← Back to films

Billy Liar

Name: Billy Liar
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Drama
Released: 1963-08-15
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 6.8

★ 6,8 /10 (126 Votes)

1963 EN 98 min

Overview

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.

Stream

Release date

15/08/1963

Votes

126

Popularity

1.8

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

Genres

Comedy Romance Drama

Status

Released

Language

Runtime

98 min

Revenue

$35,609

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

Leonard Rossiter

Emanuel Shadrack

Rodney Bewes

Arthur Crabtree

George Innes

Stamp

Leslie Randall

Danny Boon

Patrick Barr

Inspector MacDonald

Ernest Clark

Prison Governor

No photo

Godfrey Winn

Disc Jockey

Jack Cunningham

Ticket Examiner (uncredited)

Harry Landis

Man on Train (uncredited)

No photo

E. V. H. Emmett

Newsreel Commentator (uncredited)

Anna Wing

Mrs. Crabtree (uncredited)

Sheila Fearn

Telephonist (uncredited)

No photo

Muriel Day

Singer - Dance Hall (uncredited)

No photo

Lester Leigh

Band Leader - Dance Hall (uncredited)

No photo

Reginald Green

Mr. Matthieson (uncredited)

Margaret Lacey

Mrs. Matthieson (uncredited)

Robin Parkinson

Jeweller's Assistant (uncredited)

No photo

David Scase

Man in the Record Shop (uncredited)

Jessie Robins

Large Woman in Hospital (uncredited)

No photo

Graham Rigby

Supermarket Manager (uncredited)

Jim Brady

Prisoner Escort (uncredited)

Neville Smith

Youth (uncredited)

No photo

Leslie Lawton

Youth (uncredited)

John Tordoff

Youth in Wimpy Bar (uncredited)

No photo

Flo Fallows

Prostitute (uncredited)

No photo

Alice Woods

Prostitute (uncredited)

John Schlesinger

Officer in Dream (uncredited)

Bryan Mosley

Bit Part (uncredited)

No photo

Aleksander Browne

Bit Part (uncredited)

No photo

James Byron

Serviceman (uncredited)

No photo

Douglas Clarke

Serviceman (uncredited)

No photo

Alan Clayton

Serviceman (uncredited)

No photo

George Ghent

Danny's PRO (uncredited)

No photo

Topsy Jane

Liz (uncredited)

No photo

Natalie Kent

Bit Part (uncredited)

No photo

Ted Morris

Funeral Driver (uncredited)

No photo

Elisabeth Murray

Bit Part (uncredited)

No photo

Stuart Myers

Man Reading Newspaper (uncredited)

No photo

James Payne

Man in Station Cafe (uncredited)

No photo

George Spence

Man in Crowd (uncredited)

No photo

Elaine Stevens

Danny's Secretary (uncredited)

No photo

William Wymar

Army Man (uncredited)

Original Soundtrack

Loading soundtrack videos…

<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 respo…

Read full review →

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 bric…

Read full review →