Christopher Culver Billy Liar 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 responsibilities, however, leads him to end up dating two women at the same time (Helen Fraser and Gwendolyn Watts), though ultimately he dreams of escaping with the liberated Liz (Julie Christie).As a snapshot of Britain at a particular time, this is a valuable film. As background to Fisher's own personal struggles, the camera often shows wrecking balls smashing down the walls of old homes, and at one point a town councillor marks an entire swath of the city for demolition. A scene at a dance club captures the growing influence of rock 'n' roll on Britain. Old class tensions persisted, however, though American audiences might not entirely get this as it is often suggested only by characters' particular accents.The overall message of the film is a letdown though, essentially saying that young people should give up their silly dreams and give in to their parents' demands. This moral lesson was entirely overturned by the youth revolution that erupted through the Sixties. As the UK saw full employment through that decade, young people could take the risk of following their dreams even if it meant a rupture with their families and hometowns. Nonetheless, the comedic approach in the film makes it entertaining almost throughout, and I'd recommend that anyone see it at least once.

gamay9 I had to read 'Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner' for a sophomore college European Literature class; I was 21. Now, I'm 72 and lost the paperback somewhere along the way.....no major issue.Last night, I labored through 'Billy Liar' (on TCM) as I did 'Loneliness...' This film was aired during presentations of films dealing with people who have multiple fantasies. I'm one of those so I thought I would relate to the film. NOT! My fantasies turn into narrative and I write for a living. I don't make much in $$$'s but enough to supplement my measly social security benefit - which I earned, because I contributed to it for 45 years, contrary to people who live off welfare and food stamps.Despite making money off my fantasies, people still think I'm eccentric.The only redeeming value in this film is Julie Christie, who has the prettiest mouth (smile, especially) in the history of film. Tom Courtenay is a fine actor and I wish he would have been the lead in 'Catcher in the Rye,' which I'm not sure was ever made into a film. I still have the paperback of that book, which I also had to read. That book was great! I'll have to check to see if it was ever filmed. Was it written by Joseph Heller? Or, was that 'Something Happened?' I took a 'C' in the class and don't remember much about European literature but I've been to England often and people do have teeth.Incidentally, I do a lot of reviews for IMDb. Look for my review of 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,' a 1947 film starring Danny Kaye. Soon, I will view the remake, directed by and starring Ben Stiller. Most remakes of good films are duds, but I don't see how one cannot exceed the quality of the 1947 version, which James Thurber (who wrote the short story)found repulsive, especially the slapstick antics of Danny Kaye. I don't blame him.

mark.waltz Tom Courtenay plays the title character, an artistic fellow who fantasizes about massacring everybody who gets on his nerves yet longs to escape his provincial community to head to London to follow his dreams. No, this is not a story of a 60's version of today's horrific events in schools and movie theatres and at political events. Billy is actually a gentle artistic man with just a bizarre imagination and his fantasy of blowing practically everybody away is simply his way of telling them to shut up. So bored with his routine existence, he wiles away the hours with enlightening fantasies that express the longing inside him. There's his babbity family-undertaker father Wilfred Pickles, washing obsessed mother Mona Washbourne and TV watching grandmother Ethel Griffies. Then, there are several cartoon-like love interests and his neighbors and other townsfolk who consider him a wastrel. In comes pretty Julie Christie, the only "normal" person he encounters, and definitely one that any heterosexual young man would abandon their family for.Sometimes aggravating and testy, this black comedy is none-the-less a well acted account of one man's desperation to find himself, and the adults who couldn't understand his feelings if he were to express them in a five-volume series of novels. Some of the cockney voices (particularly that of the shrill waitress he seems to be being forced into being engaged to) are ear shattering, but then there are the soothing voices of Courtenay, Washbourne (particularly memorable) and ultra beautiful Christie to balance it. The aged Griffies, a marvelous character actress from decades of stage and screen, is haunting as the not quite senile grandmother while Pickles (even if overly impatient with his son) is identifiable as the frustrated papa. The outstanding scene which ties everything together is a final one between Courtenay and Washbourne at the end where human emotions rise out of the stiff upper lip usually associated with the English.

treeline1 Tom Courtenay stars as Billy, an unhappy clerk who still lives at home with his impatient family. To escape the drudgery of his life, Billy passes the time telling outrageous lies and fantasizing about his very own country where he is the beloved ruler and war hero.I must admit I didn't know this movie was considered a comedy until I read some reviews. While the fantasy sequences are certainly amusing, Billy's day-to-day existence is lonely, unfulfilling, and depressing. I found Tom Courtenay to be adequate but dull and unsympathetic. On the other hand, Julie Christie is remarkably confident, mature, and charismatic and the screen really lights up during her few scenes. The black and white movie was one of the first in the sixties to feature the working class in all it's gritty glory. (I wish the DVD had had subtitles to help me with the thick north-of-England accents.) The movie is similar to Danny Kaye's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but the humor is much more subtle. I thought the dramatic scenes lacked heart-felt pathos and I never liked or felt sorry for Billy. Watch it for its place in British film history and for the screen debut of the lovely Miss Christie.