The Battle of the
Sexes
Director: Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris
Year:
2017
Rating: 7.5
I am somewhat surprised that this film was made
at this time. Thirty years ago would have made sense. Now I am not so sure
but an interesting choice. How many people born after 1973 even know who
Bobby Riggs and Billy Jean King are? And about their legendary match? In
many ways it feels like a TV movie of the week but one with an incredible
cast. The cast alone makes the film worth watching.
But if you were of adult age in 1973, the match between these two people
was a huge cultural touchstone - everyone was talking about it; everyone
took a rooting interest; many were betting on it. It came to symbolize for
so many much more than a tennis match. I honestly can't recall who I was
rooting for - I was much less enlightened than and Bobby Riggs was in many
ways a lovable though irascible character who was likely saying all that
chauvinistic palaver to promote and hype the match. He was a great tennis
player in his prime in the 1940's but he was also a great hustler. The betting
kind of hustler. And he came up with this great idea to challenge the best
two women tennis players in the world and it shot him back to fame.
Much of the film also centers around King's emerging lesbianism and I expect
that is what made the film feel relevant to the filmmakers but even that
now feels sort of anachronistic - at the time it would have been a scandal
but today you just shrug your shoulders. I admit to never being a big fan
of King - she always felt hard and cold and totally businesslike - but Emma
Stone plays her very soft and vulnerable - I wonder if that was how she was
but rarely showed that side in public. Not mentioned in the film is some
of the aftermath. King's female lover brought a palimony suit against King
in 1981 that made public their affair. Marilyn Barnett - the hair dresser
- said that she deserved half of Billy Jean King's assets after a 7-year
affair. King was still married at the time. The suit was dismissed but the
ensuing bad publicity cost King millions in endorsements. She later met another
woman Illana Kloss who was her doubles partner in tennis as well and they
have been together ever since. Kloss has been the head of World Team Tennis
since 2001.
She later had this to say "I wanted to tell the truth but my parents were
homophobic and I was in the closet. As well as that, I had people tell me
that if I talked about what I was going through, it would be the end of
the women's tour. I couldn't get a closet deep enough. One of my big goals
was always to be honest with my parents and I couldn't be for a long time.
I tried to bring up the subject but felt I couldn't. My mother would say,
"We're not talking about things like that", and I was pretty easily stopped
because I was reluctant anyway"
One of my favorite parts of the film was real footage of Howard Cosell
announcing the match with Rosie Casals who I remember well - a fine tough
player - and the way he has his arm around her while announcing - hard to
imagine that taking place now! I am not sure who was doubling for Stone
and Steve Carell in the match but it reminded me as to how much women's
tennis has changed since then. Back then the rackets were still primarily
wooden and the game was about placement, strategy, coming to the net and
touch. Now it is so powerful that I expect most women on the tour could have
beaten Riggs.
The only villain in the film is Jack Kramer who also was a tremendous player
in his day - he comes across as a horse's ass and I feel like I should burn
my Jack Kramer wood racket which I have held on to all these many years.
But I won't. It is a thing of beauty.
