Billy Liar is Bradford’s one and only claim to fame. It was shot there and is set in an unnamed Yorkshire village. It’s so much a part of “Bradford’s culture heritage” there is a mosaic in the subway near it’s world renowned media museum.
As the title suggests it’s about a young man called Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) and liars his way though out the film especially to his many girlfriends (he is engaged to 2 of them). He is working for a morticians but he stole all these calendars and some money. He seems to be hopeless but he has his imagination to keep him company, he dreams of the mythical land “Ambrosia” which is king, general, don juan figure etc. A lass called Liz (Julie Christie) comes back from London who he has known before and she tells him to come to London with her and the last act is how he reacts to that and other events.
The film was directed by John Schlesinger who would later make such bonafide classics such as Midnight Cowboy and Marathon Man and other important films like Sunday Bloody Sunday. The first surprising thing about Billy Liar is it’s a totally heterosexual film; many of his films dealt with homosexuality or had homoerotic subtext (like in Marathon Man) but I know he was still “in the closet” at this time. It’s probably his first classic film and he did get his start in Kitchen sink dramas.
Billy is a bit of a shit to be honest but he is a terribly in mature lad whose head is in the stars even he is looking at the gutter. Tom Courtenay is a bit to old for the role to be honest. People claim it’s a comedy and it’s not really, it’s a film about a boy trying to grow up but isn’t quite there yet (which is evident in the film’s last few moments) and you feel sorry for his mum especially at the end.
The film belongs to the British New Wave movement, which for the most part were kitchen sink dramas. I’ve never been a fan of them and tend to prefer the more surreal side of 60s British cinema like If…, Performance and Blow-Up. I do however quite like Billy Liar but it does have scenes of fantasy quite famously. The film is probably as good as the genre ever got and the film will make you fall madly in love with a young Julie Christie which isn’t a bad thing.
Ian Schultz
Release Date: 6th May 2013 (UK)
Rating: PG
Director:John Schlesinger
Cast: Tom Courtenay, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne
Buy Billy Liar: 50th Anniversary Edition [Blu-ray] [1963]
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