Billy Liar

"one guy ... three girls ... one ring!"

1963 1h 38m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

★6.8TMDB · 128

ComedyRomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.

“one guy ... three girls ... one ring!”

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Cast

Tom Courtenay
William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher
Julie Christie
Liz
Wilfred Pickles
Geoffrey Fisher
Mona Washbourne
Alice Fisher
Ethel Griffies
Grandma Florence
Finlay Currie
Duxbury
Gwendolyn Watts
Rita
Helen Fraser
Barbara

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Schlesinger
Writers: Willis Hall, Keith Waterhouse
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

63 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Schlesinger, shot by Denys N. Coop. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Richard Rodney Bennett. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Roger Cherrill shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie and Wilfred Pickles carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "one guy ... three girls ... one ring!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0056868 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Schlesinger directs. Denys N. Coop behind the camera. Richard Rodney Bennett scores. Roger Cherrill cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

163 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by John Schlesinger, shot by Denys N. Coop. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Richard Rodney Bennett. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Roger Cherrill shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie and Wilfred Pickles carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "one guy ... three girls ... one ring!".
7IMDB entry: tt0056868 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 8 themes, including "dreams", "northern england", "based on novel or book", "lie".

The technical file

Cinematography: Denys N. Coop
Original score: Richard Rodney Bennett
Editing: Roger Cherrill
Makeup / hair: Bob Lawrance
Runtime: 98 min · 1h 38m
Status: Released
Box office: $35,609
Original language: EN
IMDB: Billy Liar (1963)

Also by

John Schlesinger

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CRCulver2018-09-05
★ 5/10
<i>Billy Liar</i> is a 1963 British film that captures the monumental changes of the era: the sexual revolution and the destruction of England's old town centres in modernisation schemes. In Bradford, Yorkshire young Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) is working a soul-crushing job in a funeral home and suffering daily the derision of his elderly parents. His only escape from this drudgery is his active imagination, where he imagines himself leader of his own country and misleads other townspeople about his family's situation with little fibs. His propensity to make things up and shrug off his responsibilities, however, leads him to end up dating two women at the same time (Helen Fraser and Gwendolyn Watts), though ultimately he dreams of escaping with the liberated Liz (Julie Christie). As a snapshot of Britain at a particular time, this is a valuable film. As background to Fisher's own personal struggles, the camera often shows wrecking balls smashing down the walls of old homes, and at one point a town councillor marks an entire swath of the city for demolition. A scene at a dance club captures the growing influence of rock 'n' roll on Britain. Old class tensions persisted, however, though American audiences might not entirely get this as it is often suggested only by characters' particular accents. The ending is a letdown though, essentially saying that young people should give up their silly dreams and give in to their parents' demands. This moral lesson was entirely overturned by the youth revolution that erupted through the Sixties. As the UK saw full employment through that decade, young people could take the risk of following their dreams even if it meant a rupture with their families and hometowns. Nonetheless, the comedic approach in the film makes it entertaining almost throughout, and I'd recommend that anyone see it at least once.
CinemaSerf2023-02-12
★ 7/10
Tom Courtenay is "Billy", a lad whose grasp on reality is, well, tenuous. In his dreams, he is a brave and valiant life-saving sort of fellow. In real life he is a lowly clerk who works for a funeral director and lives with his increasingly exasperated parents. His problems only increase as he struggles to differentiate between his real life and that in his fictional land of "Ambrosia" and as his fantasies develop, he becomes more and more alienated from those around them. In the end, it is really only the happy-go-lucky "Liz" (Julie Christie) who might be capable of offering him a yellow brick road back to his, admittedly, rather dreary and relentless reality. Her imminent relocation from provincial Yorkshire to London might offer him salvation - but he will have to choose, and be brave - as brave as he is, on a daily basis, in his far away land. This is a tightly cast self-adaptation of Keith Waterhouse's play and with a strong supporting cast from Wilfred Pickles and Mona Washbourne we are quickly immersed in his dual existences in a fashion that is both entertaining and disconcerting. Clearly the young "Billy" is ill - but at a time when any form of mental health issues were stigmatised if acknowledged at all, and we cannot help but sympathise with the frustrated parents and with the young man himself. Christie is a breath of fresh air - she has a character full of pragmatism, optimism and opportunity that was clearly designed to offer that gust of wind to blow away the fabric of his paper house, and John Schlesinger allows the characterful performances and this most human of stories to thrive with a minimum of distraction. Courtenay and Christie are at the top of their games here, and as a study of aspects of human nature as yet largely unexplored by cinema, this is a fine example.