When Billie Beat Bobby

Product Description Academy Award winner Holly Hunter (Best Actress, The Piano, 1993) stars as tennis legen Billie Jean Kings in this highly entertaining flashback to 1973;s historic "Battle of the Sexes." When aging, chauvinistic tennis pro Boby Riggs (Ron Silver- Ali, Reversal of Fortune) begins to challenge the world's top ladies players, King confidently rises to the test- not for herself, but to tdefend the honor of women everywhere. Months of hype then culminate in an epic match at Houston's AStrodome that transcends sport and captivates a massive national audience! With a great cast portraying memorable, larger-than-life personalities, this outstanding feature serves up something for everyone! Amazon.com 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