Billy Liar

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Film Description

Seminal 60s film in which Courtenay retreats into day dreams of romance and glory to escape the tedium of life as an undertaker's clerk.

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Review by Dan Macklin on 14th April 2004

"Of course, London's a big place...a man could lose himself in London!"

Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) is a kind of British equivalent to Walter Mitty, a young man working in a funeral parlour who grows so bored with the drudgery of the daily grind that he creates an alternative, imaginary world for himself to retreat into. Inevitably, elements of this 'virtual reality' start to intrude on real life, and as events conspire to pile up against Billy, he resorts to telling porkies to protect his back. However, this just makes the situation worse, ultimately rendering his life a shambolic mess to which it seems there is no solution...or is there?

Those of a certain age (like myself) may well recall with fondness reading Keith Waterhouse's novel at school. The film is a pretty faithful adaptation, retaining the tragi-comic tone of the original that sets it apart from the grittier 'kitchen sink' dramas of the era with which it is often lumped in. It also features one of the earliest celluloid roles for the delectable Julie Christie, whose appearance as Liz towards the end offers Billy an escape route whilst illustrating to him that real life doesn't all have to be grey and mundane.

Oh, and for trivia-lovers, Twisterella - the song that Billy composes - was the direct inspiration for an early '90s hit by Oxford shoegazers Ride...but, er, don't let that put you off...

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Article - "Screening the Island : British Cinema" by Liam Lowry
Thursday 4th December 2003

In 1933, Alexander Korda’s gleefully saucy, The Private Life of Henry VIII made a huge international impact. Starring the sublime Charles Laughton, and launching the career of Merle Oberon, it announced the arrival of a cinema uniquely different from European ...  View article in full

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This film is part of the following Film Collections

British Social Realism

Including: Alfie (1965), Billy Liar, Darling, Kes, Meantime, The Blue Lamp, The Entertainer, Victim.

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