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Billy Liar (1963)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
16 December 1963 (USA)
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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. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for 6 BAFTA Film Awards.
Another 1 nomination
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NewsDesk:
(9 articles)
Film review: Ulysses
(From The Guardian - Film News. 19 November 2009, 3:30 PM, PST)
Cinema Retro #15 Now Shipping Worldwide!
(From CinemaRetro. 16 September 2009, 3:15 AM, PDT)
(From The Guardian - Film News. 19 November 2009, 3:30 PM, PST)
Cinema Retro #15 Now Shipping Worldwide!
(From CinemaRetro. 16 September 2009, 3:15 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Good performances overcomes well worn themes.
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US TV Schedule:
Cast
(Complete credited 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
98 min
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Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)
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Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
First feature film of George Innes.
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Quotes:
William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher:
[wearning a monocle and speaking in a posh voice] Cabinet change imminent I see.
William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher: You'll be bloody imminent if you don't start getting up in the morning.
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William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher: You'll be bloody imminent if you don't start getting up in the morning.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Un jour avec Peter (2005)
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Soundtrack:
Twisterella
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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.