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Freddy and Danny are doing their military service but are chiefly preoccupied with boxing: a sport calling for discipline and making men out of boys. In the 50s, the period in which 'Boxing for Boys' is set, boxing is a sport commanding respect, as the fatherly Freddy quickly makes clear to hot-headed Danny. Once their national service is over, the boys begin a boxing career which puts their friendship severely to the test. 'Boxing for Boys' uses the tough lives of boxers as a withaphor referring directly to a society where only performance counts, feelings go for nothing, and growing boys are obliged above all to demonstrate virility in place of emotion. Extracts from the original training film of the same title, 'Boxing for Boys' are cut into this video and show how young people were imbued with the cult of individual sports simply and solely as a way of inculcating discipline and a belief in the 'survival of the fittest' in the younger generation. The persuasive acting and staging are unusually realistic, thanks in part to the heart-rending tear-jerkers of 50s ballads on the sound-track.
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Marie-Adèle Rajandream
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Scenario: Mark Wilcox, Camera: Paul Barton, Editing: Paul Watson, Light: Paul Barton, Julia Barton, Sound: Debbie Kaplan, Paula Thompson, Music: Kate Cragg, Production: Helen Petts, With: Jimmy Flint, Dorian Healy, Bernie Evans
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