Battle of the Sexes is a very good movie – far better than it might have been! While its main plot event is the $100,000 purse tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, the movie is really about several transitions occurring in the US at that time: struggles for recognition of equal opportunity for women; for breaking down classic ‘50’s marriage stereotypes; for the legitimization of risk; and for the beginning, just the beginning, of recognition of gay and lesbian relationships.
The movie handles the relationships of Billie Jean with her husband, with her first lesbian lover, and with the gay fashion designer for the new women’s tour (sponsored by Virginia Slims!) with unanticipated warmth, subtlety and depth. The movie is also quite funny, showing us a playful, off center, and very creative Bobby Riggs – not quite the asshole he often seems in retrospect. Costuming and settings are appropriate to the era, and we also get Howard Cosell (his actual voice) calling the match. Perhaps the only person to come off worse than he likely was is Jack Kramer, then head of the USLTA, and while an important figure in the development of the men’s sport, a fierce opponent to women’s equality with men in the sport (of course a misunderstanding of what was being pursued) and to their receiving equal prize money.
You’ll enjoy the movie, appreciate how far we’ve come (and how far we still have to go), and value the way it didn’t wind up a simple minded sports movie!