The Barefooted Youth (1964)

Rallying cry against social inequality and class barriers

A gangster with a strong streak of honor saves an upper-class South Korean woman. A romance soon forms between the two of them and there is some interchange of their respective worlds, but these things never turn out well, especially in South Korean films and their respective worlds threaten to tear them apart.

This movie is one of the best-known examples of the "adolescent film" genre that was popular in South Korea during the 1960s. it was adapted as 1997 television series. Kim Ki-deok (1934–2017) is best known outside of Korea for his 1967 monster film Yongary. He was one of the leading young directors of the Korean cinematic wave of the 1960s and made distinctive and successful melodramas.

This film is selcted through Korean Film Archive YouTube Channel. There you will find 110 classic Korean films from the 1930s onwards available for free viewing.

Directed by Kim Ki-Deok