Hopcorn+

Explore
Home /

Movie

/

Monkey on My Back

Monkey on My Back

Drama

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.

Date: 05/29/1957
Rating: 6.4
Cast: Cameron Mitchell, Dianne Foster, Paul Richards, Jack Albertson, Kathy Garver, Lisa Golm, Barry Kelley, Scotty Beckett

Cameron Mitchell as Barney Ross in Monkey on My Back Cameron Mitchell

Dianne Foster as Cathy Holland in Monkey on My Back Dianne Foster

Paul Richards as Rico, Drug Pusher (as Paul E. Richards) in Monkey on My Back Paul Richards

Jack Albertson as Sam Pian in Monkey on My Back Jack Albertson

Kathy Garver as Noreen in Monkey on My Back Kathy Garver

Lisa Golm as Barney's Mother in Monkey on My Back Lisa Golm

Barry Kelley as Big Ralph in Monkey on My Back Barry Kelley

Scotty Beckett as Corpsman (uncredited) in Monkey on My Back Scotty Beckett

Sources

We recommend using an adblocker, some of the sources may include their own ads.