Billy Liar

Escape from the dreariness of everyday life is the theme of the 1963 film Billy Liar. John Schlesinger directed the movie, which originally started out as a book, written by Keith Waterhouse. It was also a play before it found a life on the big screen.

Undertaker's apprentice Billy Fisher (Tom Courteney) copes with life in a gloomy town in the North of England by creating a whole fantasy world for himself. Caught up in his daydream life, Billy has a lot of trouble with reality. His actions in the real world are full of lies and deception.

His lies keep backfiring on him, causing him to sink deeper and deeper into trouble. He is supposed to mail out calendars from his employers to their clients, but he doesn't mail them. Instead, he keeps the postage money for himself. He even manages to con two girls into becoming engaged to him.

Everything changes when he meets Liz (Julie Christie), a sweet and beautiful freespirited girl who seems to understands Billy. She shares a need for escape and spends her time travelling around the country. When she suggests that Billy head south with her to London, he has a real chance to do something different with his life. This is a real chance of escape for Billy. But will he take it?

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