Billy Liar

Billy Fisher is a young office worker at a funeral parlour in a dull English town, and he spends much of his time in an imaginary country of his own making, a place where he holds power and importance. He is also a habitual liar, and his inventions have left him engaged to two young women while he is drawn to a third, Liz. His dreams of becoming a comedy scriptwriter are slipping away, and his tangled personal life is closing in on him, until an opportunity to leave it all behind presents itself.

John Schlesinger directed the film, working from a screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. It was the first of twelve features listed in his directing career, ahead of Darling, Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday and others. Tom Courtenay plays Billy, with Julie Christie as Liz, and Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne, Ethel Griffies and Finlay Currie among the supporting cast. The production was handled by Joseph Janni, with fifty credited cast members and fifty-one credited crew.

Made in the United Kingdom, Billy Liar runs 98 minutes and mixes comedy, drama and romance. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.2 from around 7,700 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.8 from 127 votes. A critics' rating of 7.5 from 22 reviews places it slightly above the audience scores.