“Produced at a time when Hollywood producers were on a narcotics kick--The Man with the Golden Arm, A Hatful of Rain, etc.--Monkey on My Back is as much a personal drama as a diatribe against drug addiction, with Cameron Mitchell delivering a tour-de-force performance as the real-life Barney Ross, a professional boxer (world welterweight champion), Marine hero at Guadalcanal, and dope addict. De Toth tells the story in flashback and in a relentlessly grim and realistic directorial style. Monkey on My Back was the first film on the subject of narcotics addiction to fail to obtain a Production Code seal of approval.” Anthony Slide