When Billie Beat Bobby

When Billie Beat Bobby tells the story of the events leading up to the famous match between women's tennis champion Billie Jean King and over the hill Bobby Riggs. It was big sports and sociological newsin the 70s and promoted like the match horse race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral.

Billie Jean King was in her prime back then and took her game and her opponents seriously. Bobby Riggs was a ranking pro back in the 40s but was now a middle aged sports hustler be it tennis, poker, tiddlywinks, whatever.

Riggs got the idea to challenge ranking women pros and make the challenge boorish saying a midddle aged over the hill male player could beat the best the female sex had to offer. It was the battle of the sexes as t had never been fought before.

For Riggs it was a joke and he treated it as such. When he beat Margaret Court it was because she didn't and should have taken him seriously.

This film reminded me a lot of the Rocky film where heavyweight champion Sly Stallone trains to fight the fight of his life against the Russian challenger Dolph Lundgren. Lundgren trained on borscht and steroids. The results were predictable.

Holly Hunter as Billie Jean King and Ron Silver as Bobby Riggs fitted quite nicely in their parts.

For all you female dreamers out there, this male recommends this film highly.

One of the most entertaining, best-written/directed TV movies I've seen. Jane Anderson has given us a classic of quality. A slice of the past that sums up a turning point in American history. Holly Hunter, Ron Silver......the best.

"When Billie Beat Bobby" is a fast moving fun movie. Even though the outcome is known, this is such an uplifting film that the journey is what it's all about. Ron Silver is terrific as the constant hustler, Bobby Rigggs, and Holly Hunter more than adequate as his adversary. Make no mistake this movie belongs to Ron Silver, because he absolutely nails his character. Throw in the always interesting Bob Gunton and Fred Willard, and it is easy to see why "When Billie Beat Bobby" is so entertaining. I did not find the overplaying of womens lib to be distracting, as it was the critical motivation for the match to be played. This is worth seeking out, even if tennis is not your game. - MERK

I suppose it was. not a horrible film, but it wasn't the best film of the year. It made me recall the real battle of the sexes and the circus surrounding it. My only real comment on the film would be, who the heck thought Fred Willard would make a good Howard Cosell?

This is one of the best TV movies to come along in years, maybe longer. As usual, Holly Hunter turns in a wonderful performance as Billie Jean King (both as the person and the tennis player). But the real shocker here is the writing and directing. "When Billie beat Bobby" has a wonderful sense of style that rarely, if ever, is available for free in the comfort of your home. It makes use of visual grain, hand held camera work, jump cuts (when was the last time you saw a jump cut on TV), and non-diagetic visuals. This does not deserve to be on TV and it does not deserve to be called a movie. I would have loved to see this film in a theater and ABC got their luckiest break since "Millionaire." From an artistic standpoint, seeing this in a theatrical release would have taken a great TV movie and turned it into one of the year's best films. From a business standpoint, someone would have made a lot more money if this was on the big screen. I don't know if this will be availiable on video one day (or in theaters) but if you ever get a chance to see it then do. It really harkens back to the TV movies