Fighting Tommy Riley, directed by Eddie O'Flaherty, is mostly about Marty Goldberg (played by Eddie Jones), the closeted elderly gay trainer of an up-and-coming straight boxer, Tommy Riley (played by J.P. Davis, who authored the screenplay). In the early part of the film, the plot seems ordinary, perhaps a clone of Million Dollar Baby (2004). One day, Tommy appears in a gym, spars, annoys his sparring partner, and leaves the gym in a huff. Marty and his business associate, Diane Stone (played by Diane M. Taylor), chase after him and tell him that they are impressed. Marty gives Tommy his business card and asks him to telephone him so that he can train to become a champion. Tommy's relationship with his girlfriend Stephanie (played by Christina Chambers) has been deteriorating because of his obsession with boxing, so he is ripe for Marty's offer. Training ensues, and the two bond, but their past barges into the present. A few years back, Marty learns, Tommy was seeking to represent the United States in the Olympic Games, but he lost to a boxer named Kane; presumably he folded because he was a loner, with no support from anyone. Marty also shares with Tommy some facts of his life: He, too, wanted to be a boxer in his youth, but he messed up his hand, so instead he began training boxers, and one in particular left him to go pro, leaving him feeling betrayed. Marty, of course, tells Tommy so that the latter will bond with him. One day, Stephanie unexpectedly comes by Tommy's studio apartment just as Marty has finished fixing him breakfast, thereby competing with Marty for Tommy's attention. Marty then takes Tommy to a cabin at Lake Arrowhead for training with few distractions. One day, during the regular post-workout massage, Marty touches Tommy's penis. Bewildered, Tommy asks for an explanation, but Marty is so flummoxed that the following morning he packs up the gear to return to Los Angeles. A few days later, Tommy wins in a rematch with Kane, and Marty offers to take him out to a dinner afterward. When Stephanie comes by to collect Tommy in a big limousine, Marty demurs, removing himself from the victory celebration; he then overeats and ends up in the hospital with a heart attack. Tommy returns, pledging his loyalty, but in the hallway Diane explains that Marty's fight career ended when word leaked out that he was gay, so he deliberately ruined his right hand and could box no more and became an English professor instead, and one of his students was Diane, whom he mentored in a manner similar to his relationship with Tommy. Nevertheless, news of his knockout of Kane spreads. A major fight promoter offers Tommy a million dollar contract. Marty will not agree to the contract, since that means ending the relationship with Marty, but the latter wants him to accept the opportunity, since he has trained Tommy as far as he can. The film ends with a bittersweet resolution of the dilemma. MH
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