This film tells the star-crossed story of Tommy Riley and Marty Goldberg. Tommy is a failed Olympic-hopeful boxer. Marty Goldberg is a fifty-something ex-marine school-teacher who gave up HIS boxing aspirations due to some incident in his past. Together they are more than that.J.P Davis both wrote and starred in this hearty mulligan stew of a movie that's one part Rocky, one part "On the Waterfront" , one part "Gods & Monsters" and one part "Cock & Bull Story." As with any good stew there are also other flavors that we almost recognize but enjoy all the more for their ambiguity.It's unclear by the end of the movie who loves whom more, but it is clear to see that straight Tommy Riley has a special place in his heart for the closeted homosexual that's taught him about boxing and about life.This is an easy film to be critical of. It seems to draw from many great films and yet is not entirely comfortable in it's own skin. Yet I think it's a success as a movie. It has a clear story line, characters that we care about and the young boxer is very easy on the eye. Some will criticize the decisions that the characters make but they pretty much left me wanting to know more. Who was Marty's earlier protégé and exactly why did THEY part company? What was it that Tommy's step-father did that REALLY caused him to lose that earlier fight? Overall It's worth the time we invest in watching and pondering this film.

FIGHTING TOMMY RILEY is a movie that tries to bring up an issue but manages to corrupt it and come off stinking in its own hypocrisy. Coming off of having seen such films as Cinderella MAN, ROCKY, and MILLION-DOLLAR BABY, this one was shown on gay network LOGO and I felt the curiosity tugging at me, because (I thought) it would be interesting to see a film that touched gay issues while showcasing a plot in a masculine environment. The plot: nothing out of the ordinary. If anything, it follows Clint Eastwood's movie almost step by step from start to about two thirds, when it suddenly devolves into a complete mess tinted with shades of shrieking maudlin. (Actually, MILLION DOLLAR BABY did have a similar detour into maudlin but we're comparing fine, aged wine and this is poor man's vino.) Because, you see, there is the catch: the trainer (Eddie Jones) is gay, and the cocky fighter with the chiseled looks (J. P. Davis) is prone to gay panic and fake machismo. And in this world, the mix is as harmonious as oil and water. The problem with FIGHTING TOMMY RILEY is that it offers no resolution to the way the relation between Riley and Marty has until then progressed, and the implausibility of Tommy not being aware of a speck of gay interest coming from Marty, especially in the scene where Marty decides to massage Tommy, is ridiculous. Even more implausible is how Marty later comes off as a male (and portly) version of Martha Dobie, but the crowning achievement is how Tommy sheds not a tear at learning of Marty's fate and moves on. Because, as you see, when you become close to another person, that is exactly how you should react to their demise. And that's probably why this dreadful movie is not more known: it's a travesty.

I wouldn't have watched this, except that I'm working my way through gay cinema. I find boxing absolutely THE lowest form of entertainment. I understand that many people like watching fights and fight movies but for me that's just a sad commentary on the human condition.So, while this was on I had one eye on a magazine for the first third or so. By midpoint, I got interested and stopped reading the magazine. By three-quarters in, I was totally involved.I thought the performances were all good. I was conscious of the score reinforcing the mood maybe a little too much. I liked this movie, even though I generally have little respect for the genre. I could appreciate Million Dollar Baby, but I didn't particularly like it. This movie I liked. That probably has more to do with my being gay than anything else.

I'll admit upfront that I am a world-class bawl-baby and it's not hard for a movie to make me cry. I cry when I watch a movie that's depressing, uplifting, frightening, adorable, funny, or - more than anything - clearly shot from the heart and at the heart. Therefore, it should surprise no one that Fighting Tommy Riley, which was all of the above, made me sob.The back-cover story is not what one would call original - in fact, it sounds like a rip-off of the wonderful Million Dollar Baby. Old, washed-up second-class has-been meets young, wide-eyed, unstoppable ready-to-take-on-the-world talent and together they make the perfect team, which eventually carries them both to some kind of championship. It even has all the usual heart-of-gold character twists that we know from movies like M$B - young talent is pursued by steel-hearted bigwigs but displays unwavering loyalty to trainer, trainer becomes the parent young talent never had, and eventually, unspeakable tragedy strikes. But this old, washed-up plot has found its way to a young, unstoppable talent - writer and star J.P. Davis - and he has done some beautiful things with it.The performances of Davis and co-star Eddie Jones are electrifying. Jones's monologue (delivered by his character, Marty Goldberg, to the frank, temperamental Tommy) about why it's wrong to judge is a gem on the level of Ellen Burstyn's monologue from Requiem for a Dream. The cabin-in-the-woods scene (those who have seen the film know exactly what I'm talking about, and those who haven't are in for a cinematic treat) is also a thing of beauty, put together in just the right way to wrench at the viewer's heart. Yet the movie manages not to preach, and this in itself is a thing of wonder - when something is told from the heart, it's hard not to get on the soapbox.This should be the point where I say that this disturbing and, at times, extremely adult movie is not for everyone, and I agree that it will probably be lost on young children. It is for everyone else. You will fall in love with these characters, and when it turns out that they aren't (are? I actually figured out what was going on early in the movie) exactly what they seem, you, like Tommy Riley, will find it very hard to abandon them.The gentle, up-close-and-personal style of cinematography was well-deserving of this award it's already won, and Eddie O'Flaherty's direction is the work of a man who knows what he wants and how to get it. The ending is a little hokey, but not so much that it ruins what has already come.I once heard someone say that all boxing movies are great. Excluding all of the ridiculous Rocky sequels, I have to agree with him, though I'm not sure this is so much a boxing movie as a movie about men - REAL men, not great epic-hero conquerers. As a result, you will connect with Tommy and Marty in a way you never connected with William Wallace, Maximus, and Alexander, and you won't be forgetting it soon.Grade: A-.