In one scene from the HBO documentary Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer, the young tennis star prances and hops around stage during a concert by good friend Elton John. Back then King wore giant cat-eye glasses, and they nearly upstage John’s as she claps, stomps and leans into the mic -“singing back-up,” as she recalls.
At several points during the 60-minute biopic King can be seen whooping it up with abandon, particularly in her early days of dominating women’s tennis. She covers the entire court with her characteristically high-energy serve-and-volley game. She throws her racket and rides an invisible pogo stick upon winning a match. She generally exudes enthusiasm while those around her appear to reserve theirs for a later time.
King displays a range of emotions in the introspective commentary she provides throughout the film. There is no narrator for the movie, so mostly we get King telling her own story. Several of her immediate family members weigh in, including her parents, her brother, and her ex-husband Larry King (not the one affiliated with CNN)-who, like Billie, is especially frank. We also hear a bit from her partner of 20 years, former tennis pro Ilana Kloss, who didn’t talk publicly about their relationship until two years ago.
The movie traces the story of this tomboy from a working-class family in Long Beach, California, who rose to the top in an elite sport and revolutionized women athletics along the way. Vivid images and commentary bring the details of her activism and accolades to life. The strident supporter of women’s rights talks about being steered away from touch-football as a young girl, eventually turning to the more ladylike sport of tennis. She recalls her surprise when she learned that the shorts she and her mates wore on the public courts were off-limits for girls wishing to compete in this sport.
Present-day interviews as well as archival footage and photographs recount the consequential milestones in King’s life. But the movie also doles out enough tidbits about her personal life to delight viewers without becoming tabloid-y.
We get to see a chubby teenaged King sporting a toothy grin and hugging a koala in a photo taken during the four months she spent in Australia perfecting her game. And we get to hear King reveal that Kloss was an 11-year-old ball girl and King a 23-year-old superstar when the two first met. (They didn’t take up together until after they met again, when Kloss herself was 23.)
Appropriately so, the movie mainly focuses on King’s storied career. She retired from professional tennis in 1983 after racking up 39 Grand Slam titles in 15 years. In 1971 she became the first female athlete, in any sport, to pass the $100,000 mark for prize money earned. In 1973 she won the battle for equal prize money at the U.S. Open and beat out Golda Meir as the woman most admired by the readers of Seventeen magazine.
We also learn about King’s fight for gender parity in sports as a whole, her instrumental role in the passage of Title IX, and her push to end sex discrimination in tennis. The movie chronicles how she organized a group of women players to break away from the tennis establishment and form their own tour, sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Virginia Slims.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the movie is hearing King speak so candidly about her insecurities, her accomplishments, her fears and her sexuality. She talks about being outed in 1981, while still married to her husband, when a woman with whom she’d had an affair eight years prior mounted an unsuccessful palimony suit. King admits that she was actually fearful of her “controlling and manipulative” former lover, and refers to the suit as “emotional and financial blackmail.” She also talks about how depressed and hopeless she felt during that time?when she lost millions in endorsements just as she was planning to retire?despite the brave face she mustered for the public.
Throughout the film King and her ex-husband exhibit a mutual fawning that seems genuine. He says, “I don’t regret a day I spent with her. I don’t think anybody does,” and she credits him with turning her into a feminist when they were in college by pointing out the discrimination she faced as a woman. The filmmakers also include balanced footage of the former spouses presenting their respective sides on serious disagreements, such as one about the public disclosure of an abortion Billie had during their marriage.
Highlights of the film include vivid commentary provided by Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. At one point a magnanimous Navratilova even manages to steal some of the credit while praising King’s record-breaking 20th title win, which was secured when King and Navratilova teamed up in doubles.
The movie also provides the backstory on the circus-like “Battle of the Sexes,” the 1973 match between King and Bobby Riggs that was televised worldwide. King won in straight sets, a milestone victory for women’s sports. The movie shows how King felt obligated to engage Riggs in his challenge and pressured herself to win, fearing that a loss would damage her larger cause.
The viewer is treated to footage of King arriving at the historic match in Vegas-style grandeur, including a blue-sequined tennis shirt. We also see her hand Riggs a baby pig, a pre-match psych-out gift for the notorious chauvinist on par with the Mother’s Day flowers he had given Margaret Court before beating her in the original “Battle of the Sexes” match.
Portrait paints King as the ultimate good sport, gracious toward Riggs and remaining friends with him until his death. It also shows that she understood the need to sell women’s tennis to the public and managed to do so without losing her integrity. When her contemporaries snubbed rising star Evert, King recognized that the demure newcomer was not only a talented competitor but the perfect cover-girl to increase support for women’s tennis.
Like many a documentary, Portrait of a Pioneer features an extended denouement, including a photo montage accompanied by schmaltzy music that starts out poignant then swells triumphantly. But if you can forgive that cliche you’ll enjoy a biography that captures the complexity of an outspoken leader and legendary athlete in fresh detail.
