White Heat (1949)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Ivan Goff (screenplay) and
Ben Roberts (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1952 (Austria)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Film-Noir

Tagline:

James Cagney Is Red Hot In "White Heat"!

Plot:

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Mother | Heist | Undercover | Gangster

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 13

9:30 PM

TCM

Cast

James Cagney	...	Arthur 'Cody' Jarrett
Virginia Mayo	...	Verna Jarrett
Edmond O'Brien	...	Vic Pardo
Margaret Wycherly	...	Ma Jarrett
Steve Cochran	...	Big Ed Somers
John Archer	...	Philip Evans
Wally Cassell	...	'Cotton' Valletti
Fred Clark	...	Daniel Winston

Runtime:

114 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:15 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Sweden:15 (re-rating) (1962) | Sweden:(Banned) (original rating) (1949) | Canada:PG (video rating) | South Korea:15 | Australia:PG | Finland:(Banned) (1950) | Finland:K-15 (re-rating) (2004) | USA:Approved (PCA #13852) | Australia:M (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

All the locations and bearings radioed back and forth during the triangulation tracking of the gasoline truck, as it moves southwest across the Los Angeles basin, are accurate. They can all be found on a modern map of Los Angeles. Even the view of the Los Angeles City Hall shows up at the appropriate time.

Goofs:

Continuity: Roughly 33 minutes in. As Evans and Pardo drink coffee, Evans' coffee cup changes several times from a dark to a light cup.

Quotes:

Cody Jarrett: A copper, a copper, how do you like that boys? A copper and his name is Fallon. And we went for it, I went for it. Treated him like a kid brother. And I was gonna split fifty-fifty with a copper!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Light and the Dark: The Making of 'Face/Off' (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Five O'Clock Whistle

Who But Cagney Could Pull This Off?

If you like James Cagney and you like the film noirs of the late 1940s, well, it doesn't get much better than this.

Cagney, who was always great at playing wild gangsters, makes this film interesting all the way through its two hours. Despite being a half-century old, he was still not far from being at the top of his game. His character, Cody Jarrett, is one of the most famous of the many he portrayed on film, which is saying a lot.

Who could sit on his mother's lap and still look like a tough guy? Not many, but Cagney pulled it off here with his tough mama, played really well by Margaret Wycherly. This was a new type of role for Wycherly, who was used to doing Shakespeare. You wouldn't know it from this "Ma Jarrett" role!

The "hoods" in here are all realistic tough guys and gals. Cagney's two-faced wife is played well by Virginia Mayo, who plays the typical (for this genre) floozy blonde whom you can trust about as far as you can throw.

The final scene - "Top Of World, Ma!" - is one of the most famous in all of film history. It's nice to see a nice print of this out on DVD now and some of the features are very informative. Included is an interview with Mayo, who still looks pretty good for an old lady!