‘You know that I’ve got a fairly vivid imagination, don’t you, darling?‘
I’ve been working my way through the kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s in recent times, and while this has been a thoroughly enjoyable cinematic odyssey, there is also no denying that they have a tendency to be a little… grim. Whilst these films are often peppered with a world-weary warmth and unity brought about through a kind of universal struggle, it is also true that there isn’t much room for flights of fancy in the working-class industrial towns of the north – at least not onscreen there isn’t anyway. Billy Liar has plenty of grit but it’s also hopeful, surrealist and frequently hilarious…
Billy Fisher (Tom Courtenay) is an idle layabout who retreats into a fantasy world of machine guns and imaginary countries at the first sign of trouble. He is also a pathological liar, a womaniser and a thief. When he’s not stealing petty cash from his employer Emanuel Shadrack (Leonard Rossiter), he’s playing girls off against each other, namely the prim and proper Barbara (Helen Fraser) and the more rough and ready Rita (Gwendolyn Watts). In truth, however, it’s bohemian kindred spirit Liz (Julie Christie) who Billy really pines for.
Directed by John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy) from a script credited to Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, Billy Liar presents us with a morally dubious but incredibly charismatic protagonist, and it is Courtenay’s electric performance that ensures that this is truly a classic of the genre. The decision to show Billy’s frequent flights of fancy gives the film a more modern feel, more akin to the gags and cutaways delivered in Family Guy than to more gritty fair like Kes or Poor Cow. That being said, the other characters in Billy’s orbit are more typical of the era, whether it be his supportive mother (Mona Washbourne), his hard father (Wilfred Pickles) or stuffy local councillor Duxbury (Finlay Currie). This juxtaposition between Billy’s lapses into absurdism versus his typical working-class surroundings provides some of the film’s most successful moments and also helps to ensure that this is a truly unique piece of filmmaking.
For those that find the more traditional kitchen sink dramas to be too bleak, Billy Liar is the perfect halfway house between grit and beauty. A true British classic.