Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Leather Boys Blu-ray Movie Review

Does AGFA still mean what I think it means?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 2, 2021

There's a slightly awkward if also maybe just a little hilarious moment (at least for those with un-PC senses of humor) in The Leather Boys where one character asks another if they want a cigarette, using the typical three letter euphemism for a smoke that is popular in Britain. That term unfortunately is also the same three letter pejorative that used to be bandied about quite a bit in pre-PC culture to dismissively describe someone who's gay. Somewhat ironically, that same three letter epithet and/or description is included in AGFA's own acronym, albeit scrambled a bit (and with one extra vowel), and the reason this term may strike some as inadvertently more "meaningful" courtesy of hindsight is because The Leather Boys, which caused quite a stir in the sixties when it was released (after languishing "on the shelf" for a year, as director Sidney J. Furie gets into in the commentary included on this disc as a supplemental feature), does indeed at least hint at a gay subculture flourishing in England, at a time (as the commentary also mentions) when the United Kingdom still had some of the same draconian "sodomy" laws that had wreaked havoc with such notables as Alan Turing, as was so memorably depicted in The Imitation Game.

I've been reviewing the often completely out there releases from the American Genre Film Archive for several years now, and this is an interesting offering from AGFA for at least a couple of reasons. First, a lot of AGFA's releases tend to be the kind of gonzo outings that would make your everyday "cult" film look like a mainstream sensation by comparison, so when you're dealing with a "film" like, let's say, Bat Pussy (an AGFA Blu-ray release from a couple of years ago), you just have to understand you're not watching anything that is going to give Citizen Kane any serious competition. Second, I think this is the first "collaboration" I've reviewed that pairs AGFA with Shout! Factory (typically, a lot of the AGFA releases tend to feature the Something Weird Video imprimatur). All of this may point to the fact that The Leather Boys is certainly a "higher profile" sort of film than AGFA typically offers, and if some may either shy away or flock to this label based on what they've been putting out for years, this particular film may come as a bit of a surprise, for better or worse, depending on individual sentiment.

The film starts out as what seems like a pretty typical "kitchen sink" and/or "angry young man" story, focusing on two working class (i.e., decidedly not "posh" types) teens named Dot (Rita Tushingham) and biker Reggie (Colin Campbell). The fact that these two get married pretty early into the story would seem to be pointing to a domestic melodrama of a fairly traditional type, and in fact, perhaps due to the strictures imposed upon the film by its production era, that is pretty much what's on tap for a lot of the running time, despite the provocative entrance of biker Pete (Dudley Sutton), a guy who is either a closeted gay or at least unwilling to completely come out to Reggie, despite the fact that Pete is obviously interested in more than a mere friendship.

And in fact aside from a few passing hints and one major scene right at the end of the film, it's left to the discriminating audience member to figure out the subtext. Again, probably because of the film's production era, that subtext seems to suggest that it's certainly better to return to your sexless heterosexual union than the muddy the waters with any same sex intimacy. Performances here are rather potent, given the limitations imposed upon the content. Tushingham delivers another unforgettable portrait, certainly a worthy follow up to her work in A Taste of Honey.

The Leather Boys Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Leather Boys is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the American Genre Film Archive and Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. This release breaks ranks with previous AGFA outings for a third reason, namely that many AGFA releases are "preservation" scans from the only surviving element of any given title, which is often a pretty ragged and dilapidated print. While Furie mentions a "print" as the source in his commentary, the back cover of this release states that this is a "new restoration from the 35mm negative", and it certainly leaps to the front of the pack in terms of overall appearance of any AGFA release that I've personally reviewed. Detail levels are excellent across the board, and aside from just a few anomalies, mostly in some of the location outdoor scenes, grain is beautifully resolved. Contrast is secure throughout, and gray scale very nicely modulated. There are a few "mump" like issues that crop up, kind of oddly often more toward the middle of the frame than the edges. Hats off to AGFA and Shout! Factory for providing such a commendable transfer.

The Leather Boys Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Leather Boys features a nicely robust DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that may admittedly sound just slightly boxy at times, especially with regard to some of the effects work, but which provides a solid accounting of the film's dialogue and Bill McGuffie's era appropriate score. There are some very slight amplitude variances that I'm chalking up at least in part to some of the location work, but all dialogue is delivered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Leather Boys Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary Track features director Sidney J. Furie and biographer Daniel Kremer, and sounds like it was recorded last year (Furie is still with us at the venerable age of 88 as this review is going live). This is a nicely conversational but very informative and interesting commentary track, and it's obvious that it was a work of love by Kremer, who mentions how much Furie's work sparked his own filmmaking adventures.


• Audio Interview with Star Rita Tushingham (HD; 34:59) was conducted by Kremer in 2013 in preparation for his book on Furie. This plays to a still of Tushingham.


• Audio Interview with Star Dudley Sutton (HD; 28:30) was also done by Kremer as he prepared his book on Furie. This plays to a still of Sutton.


• Consenting Adults: A Study of Homosexuality (HD; 39:02) is an absolutely fascinating relic from the UK, offering a 1967 documentary look at various gay and lesbian people (it kind of looks like this might be two pieces strung together, one dealing with gay men and another dealing with lesbians). While this comes with a warning that its content may not pass current PC muster, I think it's a really valuable look at how gay and lesbian people comported themselves in this era fraught with both personal and professional danger.

The Leather Boys Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I guess I'm going to have the check my weather app to see if hell has indeed frozen over, because I frankly never thought I'd see a release like this from the American Genre Film Archive, especially one with such great looking video. The film itself can't quite escape its production era and the content limitations that were no doubt forced on it, but in a way that makes it all the more provocative. The commentary, interviews, and the almost mindboggling documentary included just make this all the more interesting in my estimation. Technical merits are solid, and (no one is more shocked than I am that I'm saying this), this AGFA release of The Leather Boys comes Highly recommended.