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Review

Stunningly photographed, impeccably acted and written with an insiders feeling, Fighting Tommy Riley packs a fierce left hook in its tale of homosexual repression. Tommy Riley (Davis) is a boxer with a temper and a flawed past spotted by trainer Marty Goldberg (Jones) in a small local training gym. Marty is an older, overweight, closeted homosexual who is immediately attracted to the boxer with the great face and an even more beautiful body. One of the definite advantages of this film is that we get to look at the splendid J.P. Davis in nearly every shot – there is one butt shot and a partial frontal. Marty and his partner Diane decide to manage Tommy’s faltering boxing career. They first get him to focus and listen. They physically bring him to perfection and they book him great fights that make the man shine in the ring. All during this period we see Marty fixate on the man. He gives him massages with trembling hands and he sets up a gym in his garage for the boxer. It all comes to head when Marty invites Tommy to his cabin for a month of intense training. Marty finally can’t control his wandering, massaging hands and the boxer says, “What are you doing?” But this is a team and the boxer owes his restored career to Marty.

This tragically gorgeous drama presents two difficult characters in a classic story we feel immense power from. While many arenas are open to openly gay men, the boxing ring is not one of them. This is a place of repression and the terrible things that result from it. Fighting Tommy Riley may not be how most of us live our lives, but that’s what a good film does – it takes us into other lives – in this case the life of a tortured homosexual.

 -- Scott Cranin