Fighting Tommy Riley (2005)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

If you want to watch a movie with fighting, DO NOT WATCH THIS. Ended abruptly and horribly and I cannot believe it was allowed to be a movie. Very bad. On the other hand, if you want to watch a story with NO fighting and maybe be a little sad, because of the story yes but also because this movie was horrible enough to make a grown man cry out of mere regret that he wasted his time watching it, this IS the movie for you! No fighting, like I said. I saw this movie rated as pretty good on a site that rates boxing and fighting movies and I was at first going to say I can't believe it got a decent score, which i still am going to say that but now I realize it should not of even been on that sight because i would under no circumstances classify a movie that has no fighting in it as a fighting or boxing movie. Very very disappointed. Watch Cinderella man instead.

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.

I have seen many indie feature films in my years on the festival circuit. Usually they suffer from that other variation of the indie 'rule of three'--the one that says you'll get two of the following but never all three: high production value, a good story, quality performances. Well this film to my surprise and pleasure does have all three. I was hooked almost from the outset by the look and feel of the film--a tale of gritty survival on the mean streets of the prize-fighting circuit--and the performance of the main character who managed to take the stereotypical boxer against the world and add a measure of depth and emotion that was different from other similar genre constructed characters. The direction was stellar, both in the technical aspects of camera movement and in the subtle emotional cues that sent the story spinning in an unexpected, and refreshing, direction. The writing and acting are very solid, and Eddie O'Flaherty is a director with a very bright future. I had the pleasure to meet him in a directing class, which is how I came to see his film in the first place, and I was taken not only with his natural ability to paint pictures with words and description, but his charming, humble personality. If you stumble across this film in the video store, do yourself a favor, rent it and sit down and watch it. You will be impressed with the production value (I have an idea of the actual budget, but if you told me this cost over 1 million, I wouldn't doubt it for a second), the cinematography and the lush feel of a big budget film. The only reason you don't already know of this film is because of the unfortunate timing of it's release--sandwiched between Cinderella Man and that little film about female boxers starring Clint Eastwood. Sadly, those two films covered much of the ground this film does, though the story contained here is quite original and will take you on a second act turn of events you do not expect. The filmmakers should be very proud of the work done here and I look forward to seeing what is next on the horizon for Mr. O'Flaherty.

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-.