A gay classic?

The homosexual references were very close to the bone for a 1960s film.

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Bah! Pff! Every story, every film, even every sentence, has a poofitilious subtext if you pull down its trousers and give it a thorough going over.

The films of Director Basil Dearden and Producer Michael Relph often had the social issues of the time woven through even their lighter films. In films like Sapphire and, especially relevant to this thread, Victim, they were at the centre of the drama.
Victim, their next film after The League of Gentlemen, dealt sympathetically with homosexuality at a time when it was illegal in Britain and it has been suggested that the film was influential in helping to change the law.

Dearden and Relph are hugely underrated, not least because their films were generally very accessible and entertaining. There have been plenty of less talented film-makers who are lauded for their self-righteous subtle-as-a-sledgehammer attacks on "issues", which appeal only to the converted and are difficult to sit through for anyone else.

What about The Lavender Hill Mob? which was done 9 years prior to this film

Homosexuality was still illegal in Britain at the time. And any one indulging in. or condoning homosexual acts would be sent to prison.

The movie "suggests" certain aspects of the characters "preferences", but could not openly reveal them as the film company/studio could have found itself in legal trouble.

Although in the acting world many actors/ directors/entertainers etc at that time were known to be gay. It was a common thing and was accepted in the acting community, a sort of "open secret".Of course many hid it to protect their career and image.

Some could not manage to avoid the secret coming out in their later life, when it was too late or after their death.Think of Rock Hudson, and Liberace for example

To the film going public Homosexuals were seen as objects of fun and ridicule, and alright as long as they could be laughed at.Hence perhaps the Oliver Reed character being very effeminate and being what the audiences at the time thought gays were like ( or " should be like ). Possibly to drop the hint that the macho image is a big cover up.

In the UK, Even after Homosexuality laws were changed, gays were still seen in an effeminate light.In the 1960/70;s you had people like Larry Grayson, John Inmann, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtree, on T.v and in movies camping it up to the mummys boy, image of latently homosexual men and made a very good living and gained popularity from it.

And comedians like Dick Emery/ Monty Python dressing up and playing up to the camp flamboyant promiscuous image of what an homosexual man was thought of as at that time

I haven't read the pulp novel so when I was watching the film and noticed the possible gay insinuations, I thought I was just over-thinking things. Glad to see I wasn't the only one who noticed.

I definitely see a lot of influences from this film in Reservoir Dogs. There were gay undertones in the latter too.