This is a rather obscure film that is rarely shown on television . Interestingly if THE LEATHER BOYS does turn up on television it usually is described as " A newly married bridegroom becomes besotted with a charismatic homosexual " which isn't really explaining the plot properly and also misses out on an important subtext . The subtext is that people we bond with aren't the people we think they really are
The story revolves around recently married Reggie who has a 16 year old bride called Dot and unfortunately Reggie is starting to realise that married life isn't as he expected it and starts to hang around with a young free and single biker called Pete . It's this young free and single attitude that attracts Colin to Pete . Throughout the running time the narrative hints subtly that Pete may be gay - Dudley Sutton doesn't play Pete in a camp way either - but it's only revealed for certain that he is when Reggie waits for Pete in a closet gay bar with the optimism that they're both going to emigrate to America . As it turns out via Pete's gay associates in the bar that the boat they're supposed to be catching is bound to Liverpool , not America as Pete had promised . Cut to a devastated , disillusioned and depressed Reggie walking off into the sunset , still young enough to start a new life but with no one to start a new life with
THE LEATHER BOYS is one of those films that may have seemed controversial at the time but probably wasn't . There's no overt sexuality on screen and you do notice in the final scenes how homosexuals are portrayed in a camp stereotypical manner so it's maybe a film that gays won't like due to dated stereotypes and many straights won't like because they're misled as to it being a gay love story ala BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN . It's the sort of British kitchen sink storyline that would be better suited to something like CORONATION STREET
The story revolves around recently married Reggie who has a 16 year old bride called Dot and unfortunately Reggie is starting to realise that married life isn't as he expected it and starts to hang around with a young free and single biker called Pete . It's this young free and single attitude that attracts Colin to Pete . Throughout the running time the narrative hints subtly that Pete may be gay - Dudley Sutton doesn't play Pete in a camp way either - but it's only revealed for certain that he is when Reggie waits for Pete in a closet gay bar with the optimism that they're both going to emigrate to America . As it turns out via Pete's gay associates in the bar that the boat they're supposed to be catching is bound to Liverpool , not America as Pete had promised . Cut to a devastated , disillusioned and depressed Reggie walking off into the sunset , still young enough to start a new life but with no one to start a new life with
THE LEATHER BOYS is one of those films that may have seemed controversial at the time but probably wasn't . There's no overt sexuality on screen and you do notice in the final scenes how homosexuals are portrayed in a camp stereotypical manner so it's maybe a film that gays won't like due to dated stereotypes and many straights won't like because they're misled as to it being a gay love story ala BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN . It's the sort of British kitchen sink storyline that would be better suited to something like CORONATION STREET