Cornered: the gay subcurrent is just part of what makes boxing drama Fighting Tommy Riley so interesting.

Fighting Tommy Riley * Written by J.P. Davis * Directed by Eddie O'Flaherty * Starring J.P. Davis, Eddie Jones * Freestyle Releasing

With Million Dollar Baby copping the Oscar, a deluxe edition of Raging Bull on DVD, and Rocky himself, Sylvester Stallone, on the tube with a new reality show called The Contender, the time would appear to be right for another new boxing drama. But Fighting Tommy Riley breaks with the old cliches about the triumph of the little guy and the new ones about dead-end despair. Moreover, this small-scale independent film does so through a story that touches on same-sex love and desire in a new and interesting way.

Directed by Eddie O'Flaherty from a screenplay by star J.P. Davis, Riley is set in a boxing world one step down in size from the one Clint Eastwood portrayed to widespread critical acclaim. The title character is a former Olympic boxing contender, undone by a manipulative and controlling father. Now reduced to working as a sparring partner in seedy gyms, he seems to be on the fast track to nowhere. But then he meets Marty Goldberg (Eddie Jones), an aging ex-boxer who's now a talent spotter and boxing coach for up-and-coming fighters, who in turn dump him once they get a shot at the big time.

As we eventually learn, Marty could have been a contender too were it not for the fact that he was outed as gay in his youth, sending him scurrying into the closet. Now coming to the end of his life, he sees in Tommy a reflection of his youthful dreams. He also sees a youth he's very much attracted to, and a very awkward, decidedly physical pass is made--one that frightens Marty far more than it upsets Tommy. Troubled as he is, the kid's no homophobe. And he dearly loves Marry, who has come to be the guiding parental figure he always longed for.

As might be expected, no upbeat ending comes from all of this. But thanks to the sensitivity of the filmmakers and the work of all the actors, particularly Jones as Marty, Fighting Tommy Riley speaks volumes about those whom the gay rights revolution never touched and about the lives of older gays and lesbians in general. It's not to be missed.

Ehrenstein is the author of Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000.