Billy Liar (film)

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For other uses, see Billy Liar (disambiguation).
Billy Liar

original film poster
Directed by John Schlesinger
Produced by Joseph Janni
Written by Keith Waterhouse (novel and play)
Willis Hall (play)
Starring Tom Courtenay
Julie Christie
Wilfred Pickles
Mona Washbourne
Music by Richard Rodney Bennett
Cinematography Denys Coop
Distributed by Continental Distributing Inc.
Release date(s) Flag of the United Kingdom August 15, 1963
Flag of the United States December 16, 1963
Running time 98 min
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Language English
IMDb profile

Billy Liar is a 1963 film based on the novel by Keith Waterhouse. It was directed by John Schlesinger and stars Tom Courtenay (who had understudied Albert Finney in the West End theatre adaptation of the novel) as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, one of his three girlfriends. Mona Washbourne plays Mrs Fisher, and Wilfred Pickles played Mr Fisher. Rodney Bewes, Finlay Currie and Leonard Rossiter also feature. The Cinemascope photography is by Denys Coop, and Richard Rodney Bennett supplied the score.

The film belongs to the British New Wave (or "kitchen sink") movement, inspired by the earlier French New Wave. Characteristic of the style is a documentary/cinéma vérité feel and the use of real locations (in this case the city of Bradford in Yorkshire). One sequence includes a very early use of a swear word ("pissed"), which was unusual by commercial film standards of the time; the word is uttered by Mona Washbourne.

In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Billy Liar the 12th greatest British film of all time.

Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie as Billy and Liz in the 1963 film version of Billy Liar
Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie as Billy and Liz in the 1963 film version of Billy Liar
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Liar_%28film%29"
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