BILLY LIAR
Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) works in a dead-end job as a clerk in an undertaker’s office, but in his vivid — and overactive — imagination, he is the president of the country of Ambrosia, or a famous novelist, or an insurgent revolutionary. But Billy’s Walter Mitty–esque fantasies are not as innocent as they seem. They compensate for some dark and troubling realities, like the money he pocketed from work, or the 200 Christmas calendars he stashed instead of delivering, or his inability to make a real change in his life, or the fact that he has two fiancées — make that three, after he impulsively proposes to the lively free spirit Liz (Julie Christie, in the breakout role that would make her a star), who, like Billy, dreams of moving down to London but actually has the bravery to do it. John Schlesinger’s second feature film is a landmark in the British New Wave, combining cinema verité–style location work on the streets of Bradford, Yorkshire, with Billy’s flights of fancy, including absurdist dream sequences and sudden shifts to dark and violent humor. DIR John Schlesinger; SCR Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall, from their play and the novel by Waterhouse; PROD Joseph Janni. UK, 1963, b&w, 98 min. NOT RATED
Run Time: 98 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, September 11, 2026
Genre: Comedy-drama, romance
