Billy Liar

Billy Liar (1963)

Billed as a "gay" movie by TCM when they played this in 2017, and the basis for that is fair enough—director John Schlesinger was openly gay, and the feeling of this film is very much about being an outsider to a larger culture. Which in the early 1960s is what most gay men (and women) experienced.

Heads up—this is a very British film, and it's on the cusp of a new Britain, getting out from World War II burdens and about to see the Beatles take over the world. In short, Mod England is in full swing, and the surprising new actress Julie Christie is key here. Maybe I'm just a guy, but I think the charm and honest presence of Christie from the first glimpse in a lorry (truck for you Americans) is a spark of life that tips the movie over. Great stuff.

The star however is the title character, played by Tom Courtenay, whose real character name is Billy Fisher. He's terrific, playing a cad of sorts, someone who lives by effect, a former soldier (in his head) who has settled uncomfortably into his beloved England.

The pace is crisp and the fast cuts are unusual for the time. There are oddities—early on he plays blackface in one scene (in his imagination), a woman in another (also daydreaming). It's farce top to bottom, and raw comedy. I think the British laughed harder by far than us poor Americans, but it's a lark and a fancy through and through. The flavor of it reminds me of "A Hard Days Night" and in fact they both come out of the so called British New Cinema.

The film is imaginative in its structure, depending on the wandering thoughts of Billy to change the scene at will. It's cheeky but clever, and keeps you looking. And chuckling. As a comedy it might not be uproarious, but it never lets up its absurdity. It's called Billy Liar because Billy succeeds with his co-workers and family by making things up. Endlessly.

Eventually you have to ask if the film can be read as an insight into being a gay man in these times. Certainly it can. It cheerfully points out how painful it is to be misunderstood and maligned for no good reason. It was easy to understand Billy as a a would-be success pushed down by his willing non-conformity. But it is also troubling to admit that this is something that is insinuated by TCM at the start—if you see the movie as a straight movie about an eccentric (not gay in particular) it has a different and less serious feel.

Maybe it's fair to let it be both, or let it float depending on the viewer. Because it remains fast, inventive, and funny throughout. Even the camera-work is fun, with lots of wide angle and with moving pans across landscapes that distort the world. Appropriately.

The final verdict: this is a film about the new England, the land of youth poking fun at the serious old school England of lore (and of WWII). It attacks this with necessary humor (not to offend absolutely everyone) and with visual pizazz. It wears slightly thin at times, and you do wonder what really matters about this aimless chap, but in all it's refreshing and revealing of the era.

And it has Julie Christie in her first film. As she says with revealing authority, "I don't want to get engaged, I want to get married." Yeah.

"Billy Liar!" impressed me more than many other admirable British pictures of this era, like "Room at the Top", "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" and "This Sporting Life". It managed to generate a more tangible blend of poignancy and amusement. It's not often humour of the "laugh-out-loud" nature, more of the subtle, grim kind. The reality of Britain at that time is I suspect, very well conveyed here, with the old working-class, represented by Councillor Duxbury (astutely played by the fine Finlay Currie) and Billy's family, very much at odds with what they see as an ungrateful, decadent youth. All the performances hit the intended mark, with Leonard Rossiter typically Rossiter, almost as a younger Rigsby, without so much noticeable seediness. Julie Christie is as good as the role allows, an odd role, very much the "dream girl" of Billy and I dare say a good few others. The film expertly avoids sentimentalizing matters by its cunning, apposite last section. The Danny Boon character is, one suspects, all too typical of the TV light entertainer mould in reality. His reliance on cheap non-gags, smug guffaws and "audience banter" is well conveyed in just a few short scenes. It's interesting that Billy seems to aspire so much to write for him in particular... Helen Fraser's character Barbara is wonderfully quaint; a type long gone it seems. One can understand Billy's frustrations with his respectively prudish and plain (Barbara) and ignorant (Rita) girlfriends, and his anger at his family, although some sympathy is correctly reserved for them. The direction is very good by Schlesinger, emphasizing all the right things. The fine context-setting opening montage expertly draws in the viewer, and never at any stage henceforth is anyone's attention likely to wane. The film is most of all Tom Courtenay's; he gives a truly resonant performance, bringing to vivid life a character far removed from the norms of film making at the time. The fantasy sequences are finely done, and all add more deep impression of this character. His digressive tendencies, self-destructive habits, economy with the truth are well balanced by a sense of yearning and imagination. One cannot help but like and relate to the character, a creation that resoundingly rings true. His ambivalence to the class system comes across concisely, in particular. A fine film indeed, with so many of the smaller touches that many films miss. Witty, sad and a seminal film of the era, very much a crossroads in British history. Rating:- **** 1/2/*****

Billy Liar

John Schlesinger's excellent British comedy-drama concerns Billy (Tom Courtenay), a middle class young man who despises his position as a funeral parlor bookkeeper. Billy spends the majority of his time daydreaming of a much more interesting life filled with conquests, esp. of women. He'd love to quit his dead-end job and become a writer, but when the opportunity arrives, is he too content living in his head and telling lies to embellish his otherwise mundane existence? Too afraid to realize his dreams? This quirky slice-of-life is thematically similar to Le Distrait (The Daydreamer), a 1975 French release with an entirely different conclusion. A young, glowing Julie Christie appears briefly in Billy Liar, injecting color, life, and hope into Billy's dreary, black and white existence. Highly recommended. -- David Ross Smith

I saw 'Billy Liar' on stage in London, with Albert Finney, no less, in the role of Billy Fisher. As good as Finney was (check out Frear's 'Gumshoe' for starters), in the role, Tom Courtney, is better. Finney was too laconic. He had the wrong

'build'. Courtney, however, IS Billy Fisher. I can't quite put it into words, but that dour face of his, the pursed lips, and his loopy smile... who else but Tom

Courtney in the role. The plot is simplicity itself. Billy lives in a world of his own making. He's not connected with everyday events - he's a Yorkshire version of Walter Mitty - and who doesn't daydream every now and then? Director, John

Schlesinger (who gave us Darling & Midnight Cowboy), adds some surreal

touches (one comes to mind: Billy's reaction to another of his father's lectures). Julie Christie plays Liz. She understands Billy - thing is, Billy doesn't quite understand her, or if he does, it frightens the pants off him. For all Billy's posturing, he's a home boy at heart. "Billy Liar" is one of the truly great British films of the sixties. It's not often it appears on late night T.V., or on cable. If it does, or you see it on video at your local video store, get it out. See it. then wind it back and see it again!!

I was a teenager when the film was made, and immediately recognized the pictures of cities in the 60's, the cars, streets, buildings, the interior of the houses. Even so the way people looked and talked. Beautiful. I never read the book but it seemed to me that Billies dreams were put on screen a bit overdone but therefore also very funny. Like small boys càn exaggerate, but Billy was not a small boy anymore, and therefore really a sad guy. His family had had it with him, quarrelling all the time, his boss and colleagues saw through him and everywhere his time was running out. That he had 2-3 girlfriends was a miracle. His lying promises did the trick. Time for a change, one would say ! The climax was the end of course. All of a sudden Liz got on his right side with messages of love and persuaded him onto the train to London. She was enthusiastic and dedicated to get with him out of her dull-after-war-life and gloomy city. The message of the movie is: grab your chances now or don't. In the 60's that was a coming up and everyday question for many of the young people (and still is !) and therefore very actual (then and now). I liked the movie and how the actors created their characters. Tom Courtenay did it with very much conviction. A splendid, for that time spirited, and very good looking Julie Christie as Liz the new-age young girl, with no ties or limitations (responsibility ?) whatsoever to withhold her from doing what she wanted to. We saw more of these girls in Holland soon after 1963. See the movie: you won't regret it I'm sure. Hans Veldman.