Billy Liar (1963)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

John Schlesinger

Writers:

Keith Waterhouse (novel)
Willis Hall (play) ...

Release Date:

16 December 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A lazy, irresponsible young clerk in provincial Northern England lives in his own fantasy world and makes emotionally immature decisions as he alienates friends and family.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Fantasy World | Failure | Undertaker | Vending Machine

Awards:

Nominated for 6 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Tom Courtenay	...	William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher
Wilfred Pickles	...	Geoffrey Fisher
Mona Washbourne	...	Alice Fisher
Ethel Griffies	...	Florence, Billy's grandmother
Finlay Currie	...	Duxbury
Gwendolyn Watts	...	Rita
Helen Fraser	...	Barbara
Julie Christie	...	Liz
Leonard Rossiter	...	Emanuel Shadrack
Rodney Bewes	...	Arthur Crabtree
George Innes	...	Stamp
Leslie Randall	...	Danny Boon
Patrick Barr	...	Insp. MacDonald
Ernest Clark	...	Prison governor
Godfrey Winn	...	Disc jockey

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

France:U | Sweden:11 | Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

37 Hinchcliffe Avenue, Baildon, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Company:

Vic Films Productions

Trivia:

Topsy Jane can still be seen in long-shot in some sequences, notably when Billy and Liz wave to the people of Ambrosia from the balcony.

Quotes:

Rita: [after Billy reopens the door] You rotten. lying, crossed-eyed git. You're nothing else.
William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher: [clearly not wanting her to come inside] Hello, Rita. Sorry, I can't ask you in. We're havin' our chimney swept.
Rita: They'll be havin' you swept before I finish.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "EastEnders: (2006-05-30)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Twisterella

Good performances overcomes well worn themes.

A north of England funeral clerk is bored with his life and builds a world of elaborate lies to compensate for it.

A classic of the English kitchen sink period, but it will not have full impact unless you are coming to it fresh and without prejudice. As someone that was forced to read the book several times at school I find the material and the morals worn thin - especially when it was later turned in to a TV series and then a musical!

(The reason why it is so popular is that is about the limits of (English) working class life and, and if you are working class yourself, you are supposed to be able to "relate to it." Other suchlike novels (and later films) include Kes (which is better), A Taste of Honey (which is far better) and the Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (which is even better still.)

Good portrait of grey working class life in the sixties (if you are at all interested) and a template for a million films and television series to come (all barbs, mini jokes and evasions over the family breakfast table). While Billy is not always likeable, the people around him seem to put up with him and give him a second, third and fourth chance. We are not really living in the world of heroes and villains.

If you live in a world of lies, you drown in a world of lies, but I knew that without seeing this film. A lot is also cribbed from the Secret Life of Walter Mittey - another film that didn't live up to the book.

Thankfully lead Tom Courtney's performance is first class, indeed I have never seem him get a bad notice in anything. Even today when he himself is the parent doing the "what time do you call this?"

(Check out "Let Him Have It" if you want to experience the above.)

While a good and watchable film with high production values, I recommend you read the Keith Waterhouse novel which paints the period between childhood and being an adult in detailed and believable colours.