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Poster for Monkey on My Back

Monkey on My Back (1957)

NR ★ 6.4/10 94 min Drama United States English
Streaming: Not available
SHOCK by SHOCK...It Jabs Like a Hopped-Up Needle!

Description

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.

Trailer

Top Cast

Cameron Mitchell
Cameron Mitchell Barney Ross
Dianne Foster
Dianne Foster Cathy Holland
Paul Richards
Paul Richards Rico, Drug Pusher (as Paul E. Richards)
Jack Albertson
Jack Albertson Sam Pian
Kathy Garver
Kathy Garver Noreen
Lisa Golm
Lisa Golm Barney's Mother
Barry Kelley
Barry Kelley Big Ralph
Scotty Beckett
Scotty Beckett Corpsman (uncredited)

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