Sidney J. Furie.
The Leather Boys is an early Sidney J. Furie film. (He has had a career mixed with critical acclaim and scorn - The Ipcress File, The Naked Runner, Southwest to Sonora, The Lawyer, Little Fauss and Big Halsey.) Here he presents a telling and convincing picture of the average, or below average, school-leaver who loves himself, his bike and his girl-friend and who gets married too soon, thinking he has it made, only to find that he has no preparation for adult life, for marriage or for coping with problems. While he grows wiser and his basic kindness develops, he is not in the race to win. Where the film is different from others is in the estrangement of husband and wife and Reg (the hero) finding a new friend. Peter, who shares his interests and offers warm companionship. What. he fails to realise until it is too late is that Peter is homosexual. By later standards of frankness, the film is quite reticent on this theme. It is quite effective in helping us to understand Peter. Reg does not even notice, so preoccupied is he with himself and his marriage.
The film was made in pre-Easy Rider days, when bikes were popular but not worshipped on as wide a scale as happens now and this gives the film a somewhat dated look. Nevertheless, as a picture of life and human beings in a city's crowded, industrial suburbs, the film is very good. Rita Tushingham is excellent as Reg's wife and she heads an expert English cast.
1. Is this a dated picture of the 'working class' or is society basically the same with only externals changed?
2. What picture of high-school life did the film give - lack of interest and ambitions in study, idolising of bikes and boys who ride them, dating, sex before marriage?
3. How successful could Dot and Reg's marriage be with their youth, lack of experience and lack of preparation for life, let alone marriage?
4. What influence did Dot's mother have on her? Reg's parents on him?
5. How did the wedding sequence and the wedding breakfast create the atmosphere of the London in which the film was set?
6. How selfish was Dot - on the honeymoon (what did the holiday-en-masse atmosphere of Bognor Regis tell you about Dot and Reg's interests, horizons)?
7. Why was Reg dissatisfied with his marriage? What more did he want out of life? Was he growing up? Why couldn't he communicate with Dot?
8. Why did Reg get so much satisfaction from his bike?
9. Why did Reg and Pete become friends? What kind of friendship and understanding did Pete give?
10. What did the Brighton holiday sequence convey about the two men and their attitudes to life? Why did Reg fail to understand Pete's personality?
11. What did you think of Dot and her mother's 'pregnancy plan' to get Reg back?
12. Did you enjoy the sequences of the London-Edinburgh? race? Were you pleased when Dot and Reg opted out of the race and seemed reconciled (note Dot's sacrifice of her hair and telling the truth about the pregnancy)?
13. Why did Pete promise Reg to get him out of the country? Were both of them clutching at vain hopes?
14. What was Reg's reaction when it dawned on him why Pete had befriended him? Here you sorry for them both? What future did Reg have?
