The Clubhouse Podcast

iTunes Exclusive Episode Battle Of The Sexes

September 2, 2018 Season 8, Episode 52

Rob and Jen review Battle of the Sexes, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris, a film about the 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King. Starring Emma Stone as King and Steve Carell as Riggs, the film explores the fight for equal pay and respect in professional tennis, including King's formation of the Virginia Rims tour. Rob praises the strong script and supporting cast but notes the lead performances, while visually close, never fully sold him on the physical casting.

About this episode

Key takeaways

  • The film covers Billie Jean King's effort to form the Virginia Rims tour after women tennis players were earning approximately one-eighth of what men earned
  • Billie Jean King and her current partner served as consultants on the film and some exact quotes from real life appear in the screenplay
  • The movie runs approximately two hours with the actual tennis match taking up about the final 20 minutes
  • The film includes a prior match between Bobby Riggs and Margaret Court, who was the number-one ranked player at the time and played on Mother's Day
  • Adult themes are present but handled respectfully; the film successfully captures the 1973 time period through costuming, hair, vehicles, and lighting

Q&A

Who served as consultants on the film?

Billie Jean King and her current partner were heavily involved as consultants and influenced the script

What was the pay disparity between male and female tennis players at the time?

Women were making approximately one-eighth of what men were making in professional tennis

What tour did Billie Jean King help form in the film?

The Virginia Rims tour, which the host notes still exists in some iteration today but under a different name

How much of the film focuses on the actual tennis match?

The match itself comprises approximately the last 20 minutes of the film

Read Transcript

Greetings if I remember and or members if you are hearing the sound of my voice currently the following conditions have been met. At least once in your life you have checked out the clubhouse podcast live every Sunday night 7 Eastern for Pacific you are one stop shop for all things pop culture it also means you subscribe to this particular little show on your favorite podcast app because it is time for iTunes exclusive number 319. Welcome my name is Rob I am the executive producer of the clubhouse podcast and I enjoy a biopic everyone's in again just how I roll but I'm not alone for this particular episode joining me across the desk in the co-host chair is the lady of the house and a woman that is slowly would surely getting herself caught up on the world of sport she is general welcome friend hello everyone whenever we do one of these it is to review something this is no exception to that rule the directors of little miss sunshine Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris bring us a brand new film based on one of the biggest sporting events of the 70s and the title of the film is actually was the title of the event it is battle of the sexes and we want to thank all of our friends over at sly fox for helping us out get let us see movies early so we can review them for you with the empire we're such big fans of those guys all right so let's set this up this is the true story 1973 the year that I entered this mortal coil that is true Bobby rigs challenges Billie Jean King to a tennis match in a time where there's a lot going on with this women were making about an eighth of what the men were making that I want to say that was the number she thought that was the one she threw out but I mean that was a one they weren't they weren't getting the respect they deserve especially the tennis world so Billie Jean King this played by the Emma Stone decides that with her manager played by the Sarah Silverman they're going to break off and form their own tour the Virginia Slim's tour which I believe in some iteration is still around today but it's not called that anymore no so they get a bunch of women together to sign up for this thing go off on their own Bobby rigs is a guy who is a hustler tennis hall of favor yes needs to make a butt trying to be his own man in his 50s yeah trying to get out of the shadow of his in-laws because he works for his father-in-law his wife played by the great Elizabeth shoe and rigs and rigs played by the great Steve Carell and the path that we go towards in that now in my written review currently located WWW dot the clubhouse podcast dot com that's our website I put that this film is a really good companion piece to a documentary that HBO did I believe it's called Billie Jean King portrait of a legend I believe it was in 2006 if I'm not mistaken that tells a really good complete story this particular film is just about that chapter but it's not just about the tennis match now there are multiple storylines going in here of course Billie Jean King trying to figure out what her destiny really is what her fate really is who she is Bobby trying to be his own man they've also got one of the best tennis players Margaret court is part of this story and it's really and the script here is incredibly strong it is it is and Billie Jean and her current partner were involved with this heavily they were they were consultants yes and you can see that the influence and after the movie I did some research and there were some exact quotes that were in the movie absolutely and it was nice to see some of those reiterated it's right at two hours yes I was engaged the entire time with the script and I say that with a caveat because I really like I said I enjoyed this film it's a great film it's I feel an accurate portrayal of what was going on the time without really sensationalizing it yes my issue is I never really completely bought either one of them completely I enjoyed both performances by Stone and Corel so as the character correct okay first of all Emma Stone has the list and you can't get past it Billie Jean King does not have a list and she's Billie Jean is an attractive woman Emma Stone is a pretty woman but I still think visually it was they came very close without trying to do prosthetics or anything like that I thought they did a very good job but it never got that last 5% to sell me and Corel same thing and see on Corel he did an amazing job to me with the part there were even some at the end some photos of Bobby and Billie Jean King from real life and there was one or two of Bobby and it's like okay for no prosthetics that's awfully close to being a twin not not quite identical but it still wasn't enough to sell me though but the the performances were good I mean these two you know what you're getting they're great they're great performers I just never fully bought in on them as the characters from a physical standpoint and from an audio standpoint at certain points Corel's accent seems to come and go a little bit yeah but I genuinely bought their chemistry I mean you get the picture on the one sheet that is straight out of the press conference very famous picture of the two of them this is shot you can tell the shot very well with care by the directors that there was no real lack of days ago we're just gonna get through this like they really felt the need to tell the story which I thought was great the the the performances to watch in this for me are Wallace Langham and Alan coming yes they both have very small roles in this as the costumers for the Virginia Slim's tour but their their scenes are at the right moments with the right impact yes I agree with that where it's very pivotal moments in the story where they just one line here one line there and it just kind of hits you in the chest and I really dug that about this and it helped make the story flow absolutely you know no telling if that's 100% accurate for what they did but it would fit it fit and it floated it helped explain some things without going into a another 20 minute dialogue and the match itself is about the last 20 minutes of the film right because they actually do do part of the Margaret court Bobby rigs because Margaret played him first well yes which was the catalyst because not what made it for people that don't know this story and I don't want to go too deep into it if you don't know it but he faced Margaret first yes because Margaret at the time was the number one player in the world and it was the mother's day match and it was held on a mother's day she did have a small child and she did travel you know tennis tour with her baby and her husband and that also factors into the time period but but very well portrayed I thought there was some some really great even even though there were some tennis sequences that they didn't quite mask the doubles as well as they could there were a couple of ones I was like that's not Steve Correll that's not her that's not understood but the tennis sequences I thought overall were really well done the training sequences I thought were great yes again shot well visually great strong story I that was my only stomach block was just those two performance and it takes place of course in 1973 yep and you get that 1973 vibe through the costuming the hair the vehicles which is something Don is very very picky about Don was not with us for this he's still Don and Houston helping out the people down there so keep fighting a good fight brother yes and we're very proud of you Don and the lighting but it wasn't I mean I remember in the 70s watching things and you obviously knew you were watching something it didn't wasn't quite as quite as crisp as we get now so we had the crispness of modern day but we still had that true 70s vibe and I liked how they did that also a great performance by Bill Pullman as kind of her foil and if I'm not mistaken Pullman's son is also in this Lewis Pullman who plays Carell's son oddly enough let's see it's not telling me it's not telling me anything but I mean I'm gonna I'm gonna make the assumption because he looks a lot like his old man too if that is truly his old man and you have kind of a reteaming in this because you have Martha McIsaac playing peaches I'm not sure if you know who she is any which one she was watching the movie but I don't remember peaches being a tennis no I'm talking about the actress Martha McIsaac's previously has worked on Emma Stone when they were in super bad together she was also on a show that I absolutely loved with Bill Pullman called 1600 Penn okay a couple of years ago so I thought she was great in this film as well Fred Armason has a very small role and it's very Fred Armasony I mean it's Fred Armason doing the characters Fred Armason does Eric Christian Olson also in this I mean there's this is a packed packed packed cast and again strong script I thought the script was amazing if there's any nominations that come out for this I wouldn't be surprised if if I don't I don't know if you'd call this adapted screenplay or not but it's this very strong screenplay again my own my downfall was just the physicality of the two mains and I think it's because you and I have watched and witnessed and seen them on TV and stuff when we were children we're a little more familiar whereas some of the people who would see this movie now aren't going to have known them well and you think about that that this is literally two generations removed right and so and when we were at our screening there were a number of different people who of a different generation than you and I are right and you could tell which ones knew the story and which ones didn't given by the reactions of the crowd therein which I thought was really interesting so again I don't want to go too deep into it because if you don't know the story it's it's it makes the film I think a little more fascinating and I don't know I mean I could be completely off base here but you and you mentioned this earlier I don't know that there were a lot of liberties taken here from remembering what I remember about the documentary that HBO did I don't remember a lot of of liberties taken there I was like no they don't really talk about that there's there's not a lot but there's like there's one semi-important character who's put in a role but that the first name is the right first name but what her actual job was is different somebody who joined the the tour at a certain point yeah uh-huh who joined the tour at a certain point her real job wasn't what she was cast as but for the movie it made sense to put it in with that role and it flowed a little better than if she had her real and from a story standpoint it kind of fit a little better too yeah and they honored her and respected her and gave her the right first name right so there is that uh anything else you want to add before we get to final analysis um not that I oh maybe do some research before you decide to take children there are definitely some adult themes in this for sure it's not graphic or gratuitous it's very respectfully done however you may want to do your research before you just Google Billie Jean King yeah that'll tell you what you need to know yes all right let's get to the final analysis the way we do the final analysis on the shows we're not gonna give you thumbs up thumbs down we're not gonna give you letter grades numbers tennis rackets anything like that what we're gonna do is we're gonna ask two questions question number one is would you see this film again at the answers no then we're done here but if the answer is yes then we have a follow up questions how far you willing to go to see it because that determines how much you enjoyed the film from best of the best to the worst of the best here's your spectrum full price at the theater twilight matinee early morning second run at the dollar theater actually leaving your house to get it from red box streaming it on Netflix or waiting for it on cable Jen would you see this again yes how far you willing to go matinee or early morning so you'd still go in first run yeah at the less expensive price okay that's fair I mean that's right there on the precipice as we like to say it's fun to see with it's a fun one to see with other people I would definitely see this again for a first time I think I would agree with you maybe a matinee would be good for repeat viewings I might could wait for it on red box yeah or still a great film yeah battle the sex is directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris and again thanks to our friends at sly fox zine me zine me zine me zine me we're such fans of those guys they let us see movies early so that we can review them for you and we cannot thank them enough for everything they do for us that being said let's get to the plugs visit our website the aforementioned www.theclubhousepodcast.com find out everything you need to know and some stuff you don't you can follow us on social media twitter is at clubhouse show everything else is the clubhouse podcast all three words in that order or you will wind up somewhere different you can follow me on social media if you choose to do so would appreciate that found out the day that we record this is my ninth anniversary on the book of face fantastic so I got that going for me which is nice everything is yes that rob urban that has spelled ERV I am I know we're co-hosts for this show is Chad Womack you can follow him at chat n p g six nine I'm Jen rome home on instagram the official fact checker for the show is Don Ford you can follow him at dawn I'm sorry at fawn f a n d o n g o o o fawn don go email him for information on how we can come do a live show for you we love doing live shows and hanging out with the empire you can email him at don at the clubhousepodcast.com you can email me questions comments concerns somebody to go pound sand I am rob at the clubhousepodcast.com chat is chat at the clubhousepodcast.com Sharla Parker's in Pinterest because we are morally obligated to say that jules Womack probably hanging out with Chad Faith Ford just hoping that her husband's doing okay that's how we roll our normal show every Sunday night seven eastern four pacific as your one stop shop for all things pop culture or just keep subscribing on your favorite podcast app so until next time for Jen and the empire I'm rob clubhouse is closed pretty parmer you get a hat or is one of the players come on

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