

Monkey on My Back
1957-05-29 · 94 min · ★ 6.8
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.
Trailers are previews, not full movies.
No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.
Production details
- Directors
- André de Toth
- Production companies
- Edward Small Productions
- Countries
- United States of America
- Status
- Released
Top Cast
Cameron MitchellBarney Ross
Dianne FosterCathy Holland
Paul RichardsRico, Drug Pusher (as Paul E. Richards)
Jack AlbertsonSam Pian
Kathy GarverNoreen
Lisa GolmBarney's Mother
Barry KelleyBig Ralph
Scotty BeckettCorpsman (uncredited)Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.
Where to watch
Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.
Availability not listed for this country.
Seasons & episodes
Recommendations

94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.

A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.

After completing military service, Walter Gulick takes a job as a sparring partner at a gym, the owner of which sees potential in Walter as a professional fighter—and takes him under his wing.

A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.

Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.

Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.

Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.

The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.

Newspaper men compete against each other to find a serial killer dubbed "The Lipstick Killer".

A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.

Director Alfred Hitchcock is revered as one of the greatest creative minds in the history of cinema. Known for his psychological thrillers, Hitchcock’s leading ladies were cool, beautiful and preferably blonde. One such actress was Tippi Hedren, an unknown fashion model given her big break when Hitchcock’s wife saw her on a TV commercial. Brought to Universal Studios, Hedren was shocked when the director, at the peak of his career, quickly cast her to star in his next feature, 1963’s The Birds. Little did Hedren know that as ambitious and terrifying as the production would be to shoot, the most daunting aspect of the film ended up coming from behind the camera.

A spectacular heist starts to unravel as the crooks take it on the lam.

During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.

After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.

Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford

At the insistence of Ruth Van Rydock, an old schoolfriend who is convinced that there is something wrong, Miss Marple agrees to visit 'Stonygates', the country house of Ruth's sister.

Calvin Campbell is a former professional baseball player sent to an early retirement due to his panic attacks at the plate. Even though he had all the talent for the big leagues, he struggles with the curveballs life has thrown him. Today, he mindlessly sleepwalks through his days and the challenge of raising his teenager daughter. His life is in a slow downward spiral when it is suddenly awakened and invigorated by the most unlikely person – Produce, a young-man with Down syndrome who works at the local grocery store.

A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

To try and overcome a lifetime of bitterness and resentment, 83-year-old Edie decides that it is never too late. After packing an old camping bag, she leaves her life behind and embarks on an adventure she never got to have... climbing the imposing Mount Suilven in Scotland.
Similar titles

Lured by their dreams of fame and fortune, three ambitious young women enter the world of show business and discover how easy it is to sink into a celebrity nightmare of ego, alcohol and pills — the beloved "dolls."

When the mastermind behind New York's infamous Studio 54 disco plucks young Shane from the sea of faces clamoring to get inside his club, he not only gets his foot in the door, but lands a coveted job behind the bar — and a front-row ticket to the most legendary party on the planet!

A woman suffering from drug addiction is interned against her will in a clandestine rehabilitation center where she suffers many cases of abuse and fights to survive against violence, prejudice and the loss of dignity.

Marc Schrader, a rookie cop caught red-handed with drugs in a police raid of an illegal rave, joins a homicide investigation conducted by Chief Inspector Minks. The victim is a naked young woman with the skin stripped off her back, killed as she staggered into traffic. As Schrader and Minks investigate the murder, the case is complicated by a finger found in the stomach of the victim. Forensic examination proves the finger belongs to Nobert Günzel, who was previously convicted of rape and assault. The police raid Günzel’s residence, and discover a blood-stained table with restraints and bits of human flesh in his basement. They also find video equipment and preserved, tattooed skin from the victim’s back. Soon, they found dead bodies buried in the garden. Günzel then goes missing.

The life of 20-year-old Nico from upper class Zurich is all party, sex and drugs when she meets Paco, the front man of a rap band. She finds herself drawn to his independent, creative and profound way of life, so different from her own. With naiveté and infinite self-confidence, she tries to adopt his lifestyle - without anticipating the consequences.

The Football Factory is more than just a study of the English obsession with football violence, it's about men looking for armies to join, wars to fight and places to belong. A forgotten culture of Anglo Saxon males fed up with being told they're not good enough and using their fists as a drug they describe as being more potent than sex and drugs put together.

A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.


Craig and his cousin Day-Day have finally moved out of their parents' houses and into their own crib, working nights at a local mall as security guards. When their house is robbed on Christmas Eve they set out to track down the culprit.

A cop, his partner, and his father uncover a plot by city elders to smuggle drugs from Mexico into Phoenix, Arizona.

After a young heiress is assaulted by a policeman, she seeks revenge by befriending the policeman’s mousy wife and introducing her to her circle of outrageous punk friends.

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.


A series of interrelated stories that bring Nena, Sean and Alan together. Alan, gentle and insecure, yearns for acceptance and connection. Vibrant yet guilt-ridden, Nena embarks on a quest for redemption and self-discovery as she battles with her inner demons while bereaved Sean lingers and struggles to conquer his depression.

Are you young, sexually confused, just trying to get by? Do you sing, dance or possess some other talent? Welcome to the Garden Party. At the center of the story is 15-year-old April. She is running from one bad situation into another, hoping to find an answer that doesn't involve taking off her clothes.

Toboggan, the 1934 Henri Decoin French boxing sports romantic love triangle melodrama (about a washed up boxer who makes a comeback for a sexy dancer, but she is two-timing him, and she brings her boyfriend into the arena during the climactic boxing match) starring Georges Carpentier (real life heavyweight boxing champion), Arlette Marchal, Paul Amiot, John Anderson, and Raymond Cordy. Note that because Carpentier was a real life boxer, he naturally was able to do his own boxing scenes, and the producer of the movie interwove footage of Carpentier from his actual matches into the film.

For opposite reasons, an undercover federal agent and a small time hood join forces to take on a union of drug lords and dirty cops.

In a rundown apartment complex in San Francisco's Tenderloin, a septuagenarian seer is waiting for his final message. For decades the eccentric recluse has chronicled the phrases of the Wheel of Fortune and deciphered their hidden meaning - the details of a mission to save his neighbors from their troubles.

In this coming-of-age comedy, Tim Dunphy is leading a go-nowhere existence, spending his days smoking pot and hanging out with his best friend, Drugs Delaney. But Tim's lazy days of getting high are jettisoned after a brush with the law convinces his blue-collar dad to send him to a Connecticut prep school. The one saving grace of the new school is Jane, a fellow student Tim falls for immediately.

Five very different characters are thrown together in one weird, mashed up day. It started out like any other, but 24 hours later everything had changed. South West 9 takes you through the windscreen of the new millenium. The death of idealism, capitalism, religion and hippies. Even the drugs don't work anymore. The 'summer of love' generation have come down and they're ready to riot. Seattle. Stockholm. Paris. Genoa. May Day riots.