When Billie Beat Bobby (Bilingual) [DVD]

When Billie Beat Bobby is a witty, playful made-for-television feature based on the symbolic if thoroughly commercial 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match between 29-year-old Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King and 55-year-old pro Bobby Riggs. A lean, muscular Holly Hunter (The Piano) is a superb King, the feminist athlete instrumental in bringing greater equality between male and female tennis pros (men used to make a lot more money than women on the circuit). Ron Silver (The West Wing) is almost unrecognizable as Riggs, a likable if relentless self-promoter who rarely shuts up and seems indefatigable beneath his middle-age paunch and terrible haircut. Yearning to stay relevant in the game, Riggs pursues an attention-getting strategy of challenging top-ranked women players to well-publicized matches. (Despite outward appearances, Silver's inspired performance suggests Riggs was the kind of man who seemed terribly alone despite being the life of an endless party.) After defeating a psychologically unprepared Margaret Court (Jacqueline McKenzie), Riggs shamelessly and publicly goads King into agreeing to a showdown at the Houston Astrodome. Skillfully written and directed by Jane Anderson (If These Walls Could Talk 2), When Billie Beat Bobby takes viewers deep within the backstage machinations leading to the media event, and cheerfully indicates how much the King-Riggs match meant to ordinary people on either side of the feminist debate. --Tom Keogh