White Heat (1949)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

I think James Cagney's body of work is something to be very proud of and his loyal fans like myself are glad he made so many great films. Having said that I have watched this film three (3) times now and I just never got that good feeling that sometimes comes over me after watching a great crime film classic like (1972) The Godfather, (2015) Black Mass, (2012) The Iceman, and/or (1993) A Bronx Tale. I realize that I may be in the minority with my opinion but the film left me looking for quite a bit more in Cagney's mob boss character Cody Jarrett. The fixation with his "ma" was creative but for example, the scene in which Cody is in prison and whispers at the prison meal table to the guy sitting next to him who just got outside news that Cody's "ma" is dead was just so over the top that I found it to be too comical. I just could not see a mob boss after finding out his adorable "ma" is dead would scream out loud and literally crawl across the prison dinner table without anyone trying to stop him for acting like a big baby.I loved Virginia Mayo's portrayal as the selfish and beautiful blonde gun moll Virginia, wife of Cody Jarrett whose facial expressions when she observes the interactions between Cody and his mom provide us with her disdain for their relationship. No doubt, the film ending is a classic and extremely well done. I just was not so impressed with the other 110 minutes of the film.

Hands down the best crime/gangster film in history. Cagney has cemented himself as my favorite actor after seeing this and The Public Enemy. White Heat is a staple film that constitutes a 10/10. I'm just happy to have viewed this in my lifetime.

Raoul Walsh's film is bold with Freudian undertones with a staggering over the top performance from an ageing James Cagney as a ruthless and unhinged mama's boyWatching this film again it is noticeable that Cagney is too old for the role. He was almost 50 years old. He plays Cody Jarrett mean, nasty and nutty. We see him and his gang rob a train and cold blooded kill the driver and his mate because they heard his name being called out. When one of the gang members is injured in the heist he is happy to have him whacked.His beautiful blonde wife is treacherous and afraid of him. Its more than hinted he beats her up regularly. His right hand man wants him out of the way and wants his wife too. The only person he cares for his his mother. played by Margaret Wycherly. We never find out too much for the course of this close bond between mother and son. Jarret has one other problem, bouts of shooting pain in his head leading to blinding headaches.Edmond O'Brien plays the undercover cop who befriends Jarrett in prison and becomes a member of his gang in order to catch him in the act and find other more secretive gangsters.The film has a mix of noirish crime thriller with a documentary style of shooting and a deep cover genre film as O'Brien bonds with Jarrett in order to be trusted by him and then later betray him.The film is a classic, I think the film suffers because so many aspects are left unexplored because of censorship laws of the time.

. . . like the Fourth of July, as WHITE HEAT provides Leonardo Di Caprio's "I'm on top of the world!" TITANIC catch-phrase (which his character anachronistically steals 37 years too soon). James Cagney's "Cody Jarrett" keeps lamenting, "All I ever had was Ma," like a Helen Reddy tune on a skipping vinyl record. As always, Hollywood portrays American law enforcement as "Keystone Kops," here, playing around with ludicrously slow "tracking oscillators" (which take hours to do what a basic G.P.S. unit can accomplish instantaneously). As a result, the entire gasoline supply for the West Coast becomes collateral damage sacrificed to police ineptitude, no doubt resulting in scores of immediate civilian deaths, and hundreds--if not thousands--of cancer victims croaking days or decades down the road in one of the worst U.S. environmental catastrophes ever. Cagney's "Cody" has no luxuries apart from (most likely stolen) fast cars and his gun arsenal. Yet this self-proclaimed nut case is far more efficient and effective as a leader of men than anyone working for the government. He has the last laugh.