Monkey on My Back

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.

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Cast

Cameron Mitchell

Barney Ross

Dianne Foster

Cathy Holland

Paul Richards

Rico, Drug Pusher (as Paul E. Richards)

Jack Albertson

Sam Pian

Kathy Garver

Noreen

Lisa Golm

Barney's Mother

Barry Kelley

Big Ralph

Scotty Beckett

Corpsman (uncredited)