| Front Cover |
Actor |
|
| James Cagney |
Arthur Cody Jarrett
|
| Virginia Mayo |
Verna Jarrett
|
| Edmond O'Brien |
Hank Fallon/Vic Pardo
|
| Steve Cochran |
Big Ed Sommers
|
| Margaret Wycherly |
Ma Jarrett
|
| John Archer |
Phillip Evans
|
| Wally Cassell |
Giovanni Cotton Valetti
|
| Mickey Knox |
Het Kohler
|
| Ian MacDonald |
Bo Creel
|
| Fred Clark |
Daniel Winston, the Trader
|
|
|
| Movie Details |
|
|
| Language |
English |
| Running Time |
114 mins |
| Country |
USA |
| Color |
Color |
|
| Plot |
| In later years, James Cagney regarded White Heat with a combination of pride and regret; while satisfied with his own performance, he tended to dismiss the picture as a "cheap melodrama." Seen today, White Heat stands as one of the classic crime films of the 1940s, containing perhaps Cagney's best bad-guy portrayal. The star plays criminal mastermind Cody Jarrett, a mother-dominated psychotic who dreams of being on "top of the world." Inadvertently leaving clues behind after a railroad heist, Jarrett becomes the target of the feds, who send undercover agent Edmond O'Brien to infiltrate the Jarrett gang. While Jarrett sits in prison on a deliberately trumped-up charge (he confesses to one crime to provide himself an alibi for the railroad robbery), he befriends O'Brien, who poses as a hero-worshipping hood who's always wanted to work with Jarrett. Busting out of prison with O'Brien, Jarrett regroups his gang to mastermind a "Trojan Horse" armored car robbery. The crime goes off without a hitch until Jarrett discovers that O'Brien is a cop. Jarrett goes berserk, shooting it out with the police, and ultimately climbing atop a huge oil-refinery tank. "Made it Ma! Top of the World!" screams Jarrett as he pumps his remaining bullets into the tank, blowing himself into oblivion. At base, White Heat is a standard-issue crime caper; its depth and texture is provided by Cagney, who suggested during filming that the story would have more impact if Cody Jarrett was "nuts." Beyond his explosive finale, Cagney's best scene is the one in which he goes ballistic in a prison mess-hall upon discovering that his mother (Margaret Wycherly) has been murdered; there is also a gruesomely hilarious moment later on when Cagney unblinkingly shoots a captured stoolie while munching on a chicken leg. The remarkable aspect of White Heat is that the audience invariably cheers the despicable lunatic Cody Jarrett while hissing and booing the "heroic" underground operative Edmond O'Brien; such is the persuasive power of James Cagney's brilliant performance. — Hal Erickson |
| Personal Details |
| Seen It |
Yes |
| Index |
5 |
| In Collection |
Yes |
| Links |
All Movie Guide
|
|
| Product Details |
| Format |
VideoCD |
| Region |
Region 1 |
| Release Date |
2004 |
| Nr of Disks/Tapes |
1 |
|
|
