Andre De Toth's gripping character study was among the first Hollywood films to realistically depict drug addition, a topic considered taboo by the studios since the imposition of the Production Code. Based on the real-life struggle of former Marine and boxing champion Barney Ross and his descent into addiction after being treated with morphine as a wounded soldier, Monkey on my Back offers its story not as an aberrant story of lurid vice but as a cautionary tale that could happen to even the most outstanding citizen. The feverish exploration of the back alleys and seedy clubs where drugs and addicts were forced into hiding gives rich dimension to the dark underworld setting central to De Toth's cinema. In the lead role—rumored to have been offered to Marlon Brando—Cameron Mitchell brings pathos and raw vulnerability to the suffering ex-fighter forced into another and more punishing kind of ring.