Battle of the Sexes (4 Stars)

This is a true story about the events leading up to the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs on 20th September 1973. I'm old enough to remember it, and I was fascinated by the match when it took place. It was advertised as the ultimate battle to prove who's superior, man or woman. A concept like this thrilled me, especially when Billie Jean won. The British press belittled the event afterwards. They said it proved nothing at all, just that an old tennis player, a man years past his prime, was no match for the world's best female tennis player. I wonder if they would have said the match meant nothing if Bobby had won.

One of the first things I did after watching the film in the cinema was run to the Internet to check how accurate the film is. Very accurate, it says, because Billie Jean King was the adviser on all the issues in the film. All the issues? I think not. She's just putting across her subjective viewpoint, the way she remembers everything. She doesn't know how things were on Bobby's side of the contest. She couldn't look inside his head. Bobby himself had already been dead for 20 years when the film was made, so he couldn't be consulted.

Even in the film it's not made completely clear what Bobby's motivation was. Outwardly, to the press and even to his friends in the tennis business, he made out that he was a male chauvinist pig who believed in the superiority of men over women in all areas of life, especially tennis. However, we also hear that he was a showman, so he was exaggerating his statements for maximum effect. How much exaggeration was there? What I mean is, was he exaggerating something he sincerely believed, or was it something he only pretended to believe? Where did he lie on the scale from reasonable human being to completely disgusting pig? Does Billie Jean King know the answer to that question?

Back in 1973 I had my own opinion on the subject. I thought Bobby Riggs was setting himself up. He was still a good tennis player for his age, and he intended to give it all he'd got, but he expected to lose, and the prospect of losing turned him on. His easy victory against Margaret Court four months earlier disappointed him. He wanted Billie Jean King to humiliate him, and that's what she did.

I admit that my judgement of Bobby Riggs' motives is based on my own way of thinking and my personal fetishes. If I were standing opposite a beautiful woman in a short skirt, I wouldn't want to defeat her. I'm not saying that I'd let her win, but I'd hope for her to win.

Billie Jean King was very gracious after her victory. She hugged Bobby instead of belittling him. The mocking was left up to the feminists and women's libbers at home. What did Billie and Bobby discuss when they sat together after the match? Did they part as friends, which is what the film suggests? Even if they did, was Bobby finally honest to her about his feelings? I fear we shall never know the answer.

Success Rate:  - 1.3

	Order from Amazon.com
	Order from Amazon.co.uk
	Order from Amazon.de