WHITE HEAT
CLASSIC REVIEW
Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
WHITE HEAT (1949) Director Raoul Walsh Certificate: 15
JAMES CAGNEY has a reputation for playing gangster roles, first established in The Roaring Twenties. White Heat, one of Cagney's later gangster films, saw him at the top of his form.
In this film, he's not the likeable hero of Angels with Dirty Faces. Cody Jarrett (Cagney) is an insane stone-cold killer with a very unhealthy devotion to his formidable mother, Ma Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly). Cody's gang are terrified of him, with good reason. He's mad. He knows it. They know it. Even his mother knows it. Nobody in the gang can reason with him, so they stick with him through a mixture of loyalty and fear. Those who upset him know he'll kill them without giving it a moment's thought.
Cody and his gang rob a train and kill the engine driver. To avoid the electric chair, Cody activates his alibi and gives himself up for a lesser crime which took place at the same time, hundreds of miles away.
While in prison he is befriended by Vic Pardo (Edmond O'Brien), an undercover cop who foils an attempt on his life by an associate of Cody's uppity deputy, Big Ed Somers (Steve Cochran). Big Ed is plotting to take over the gang in association with Verna, (Virginia Mayo) Cody's wife. Cody's mother is killed by the plotters.
Cody and Pardo break out of prison. He aims to re-establish his position in the gang, settle scores with Big Ed and Verna and make an audacious raid on a chemical factory using the precedent of the Wooden Horse of Troy.
This violent thriller has no dull moments. There's no attempt to get inside Cody's mind. You just go along for the ride with its spectacular final scenes in the chemical factory. This has to be Cagney's finest role.
The Warner Bros DVD is packed with lots of extras and also appears in a James Cagney Signature boxed set. No movie collection is complete without White Heat. Top of the World!
Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
WHITE HEAT (1949) Director Raoul Walsh Certificate: 15
JAMES CAGNEY has a reputation for playing gangster roles, first established in The Roaring Twenties. White Heat, one of Cagney's later gangster films, saw him at the top of his form.
In this film, he's not the likeable hero of Angels with Dirty Faces. Cody Jarrett (Cagney) is an insane stone-cold killer with a very unhealthy devotion to his formidable mother, Ma Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly). Cody's gang are terrified of him, with good reason. He's mad. He knows it. They know it. Even his mother knows it. Nobody in the gang can reason with him, so they stick with him through a mixture of loyalty and fear. Those who upset him know he'll kill them without giving it a moment's thought.
Cody and his gang rob a train and kill the engine driver. To avoid the electric chair, Cody activates his alibi and gives himself up for a lesser crime which took place at the same time, hundreds of miles away.
While in prison he is befriended by Vic Pardo (Edmond O'Brien), an undercover cop who foils an attempt on his life by an associate of Cody's uppity deputy, Big Ed Somers (Steve Cochran). Big Ed is plotting to take over the gang in association with Verna, (Virginia Mayo) Cody's wife. Cody's mother is killed by the plotters.
Cody and Pardo break out of prison. He aims to re-establish his position in the gang, settle scores with Big Ed and Verna and make an audacious raid on a chemical factory using the precedent of the Wooden Horse of Troy.
This violent thriller has no dull moments. There's no attempt to get inside Cody's mind. You just go along for the ride with its spectacular final scenes in the chemical factory. This has to be Cagney's finest role.
The Warner Bros DVD is packed with lots of extras and also appears in a James Cagney Signature boxed set. No movie collection is complete without White Heat. Top of the World!
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