Billy Liar

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.

Cast

Tom Courtenay

as William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher

Julie Christie

as Liz

Wilfred Pickles

as Geoffrey Fisher

Mona Washbourne

as Alice Fisher

Ethel Griffies

as Grandma Florence

Finlay Currie

as Duxbury

Gwendolyn Watts

as Rita

Helen Fraser

as Barbara

Leonard Rossiter

as Emanuel Shadrack

Rodney Bewes

as Arthur Crabtree

Reviews

CRCulver

<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 s...

CinemaSerf

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 strug...

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