Main Cast: Richard Todd, Robert Morley, Felix Aylmer, Ronald Lacey
Release Year: 1962
Country: UK
Run Time: 124 minutes
Plot
Director Sidney J. Furie was betwixt and between his Canadian TV work and his theatrical-film prominence vis-a-vis Ipcress File (65) when he helmed the British social melodrama The Boys. The title characters are four youths, all implicated in the murder of a night watchman. Robert Morley plays the defense attorney who tries to convince the jury to render a charitable verdict. His basic argument is that the government expects a death sentence in cases involving robbery, but is more lenient towards crimes of passion. Prosecuting attorney Richard Todd is unmoved; his job is to prove that the boys aren't the innocent victims of society they're made out to be. The Boys benefits from Furie's dextrous use of flashbacks during the testimony scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After serving time in prison for an assault on a liquor store-owner, Brett Sprague is released from prison and returns home to his two brothers and their girlfriends, mother, step father, and girlfriend. Things have changed, and as Brett begins to drink his way through the day, he regains his "top-dog" position one argument at a time. This power-trip gets Brett and his brothers united in rage against their girlfriends and mother, and they are involved in a heinous crime. The aftermath of the night unfolds through the story with flashforwards.
The Boys is Rowan Woods' directorial debut, and actor Peter Hehir's last film before he retired from acting. Woods "aimed to achieve a combination of documentary-style naturalism with the edge of a thriller." Woods also said that the first time he read the play, he felt "it was an Australian story that had to be told. (...) This is the inside story of a family in crisis, of three boys on the day before a nasty crime takes place, of which they are accused."[1] The producer of the film, Robert Connolloy had also produced the play. Shooting was made on location in a rented house in Maroubra, an eastern suburb of Sydney.
