Monkey on My Back

May 29, 1957

1h 34m

★ 6.4

SHOCK by SHOCK...It Jabs Like a Hopped-Up Needle!

Overview

The painfully true story of welterweight boxing champion Barney Ross is detailed in Monkey on My Back. Cameron Mitchell stars as Ross, whose meteoric ring career is interrupted when he joins the Marines at the outset of WWII. A highly decorated hero, Ross contracts malaria oversees and is given morphine to assuage the pain. By the time he returns to the states, Ross is a confirmed drug addict. Before he can rise to the top again, he must hit rock bottom and his descent into the hell of narcotics dependency is graphically illustrated (so much so that the film was almost denied a Production Code seal). Though a cured Barney Ross served as technical advisor for Monkey on My Back, he ended up suing the producers for defamation of character -- and lost.

Genres

Drama

Production Companies

Edward Small Productions

Monkey on My Back Trailers

Cast

Barney Ross

Cameron Mitchell

Cathy Holland

Dianne Foster

Rico, Drug Pusher (as Paul E. Richards)

Paul Richards

Sam Pian

Jack Albertson

Noreen

Kathy Garver

Barney's Mother

Lisa Golm

Big Ralph

Barry Kelley

Corpsman (uncredited)

Scotty Beckett

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