| Why Would I Lie? | |
| Director: | Larry Peerce |
| Producer: | Pancho Kohner |
| Screenplay: | Peter Stone |
| Based On: | The Fabricator by Hollis Hodges |
| Starring: | Treat Williams Lisa Eichhorn Gabriel Macht Susan Heldfond Anne Byrne Valerie Curtin Jocelyn Brando Nicolas Coster Severn Darden Sonny Davis |
| Music: | Charles Fox |
| Cinematography: | Gerald Hirschfeld |
| Editing: | John C. Howard |
| Studio: | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Distributor: | United Artists (United States/Canada) Cinema International Corporation (International) |
| Runtime: | 105 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $4.5 million[1] |
| Gross: | $1,175,855 |
Why Would I Lie? is a 1980 American comedy-drama film about a compulsive liar named Cletus (Treat Williams). The film, which was directed by Larry Peerce and shot in Spokane, Washington, is based on the novel The Fabricator by Hollis Hodges.
Cletus Hayworth, a compulsive liar, is employed as a social worker. He tries to find a home for a young boy named Jorge and, in so doing, falls in love with a social worker, who unbeknownst to everyone is Jorge's mother.
Janet Maslin of The New York Times was not impressed: "It takes about three-quarters of an hour to figure out where Why Would I Lie? is going, and by that time it's clear the movie won't get there. ...First seen on his psychiatrist's couch, where he sports an antique coal miner's helmet, Cletus appears to be a cute, troubled guy in the Morgan! mold. It never becomes clear quite what he is, though. And before the audience even has time to get used to him, he has become involved in a convoluted plot that probably worked better on the page than it does on the screen. ...As directed by Larry Peerce, Why Would I Lie? isn't often funny, especially since Cletus's tall tales generally have a macabre ring. ...Mr. Williams can be charming, but he has none of the whimsical nature that might make Cletus's exploits believable."[2]