Leather Boys, The (1964)

Cosseted 16-year-old Dot (Rita Tushingham, who rocketed to stardom with the 1961 film A Taste of Honey) and inarticulate ton-up biker Reggie (screen newcomer Colin Campbell) are a couple of school sweethearts who marry hastily and quickly learn about the follies and hardships of wedlock.

The teen marriage gets off to a rocky start when their Butlin’s honeymoon at Bognor Regis is a washout – and domestic life in London is no more rewarding.

When outgoing platinum blonde Dot spends her time at the cinema rather than doing any housework and introverted Reggie loses interest in sex, their incompatibility becomes apparent, and they inevitably split.

Reggie moves in with his grieving grandmother (Gladys Henson) and finds solace in the company of his irresponsible biker pal, ex-sailor Pete (Dudley Sutton), but comes to discover that even this carefree friendship is not without its complications.

Dot fakes a pregnancy in an attempt to win her husband back and in a moment of madness vents her frustration by cheating on him.

Reggie decides to get away from it all by fleeing overseas with Pete to New York, but after a chance encounter in a dockside pub, he realises that Pete is homosexual – and returns home.

Although the film is seldom discussed as much as its contemporaries, its iconic imagery of leather-clad bikers has never died and was poached by The Smiths for the video of Girlfriend in a Coma in 1987.

Dot
Rita Tushingham
Reggie
Colin Campbell
Pete
Dudley Sutton
Gran
Gladys Henson
Reggie’s Mother
Avice Landone
Reggie’s Father
Lockwood West
Dot’s Mother
Betty Marsden
Uncle Arthur
Martin Matthews
Les
James Chase
Mr Lunnis
Geoffrey Dunn
Mrs Stanley
Dandy Nichols

Director
Sidney J Furie