Director: John Schlesinger
Screenplay: Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
Starring: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 98 minutes
Year: 1963
When we think of post-war British cinema, “kitchen sink” realism springs to mind, in films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. However, John Schlesinger’s 1963 Billy Liar, serves as a bridge from those dramas to the optimism of the “Swinging Sixties”. Rather than dwelling purely in grim realities,Billy Liar introduces satire and slapstick farce to the daydream-starved working-class.
Tom Courtenay’s defining role was Billy Fisher, a flaky, chronic liar. Infuriating to watch, and yet wins us over with raw charismatic energy, fabulous comic timing, and a yearning vulnerability. Perhaps he is us? Effectively using self-destructive escapism, cynicism, subversion, and fantasy as a shield against normality.
The dialogue is fascinating. Billy’s world is characterized by repetitive early-1960s slang and rhythmic, back-and-forth bickering; it would provide the evolutionary DNA for the British sitcom. Steptoe and Son and Fawlty Towers would also use rapid dialogue to keep reality at bay.
The uncomfortable, casual and awful bigotry of Grandma Boothroyd is quite simply unacceptable, but it weirdly helps set another marker in the film. For one thing, it’s genuine. It captures the real-world Windrush-era backlash of an older generation that relied on public infrastructure while hypocritically resenting the workers recruited to maintain it.
There’s a couple of other dodgy, dated moments, but Schlesinger and Waterhouse have their cake and eat it in regards to Grandma. Her attitudes are indicative of the life Billy wants to move on from.
This old-fashioned world is in contrast with the one represented by screen-stealing Liz (Julie Christie). She represents the rise of the teenager. Christie’s loose, modern dialogue cuts right through Billy’s posturing.
I remember studying Billy Liar some years ago and one very brief moment was highlighted when Christie casually laughed at town statues. A small, but important symbol, showing how the new post-war generation had outgrown the ideals of their parents and the old world order.
Ultimately, Billy Liar is the story of a tragic anti-hero and the ending is poetic and maddening at the same time. Courtenay’s working-class rebel is the direct ancestor to Ewan McGregor’s Mark Renton in Trainspotting. The two are very similar in these roles anyway, but both films centre on charismatic but flawed young men rebelling against a stifling environment. Both actors and films serve as anchors for their golden eras of British youth (the 1960s British New Wave and 1990s “Cool Britannia”). They even both end up in train stations.
VIDEO
Unlike earlier Blu-ray releases which used older masters that lacked contrast and fine detail, this set features a brand-new 4K restoration with HDR grading. Schlesinger 2.35:1 was an unusual choice to shoot a “kitchen sink” drama, but of course, that’s another marker in this important film. The new scan is gorgeous and pulls every bit of texture, deep blacks and crisp detail the stark black-and-white cinematography. It’s fascinating to recognise local streets that haven’t changed. Except they’re now in colour, of course.
EXTRA FEATURES
This is a wonderfully thorough release from Studio Canal, who are cornering the boutique market for classic British work, following their Ealing packages. Billy Liar is quite special. More free and loose than the usual kitchen sink drama, but no less relevant, and not as quaint as Ealing. It’s an outlier of sorts, and an incredibly important watermark. This presentation is a marvel including archival material and two new pieces (everything but the kitchen sink. #sorry). The inclusion of a calendar in the limited edition is a nice touch, considering it’s a very obvious motif in the film for how stuck and self-destructive Billy feels.
- Include 64-page booklet, poster and calendar
- NEW – Billy Liar: Alice Lowe and Danny Leigh in Conversation
- NEW The Women of Billy Liar by Samira Ahmed
- Audio commentary with John Schlesinger, Tom Courtenay and Julie Christie
- Audio commentary by Kat Ellinger
- Remembering Billy Liar with Tom Courtenay and Helen Fraser
- Interview with Richard Ayode
- A look through the Keith Waterhouse Archive with British Library Curator Zoe Wilcox
- Interview with Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley
Billy Liar UHD
Screenplay: Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall
Starring: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne
Country: United Kingdom
Running Time: 98 minutes
Year: 1963
When we think of post-war British cinema, “kitchen sink” realism springs to mind, in films like Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. However, John Schlesinger’s 1963 Billy Liar, serves as a bridge from those dramas to the optimism of the “Swinging Sixties”. Rather than dwelling purely in grim realities,Billy Liar introduces satire and slapstick farce to the daydream-starved working-class.
Tom Courtenay’s defining role was Billy Fisher, a flaky, chronic liar. Infuriating to watch, and yet wins us over with raw charismatic energy, fabulous comic timing, and a yearning vulnerability. Perhaps he is us? Effectively using self-destructive escapism, cynicism, subversion, and fantasy as a shield against normality.
The dialogue is fascinating. Billy’s world is characterized by repetitive early-1960s slang and rhythmic, back-and-forth bickering; it would provide the evolutionary DNA for the British sitcom. Steptoe and Son and Fawlty Towers would also use rapid dialogue to keep reality at bay.
The uncomfortable, casual and awful bigotry of Grandma Boothroyd is quite simply unacceptable, but it weirdly helps set another marker in the film. For one thing, it’s genuine. It captures the real-world Windrush-era backlash of an older generation that relied on public infrastructure while hypocritically resenting the workers recruited to maintain it.
There’s a couple of other dodgy, dated moments, but Schlesinger and Waterhouse have their cake and eat it in regards to Grandma. Her attitudes are indicative of the life Billy wants to move on from.
This old-fashioned world is in contrast with the one represented by screen-stealing Liz (Julie Christie). She represents the rise of the teenager. Christie’s loose, modern dialogue cuts right through Billy’s posturing.
I remember studying Billy Liar some years ago and one very brief moment was highlighted when Christie casually laughed at town statues. A small, but important symbol, showing how the new post-war generation had outgrown the ideals of their parents and the old world order.
Ultimately, Billy Liar is the story of a tragic anti-hero and the ending is poetic and maddening at the same time. Courtenay’s working-class rebel is the direct ancestor to Ewan McGregor’s Mark Renton in Trainspotting. The two are very similar in these roles anyway, but both films centre on charismatic but flawed young men rebelling against a stifling environment. Both actors and films serve as anchors for their golden eras of British youth (the 1960s British New Wave and 1990s “Cool Britannia”). They even both end up in train stations.
VIDEO
Unlike earlier Blu-ray releases which used older masters that lacked contrast and fine detail, this set features a brand-new 4K restoration with HDR grading. Schlesinger 2.35:1 was an unusual choice to shoot a “kitchen sink” drama, but of course, that’s another marker in this important film. The new scan is gorgeous and pulls every bit of texture, deep blacks and crisp detail the stark black-and-white cinematography. It’s fascinating to recognise local streets that haven’t changed. Except they’re now in colour, of course.
EXTRA FEATURES
This is a wonderfully thorough release from Studio Canal, who are cornering the boutique market for classic British work, following their Ealing packages. Billy Liar is quite special. More free and loose than the usual kitchen sink drama, but no less relevant, and not as quaint as Ealing. It’s an outlier of sorts, and an incredibly important watermark. This presentation is a marvel including archival material and two new pieces (everything but the kitchen sink. #sorry). The inclusion of a calendar in the limited edition is a nice touch, considering it’s a very obvious motif in the film for how stuck and self-destructive Billy feels.