Monkey on My Back
6.9
“SHOCK by SHOCK...It Jabs Like a Hopped-Up Needle!”
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.
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Cast
8 people
Cameron Mitchell
Barney Ross
Known for
Blood and Black Lace
The Toolbox Murders
Dianne Foster
Cathy Holland
Known for
The Kentuckian
The Last Hurrah
Paul Richards
Rico, Drug Pusher (as Paul E. Richards)
Known for
Beneath the Planet of the Apes
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Jack Albertson
Sam Pian
Known for
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
The Fox and the Hound
Kathy Garver
Noreen
Known for
Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
Unleashed
Lisa Golm
Barney's Mother
Known for
Possessed
Barry Kelley
Big Ralph
Known for
The Asphalt Jungle
The Manchurian Candidate
Scotty Beckett
Corpsman (uncredited)
Known for
My Favorite Wife
Battleground
André de Toth Director · Anthony Veiller Screenplay Crane Wilbur Screenplay
United States release May 29, 1957 · Produced in United States · Production United Artists Pictures
Production
Edward Small Productions
Production
United Artists Pictures
Studio
United States
Produced in
Languages
Original language
English
Spoken on screen
English
Release dates
United States · May 29, 1957
Theatrical
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Some details come from TheTVDB.