Billy Liar
By July 09, 2001
When I first encountered Billy Liar in the early 1970s, I’d never heard of it. I’d somehow acquired a 16mm panned-and-scanned print, and was intrigued by both the title and cast Read more »
- United Kingdom
- 1963
- 93 minutes
- Black and White
- 2.35:1
- English
SYNOPSIS: Tom Courtenay gives a flawlessly nuanced performance as Billy Fisher, the underachieving undertaker’s assistant whose constant daydreams and truth-deficient stories earn him the nickname “Billy Liar.” Julie Christie is the handbag-swinging charmer whose free spirit just might inspire Billy to finally move out of his parents’ house. Deftly veering from gritty realism to flamboyant fantasy, Billy Liar is a dazzling and uproarious classic.
Cast & CreditsOpen
Cast
| Billy Fisher | Tom Courtenay |
| Liz | Julie Christie |
| Geoffrey Fisher | Wilfred Pickles |
| Alice Fisher | Mona Washbourne |
| Florence | Ethel Griffies |
| Councilor Duxbury | Finlay Currie |
| Shadrack | Leonard Rossiter |
| Barbara | Helen Fraser |
| Rita | Gwendolyn Watts |
Credits
| Director | John Schlesinger |
| Producer | Joseph Janni |
| Screenplay | Keith Waterhouse |
| Cinematography | Willis Hall and Denys Coop |
| Based on the novel by | Keith Waterhouse |
| And on the play by | Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall |
| Music | Richard Rodney Bennett |
| Conducted by | John Hollingeworth |
| Art director | Ray Simm |
| Editing | Roger Cherrill |
Disc Features
- New widescreen digital transfer, enhanced for 16×9 televisions
- Audio commentary featuring director John Schlesinger and actors Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie
- Excerpts from “Northern Lights,” an episode of the BBC series Hollywood U.K.: British Cinema in the Sixties, hosted by Richard Lester
- Original theatrical trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired
- Optimal image quality: RSDL dual-layer edition
From the CurrentView the Current »
Film Essays
Billy Liar
By July 09, 2001
British cinema in the early 1960’s pulsed with the ambitious energy, on the screen and off, of young men—not angry, necessarily, but certainly restless. The period’s defining screen Read more »
