Monkey on My Back

After waiting years to see Hatful of Rain as they didn't show it on TCM until the 90's or so, I fell in love with the film.

Then I heard about the lesser shown "Monkey on My Back". Finally got to see it - wasn't disappointed. Similar story line. Men go into the service come back addicted to drugs.

Cameron Mitchell's portrayal of an addict is believable. A man that is afraid of nothing, lives life each day for the moment and doesn't worry about the future. Spends and lives lavishly but falls in love whole heartedly.

Unfortunately his love/need for drugs exceeds his love for his girlfriend/wife. You feel for him and his family but know the end result.

WW II Vet and professional boxer Barney Ross became addicted to morphine. This stark but well-told tale takes us into his inner psyche and allows us to share his inner torments as he struggles to overcome his addictions and rebuild his self-image. The low-budget supporting cast is nonetheless well selected and conveys the overall tone and mood perfectly. Watch this before renting Raging Bull again and contrast an underrated and natural rendering of the true heart and soul of troubled blue color boxer with Scorsese's highly stylized filming of DeNiro's technically brilliant but utterly soulless portrayal of Jake LaMotta.

Monkey On My Back tells the story of Barney Ross, former lightweight and welterweight champion who became a war hero with the US Marines and then after fighting the Japanese became a bigger hero fighting drug addiction. At that time films like this one, A Hatful Of Rain and The Man With The Golden Arm were making the American public get acquainted with the evils of drug addiction.

One of the key elements of Barney Ross's story that was left out was his religion. The man was an orthodox Jew who was the son of a Talmudic scholar whose father was shot to death in a holdup. Barney was born Dov Rosovsky and the Rosovsky had tough going after the death of the family patriarch. Ross rejected the formal religious teachings of his father, but of his heritage you could never make any kind of anti-Semitic crack in his presence. For reasons of a market in some ultra red state territory, that component of his story was eliminated, but it is key to understanding him.

He also worked his way out of poverty first by being a low level strong arm guy for Al Capone in Chicago. After that he decided to go legitimate in the use of his fists and graduated to boxing. The managing team of Sam Pian and Art Winch played here by Jack Albertson and Richard Benedict turned him into a champion of two divisions. That is where the film picks up Barney Ross's story.

Psychologists could best tell you why some folks have an addictive personality and what could and what will always addict people. Ross as is shown here was a free spender who loved to gamble and was constantly in hock. Considering how some fighters end up, he was almost lucky that World War II came along and he joined the Marines.

On Guadalcanal he became a hero and also caught the malaria which could only be treated as far as the pain with morphine. That part of the story is perpetually relevant because after every war we seem to breed a generation of dope addicts.

Cameron Mitchell got his career role in Barney Ross and could have contended for an Oscar if this independent film from United Artists had been properly publicized. Out the same year was A Hatful Of Rain that did have performances so nominated by Don Murray and Tony Franciosa. Mitchell's holds up every bit as well as those two. In fact 1957 was his career year as the highly acclaimed Christmas story All Mine To Give also came out with Mitchell. This should have led to bigger roles and bigger pictures, but Cameron Mitchell was off in a few years to Europe to do Peplum, spaghetti westerns, and other films, some of them pretty dreadful.

Dianne Foster does well as his loyal wife with Kathy Garver as her daughter who Mitchell adopts. And Paul Richards as the dope dealer Rico will make your skin crawl with his evil.

And this film is dedicated to Barney Ross, a champion in life as well as the ring.

This could have been a powerful movie. As it is, it's a precursor to heartwarming TV movies of the week. It's about a boxer and it has no punch.

The protagonist was a real person and this is his story. Maybe it had to be toned down. But, though Cameron Mitchell seems to be doing his best in the lead role, it is never convincing.

Diane Foster is wooden and very much of her time. She's like a sitcom mom, not the wife of an ex-boxer, returned war hero turned junkie.

Very little rings true. The seamy streets where Mitchell goes to get his fixes have a very obvious backlot look. The prosties he passes are kind of fun: They are straight from Police Gazette covers.

The other lowlifes, though, are like comic book exaggerations. It's interesting to note the low billing given the actor who plays his drug dealer. The good guys get the high billing. But this character, though not one of the plum roles if one were an actor reading the script, is pivotal.

Gritty account of boxing champ Barney Ross's battle with morphine addiction following WWII war wounds. Those battle scenes on Guadalcanal have to be the ugliest on record. There's enough mud and rain to sink the Titanic. The firefight may not be very realistic since no shot seems to miss an enemy-- plus, reality speaking, rifles don't work too well in heavy rain. Nonetheless, Hollywood sets don't come any uglier, making the battle scene about as onerous as possible.

Fortunately, Mitchell delivers as boxer, soldier, family man, and addict. As I recall, the actor moved up the Hollywood ladder as a result. As I also recall, dealing with drug addiction was still a touchy movie topic in 1957. But thanks to Man With A Golden Arm (1955), the topic was no longer taboo for popular commercial releases. In that regard, I expect the film had a desired effect on dangers of drugs. Heck--after suffering along with Ross, I'm even worried about taking my aspirin!

Anyway, the movie's pretty realistic where it counts, even though the car-less, people-less, city street at night fairly shouts studio backlot. The deserted street may be atmospheric and symbolic of Ross's mental state, but a contrivance like this can remind viewers that this is a movie, after all.

Overall, the topic of pain-relieving drug addiction may no longer be cutting edge, still the message remains worthwhile for all ages, especially now with the growing problem of opioid addiction as a quick pain reliever. So I guess the sneaky monkey can come in many forms.