White Heat (1949)

Well... O.K.! I'm gonna say the same things than the other IMDB users! After some fine films as an actor producer in the 1940's, great James Cagney returns to the type of role he doesn't want to be anymore : a gangster! Perhaps he was knowing that this time should be the last time, because he's adding and adding some meaness to his character. Cagney, as a gangster, was never so great in a movie! He's mad, dangerous, he's everything - and more! - we want to see from a Hollywood gangster! Adding to that a very good cast, with superb Virginia Mayo in one of the best women's gangster movie role. Add some solid and masculine work by director Raoul Walsh and we have perhaps the best gangster movie of all time. And of course, there's the finale nobody wants to forget... Did I say the same things? Yes? That's one more good reason to see this film!

Fmovies: Warner Brothers decided to kill off their cycle of gangster films with WHITE HEAT. A pity perhaps but what a film to end their success on . Cagney will always be remembered for playing gangsters and Cody Jarret is his most memorable performance , but Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts script is nearly as memorable as Cagney due to its high level of intelligence . I especially liked the way the gang tried to test Fallon by leaving the photograph of his wife on the table in the prison cell , little touches like that make WHITE HEAT a classic . If it was made nowadays we`d get bad language , graphic sex, bloodbaths and post modernist references to pop culture . Well you can keep all that Quentin Tarantino rubbish , this is how a good film should be made . Top of the world

An extraordinary performance from James Cagney turns what might have been a by-the-numbers movie into a masterpiece. Everything revolves around Cagney. Edmond O'Brien, Virginia Mayo, and Margaret Wycherly are all superb, but when Cagney is off the screen you wait for him to come back.

Cody Jarrett (Cagney) is a desperate gangster, standing on the ledge at the end of the Public Enemy era. But 'White Heat' gives us a much more intricate psychological portrait of it's anti-hero protagonist than earlier gangster movies. Cody's dependence on his "Ma" is at the crux of the story; there is no finer example of the corrupted mother in film history, even Mrs. Bates takes a backseat to Ma Jarrett.

Throughout the film, events, and characters, conspire against Cody all leading to his delivering of one of most iconic lines ever concocted by Hollywood. I won't repeat it, you know what it is even if you've never seen the movie, but even with prior knowledge it's still an extraordinarily moving moment given the context in which it's delivered.

White Heat fmovies. James Cagney lights up the screen in all respects in this violent and hard-driving film. There's nary a dull moment with Jimmy on hand, whether having his mother ease his migraine tantrums by rubbing his head or shooting a fellow gang member through the trunk of his car in order to give him a little air. Raoul Walsh vigorously directs this movie with remarkable gusto given that he was over sixty at the time and at at this point in his career had nothing to prove.

Cagney's character of Cody Jarrett is shown to be a madman at the start of the film. There's no need for his confederates to engage in a little is-he-or-isn't-he chitchat regarding his sanity a la The Caine Mutiny. They know he's mad. Even his mother knows he's mad. No matter. Cody continues on his crime spree, and his gang stays loyal to him, if only for the consequences of leaving him being to frightening to contemplate. He has a girl, who two-times him with another gang member. A federal agent who infiltrates the gang and becomes a surrogate mother by easing his headaches in the same manner, also betrays him, though it's his job to do so. Only Ma Jarrett, it seems, could be trusted.

One of the many charms of this film is its absolute refusal to make a statement, which wasn't Raoul Walsh's bag anyway; and screenwriters Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, though they delve into Freud a bit, don't get too heavy over Cagney's psychopathology. They just accept it, show us its various sides, and leave it at that. This movie is a far cry from other films made around the same time, was highly popular when first released, and remains so to this day. It is not quite film noir, being too bright and rational. Nor is it a study in perverse psychology, despite its main character. For all the location filming it is no semi-documentary in the manner of House On 92nd Street. It is basically a lively action picture whose makers, taking a cue from Hiroshima bomb, decided to end their movie with a bang, making their show a fine example of good, clean apocalyptic fun.

WHITE HEAT is the ultimate gangster melodrama with the great James Cagney at the peak of his powers. No one else in the cast is a slouch either--Virginia Mayo convinces me that Bette Davis was right when she suggested Mayo should have played Rosa Moline in BEYOND THE FOREST.

Edmond O'Brien as a doggedly determined cop pretending to be a prisoner to get close to Cagney, is excellent, as he always is in these kind of roles. Steve Cochran's dirty lowdown heel is a standout as the darkly handsome actor makes the most of every line, especially in his scenes opposite Virginia Mayo.

Director Raoul Walsh keeps the film spinning along at a fast clip, never once letting the rather uncomplicated plot lose any of its tension as he underscores the pathology of Cody Jarrett's character, a man obsessed by his conniving mother (Margaret Wycherly). Cagney's prison breakup scene is masterfully handled by the actor and staged for maximum effect. A rousing score by Max Steiner underlines all of the suspenseful action and there's an electrifying climax with Cagney's famous "Top of the world, ma!" before he meets his end.

James Cagney has never had a better gangster role and he's given brilliant support by an outstanding cast. By all means, worth viewing as one of the great Warner crime melodramas of the late '40s.

After a long absence from gangster films, Jimmy Cagney returned in WHITE HEAT. However, it's not just a typical gangster film as Cagney plays one of the craziest killers in film history--and the final product is incredibly entertaining.

Cagney plays a combination momma's boy and antisocial killing machine. What makes this more interesting is his unusually close relationship with his mother--who follows him as he goes on bank jobs around the country. While he has a girlfriend (Virginia Mayo), he's so attached to Mom that he cannot live without her. Heck, I almost expected to see him in bed with her--they were that close and it was very creepy. It was like Freud's idea of the Oedipal Complex except Cagney DID succeed in seducing and capturing his mother! Later in the film, Cagney's mother is killed--after which, Cagney becomes a lot more imbalanced. In addition to this, he has periodic blinding headaches and it's almost comical to see him writhing in pain one minute and blasting some guy for practically no reason the next!

After this gang evades the police for some time, a special agent (Edmund O'Brien) insinuates himself into the gang--becoming a trusted friend of Cagney in the process. Eventually, of course, the gang is captured and Cagney is confronted by a bazillion law enforcement officers in the most spectacular ending of any film noir picture in history. You just have to see it to believe it!

Overall, a great script with lots of interesting psychological components. While Cagney's performance isn't the lest bit subtle, it certainly is very entertaining. For any lover of noir, this is a must-see and one of the most memorable films in movie history.