Customer Reviews

White Heat [VHS]

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"White Heat" is unusual in that it is a genre film that is also widely considered to be film noir. It's immistakably a gangster film, yet it deviates from the conventions of that genre in that its main character, Cody Jarrett, is complex and introverted enough to be a noir protagonist. "White Heat" was masterfully directed by Raoul Walsh and features James Cagney in one of this most memorable gangster roles. Treasury Department investigator Philip Evans (John Archer) is hot on the trail of the notorious criminal Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) after the Jarrett gang has robbed a mail train, killing several people and making off with a substantial sum. In order to guarantee himself immunity from the multiple murder charge, Cody confesses to an out-of-state robbery that took place at the same time, for which he receives a couple of years in prison. But the Feds are wise to his scheme and place an undercover agent (Edmond O'Brien) in the cell with Cody, hoping to learn the identity of the person who launders money for the Jarrett gang.

The psychology of Cody Jarrett is the most striking aspect of "White Heat", and the element around which the story revolves. We are told by the federal investigators that Cody is actually "insane". He is bloodthirsty and so unstable that his pursuers fear that he will go completely off his head before they can learn anything from him. Cody also has a pathologically dependent relationship with his doting and equally ruthless mother, who is played to perfection by Margaret Wycherly. Cody is such an extreme personality that James Cagney's ability to make him completely believable is remarkable. The "good guy" undercover cop, Hank Fallon, is bland and submissive, which only increases our focus on Cody. Another striking characteristic of "White Heat" is its technophilia: The film spends a great deal of time demonstrating cutting edge surveillance technology that is used to track Cody. Cody is defeated more by technology and bureaucracy than he is by his own lunacy.

The DVD: Bonus features include a documentary about the film, a theatrical trailer, an audio commentary by author and film professor Dr. Drew Casper, and a "Warner Night at the Movies" prelude to the film. If you have time, "Warner Night at the Movies" is a nice feature. With an introduction by Leonard Maltin, Warner Brothers provides a nice collection of mini-features that emulate the now-defunct tradition of showing a cartoon, a short, a newsreel, and a trailer with every theatrical film. "White Heat" was released in 1949, so we have, from 1949: a trailer for the film "The Fountainhead" (2 minutes), a newsreel of the year's highlights (1 1/2 minutes), a short "Joe McDoakes" comedy, called "So You Think You're Not Guilty" (10 minutes), based on the old vaudeville routine "Pay the Two Dollars", and a Bugs Bunny cartoon called "Homeless Hare" (7 minutes). You can also watch the featurettes separately if you like. "White Heat: Top of the World" (16 minutes) features interviews with filmmakers, critics, and theorists, including Martin Scorsese and Alain Silver, in which they discuss the film's themes, James Cagney's role, and the characters of Cody, Ma, and Cody's wife Verna, played by Virginia Mayo. The audio commentary by Drew Casper approaches "White Heat" as a gangster film, not as film noir, as this seems to be Dr. Casper's area of expertise. Casper talks about how the film was promoted, James Cagney, Freudian influences, themes, and analyzes director Raoul Walsh's style for some scenes. Subtitles are available for the film in English, Spanish, and French.

I have seen White Heat numerous times and it never flags or fails. It's the swan song of Warner Brothers gangster films and is one of the wildest rides you can imagine. It's a heist film, with a twist and it comes in the form of a gangster so bent, so over the top, that no one has come close to it.No one is stupid enough to try. James Cagney plays Cody Jarrett, a ruthless gangster,killer,strong arm robber and mama's boy. His work is so compelling, so overwhelming and vicious that it stunned viewers in 1949 and followed Cagney for the rest of his career. Cagney loathed the success of the role, fearing that it overshadowed all of his other screen performances, which it did, for its successful portrayal of a lunatic force of nature. Cagney was an actor who could and did anything. Gangsters, screwball comedies, dramas, musicals, westerns, war films, and Shakespeare. To be typed as an insane killer, who could shoot trapped henchmen in a car trunk while munching on a chicken leg, while throwing off one liners,was not what he wanted to be remembered for, but watch White Heat and see if this work can be easily forgotten. White Heat's non-stop action, it's no nonsense propulsion is provided by a solid script, great character actors, and the perceptive eye of director Raoul Walsh. We find ourselves clearly rooting for a psychopathic killer, because most of the world he moves through is populated with nothing but thieves, backstabbers and robot like FBI agents who walk and talk like Hal 2000's. And check out the role of Fallon (Edmond O'Brien). It's a cunning performance and contributes to the overall weirdness of White Heat. No sense giving the ending away, but it did introduce audiences to the cataclysmic force of the atomic age in all it's craziness. You have to go to Kiss Me Deadly to find an ending that gets close to matching it. I hate numerology, but if you like segmenting films by decades, White Heat is the film that ends the 1940's. Nothing comes close.

The intense character study of criminal insanity in Raoul Walsh's "White Heat" (1949) is most likely the other great Cagney performance that has endured the test of time in Warner's gangster genre. Cagney plays the psychotic and sadistic Arthur 'Cody' Jarrett, a ruthless gang leader with a penchant for deriving pleasure from the affliction of pain. Plagued by torturous headaches and a mother fixation with Freud written all over it, Cody revels in murdering his wounded accomplice during a jail break. Cody's 'ma' (Margaret Whycherly) has allowed herself the luxury to forget that she's given birth to the criminal anti-Christ. Meanwhile, Cody's wife, Verna (Virginia Mayo) flaunts her sexuality to every man she meets while enduring the brutality and neglect of her unstable husband. This, of course, ends badly for all concerned. The plot thickens when a henchman plots an 'accident' for Cody, that is foiled when an undercover cop, Vic Pardo (Edmund O'Brien) inflitrates the gang. The finale of this barn-burner will justly go down as one of the greatest in all crime films, as Cody - betrayed and about to die, shouts triumphantly, "Made it, ma! Top of the world!" against the backdrop of a burning chemical plant. "White Heat" may have been a remake twice removed, but neither the 26' nor the 34' versions come close to the immediate panic and raw hysteria of this great film classic.

Warner's DVD exhibits exemplary image quality throughout. The gray scale is rich and nicely balanced with deep solid blacks, clean whites and fine distinctions of tonality. Fine details are fully realized, even during some of the darker scenes. Occasionally film grain and minor dirt and scratches appear but these will certainly not distract. The image quality overall is sharp and consistent for a presentation that will surely please. The audio is mono but extremely well balanced and very nicely represented. Extras include an adequate audio commentary by noted authoritarian, Drew Casper, a newly produced featurette which is very succinct and Leonard Maltin's hosting of "Warner's Night At The Movies". Highly recommended!

James Cagney never exceeded, before or after, his achievement in Raoul Walsh's "White Heat," and indeed few actors have even equaled what Cagney did in that film. His performance as the evil, psychotic yet charismatic Cody Jarrett is the absolute high-water mark for the screen portrayal of a career criminal. Cagney's charisma is so overwhelming that we, the audience, despise the federal agent (Edmond O'Brien) who infiltrates Jarrett's gang and finally betrays him. O'Brien's character is as upright, courageous and resourceful as anyone could wish; yet he's just a worm compared with the breathtaking power of Cagney's Jarrett. Cagney implicates the audience in his crimes more than any of Hitchcock's villains ever did, and indirectly sounds a warning about certain other charismatic characters who have turned up now and then on the political scene. Of course a great performance can't exist in a vacuum; besides Cagney's brilliance and the yeoman service of O'Brien as the federal agent, there are superb performances by Virginia Mayo as Verna, Jarrett's treacherous, trailer-trash wife; Steve Cochran as Big Ed, the thug with big ideas but no brains or guts to back them up; and especially Margaret Wycherly as Jarrett's mom, turning her saintly-mother image from "Sergeant York" on its ear, smiling her icy smile in approval of her son's bloody predations. A brilliant melding of film noir and police procedural, "White Heat" is unquestionably one of the greatest gangster movies ever made. The new DVD of "White Heat" from Warner Brothers is a wow; the print is crisp and excellent, and there are loads of extras including an interesting featurette on the making of "White Heat" and a recreation of a 1950 "Night at the Movies" including newsreels, a short subject and a wonderful Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Homeless Hare."

Following the completion of "Each Dawn I Die" in 1940, James Cagney promised not to make another gangster movie. But after almost a decade of trying to change his screen image, Cagney relented in 1949 and agreed to star in the now-legendary classic, "White Heat." As the psychotic Cody Jarrett, Cagney took the gangster genre to new heights. Although certainly a gangster movie in terms of plot, "White Heat" is also a film noir with one of the most deeply disturbed protagonists of all time. One example is the unforgettable prison mess hall scene where Cody goes nuts after hearing about his mother's death. Then of course there's the explosive ending where he shouts the famous line, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" Needless to say, Cody Jarrett is one movie gangster you'll never forget.

As the movie opens, Cody Jarrett (Cagney) and his gang rob a train and then head for a cabin in the mountains. The Treasury agents investigating the crime have no evidence against Jarrett but are convinced that he is guilty. So they send Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien), an undercover agent, to infiltrate Cody's gang and get the proof he needs to convict Cody and his accomplices. When Cody is arrested for a lesser offense, Fallon becomes his cellmate and slowly wins his trust and respect. When another prisoner tries to kill Cody, Fallon saves Cody's life, and before long Fallon is learning the inner workings of Cody's gang.

While Cody is in jail, his rival, "Big Ed" Sommers (Steve Cochran), takes over Jarrett's gang and seduces Jarrett's treacherous wife Verna (Virginia Mayo). Cody's mother (Margaret Wycherly) finds out about Ed and Verna and makes plans to get payback for her loyal, loving son. But when she confronts the two she is murdered, and when this news reaches Cody in prison, he goes berserk. After calming down, Cody plans and executes a brilliant escape from the prison along with several cellmates, including Fallon. Fallon desperately tries to stay in touch with the Treasury agents, but Cody is dangerously on edge and the smallest mistake could cost Fallon his life.

After getting payback on Ed and Verna, Cody takes charge of his gang and plans a robbery on a chemical plant. After hearing all the details, Fallon gets word to the T-men, and an ambush is waiting for Jarrett and his gang when the attempted robbery begins. As his gang members are gunned down one by one Cody goes completely nuts, climbs on top of one of the gasoline tanks, and starts shooting, and the rest is movie history. Few movie gangsters have ever had such a spectacular death scene as Cody Jarrett. And no one else could've played Cody Jarrett better than Cagney.

The Warner dvd of "White Heat" has an excellent image and audio quality, plus very good bonus features including a commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper and a new featurette that includes interviews with famous directors like Martin Scorsese. In "White Heat," Cagney gave one of his very best performances, and Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, and Steve Cochran were terrific as usual. Despite Mayo's good looks, she convincingly played one of the most unattractive tramps of film noir, who snores while sleeping and spits in public. Both O'Brien and Cochran appeared in numerous noir films, and although they were both very talented neither one became a big star. Of course, Cagney is the real reason why this movie remains so enjoyable. For anyone who likes great movies, this dvd is a must!

It's about time! I've been waiting for "White Heat" to come out on DVD for years, and now -- on the heels of the RKO film noir boxed set Warner's issued last summer -- "White Heat" is finally being released as part of Warner Bros.'s gangster boxed set, with movies by James Cagney, Bogart and Cagney's rival, "Little Caesar" Edward G. Robinson!

"White Heat" is Raoul Walsh's best movie, even better than "High Sierra," which is quite similar in its plot of a gangster being hunted by the police to his ultimate demise.

It's also James Cagney's big comeback role, for which he did not receive so much as a nomination for best actor. Of course, that's par for the course for AMPAS; Movies that were ahead of their time have been overlooked for most of the Academy's history.

Although firmly ensconsed within the film noir genre, and a movie that's clearly of its time, Cagney's defining role of gangster Cody Jarrett was way ahead of its time: Never before has a thug of the silver screen been played so brutally yet so sympathetically (psychopaths were never played by such obvious leading men; they were usually women, femme fatales such as Barbara Stanwyck in "Double Indemnity" and Ann Blythe in "Mildred Pierce," or the occasional character actor like Peter Lorre, in "M"). In 1949, one didn't see "tough guy" actors such as Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster and Humphrey Bogart play mental weaklings, such as Cagney portrayed in this flick. It was unheard of even for the biggest villains to be turned to mush by a psychotic disorder; Such roles would not become commonplace until the "psychological westerns" (an interesting, but largely forgetable, genre) of the 1960s. Yet, Cagney tackled this role with over-the-top aplomb and sarcastic panache.

"White Heat" boasts a sterling supporting cast, most notably Margaret Wycherly as Ma Jarrett, the hardboiled crime matriarch to whose grease-splattered apron strings mama's boy Cody desperately clings. This too required guts on Cagney's part, given the thinly veiled subplot of Cody's fixation on and fierce attachment to his mother. Although more implied than explicated, 1940s audiences got the Oedipal message.

Steve Cochran plays Big Ed, Cody's right hand man, whose backstabbing rivalry to Cody inflames Cagney's Napoleon cmoplex. "If I turned my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there'd be a hole in it," quips Jarrett, who lacks sentiment for anyone else in the world except his ma. Edmond O'Brien turns in the movie's best supporting performance as the undercover cop, whose befriending of Cody behind bars actually betrays the cop's sympathy for Jarrett's mental plight.

"White Heat" ends in a blazing fury of cinematic pyromania, courtesy of director of photography Sid Hickox, who also photographed immortal films noir "The Big Sleep," "Dark Passage" and "To Have and Have Not."

A quintessential film noir, "White Heat" is a highly polished product of the Warner Bros. studio system, the kinda film they don't make anymore. As with all Warner's A-list movies, it features a pummeling Wagnerian soundtrack by the legendary Max Steiner. The score is one of Steiner's most intense and complements the on-screen violence with Steiner's rich use of big brass, low strings and incendiary winds and trumpets.

Put this in your DVD player, and you'll be on top of the world!

One has to wonder what the AFI was thinking when they made up their "100 Movies" lists. It's bad enough that they ignored "White Heat" on their greatest movies, but it's a crime that it wasn't named one of the most thrilling movies. (Some spoilers ahead)

"White Heat" is an excellent film, with great action pieces and an excellent performance by James Cagney (Which wasn't Oscar nominated!), who portrays Cody Jarrett, a psychotic criminal who suffers from headaches and is very much attached to his mother. While serving time in prison, he finds out that his mother is dead. With help from another con named Vic Pardo, Jarrett escapes from prison. Little does Jarrett know that Pardo is actually undercover cop. In the film's legendary finale, Cagney and some of his other boys stage a heist at a chemical plant, which ends spectacularly with the now famous "Top of the world" scene.

Did I mention that there are a lot of great quotes? Here are some of my favorites:

Engineer: What's this, a hold-up?
Cody Jarrett: Naw, naw, you're seven minutes late. We're just changin' engineers.

Cody Jarrett: You know something, Verna, if I turn my back for long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there'd be a hole in it.

Cody Jarrett: Whaddya want - a medal?

Gas Station Attendant: Wise guys, didn't even buy gas.

Roy Parker: You're not gonna shoot me in cold blood now, are ya?
Cody Jarrett: No, I'll let ya warm up first!

And everyone's favorite line:

Cody Jarrett: Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

Overall, "White Heat" is superbly entertaining and riveting and can hold up well after repeat viewings. Now when's that DVD coming out?

James Cagney, in older years, retakes his archetypal gangster role, though this time, he invests it with greater psychological connotations as the unbalanced, mother-fixated hoodlum, Cody Jarrett. As opposed to the usual Depression-era ambient, Cagney, in the crowning performances of his career, plays the ageing gangleader Jarrett, who is caught in a spiral of tension as a relentless undercover agent (Edmond O'Brien) infiltrates his gang with a view to putting him inside, while his faithless wife and his rival (outstandingly played by Virginia Mayo and Steve Cochran respectively) plot his as well as his mother's deaths. Margaret Wycherley is fine in the supporting role of Jarrett's mother, the object of his obsessive Oedipal devotion. What is most endearing about this film is that, for a movie that was made in 1949, it works with still the same narrative machinery of contemporary thrillers exploring the same themes. This proves that it hasn't dated at all, producing often mesmerisingly suspenseful results. It can be compared, with favour, to the best and latest offerings of the gangster-thriller genre. One scene in the middle (a hand-to-hand combat between T-Man Edmond O'Brien and a hoodlum) has the privilige of being one of the earliest martial arts displays in the history of Hollywood -- an ancestor of the fight scenes of Seagal, Van Damme, Snipes, et al.

James Cagney plays psychotic thug Cody Jarrett in WHITE HEAT (1949), a movie that re-teamed the star with master action director Raoul Walsh and heralded the return, after a ten-year hiatus, of Cagney to the gangster roles that made him famous.
It was a heck of a return. I don't think the mainstream screen had seen anyone quite as vicious as Cody Jarrett before this movie, and nobody has done it better since. Cagney is truly amazing in what I think was his best performance in Walsh's best film. Unnaturally emotionally attached to his mother, rough with his wife Verna (Virginia Mayo), killing with an impunity that borders on delight, intermittently brought down by incapacitating buzz saw headaches, Cody is one of those screen creations you can't forget, a Frankenstein's monster without the monster's humanity. Cagney is ably abetted by Margaret Wycherly as his tough-as-nails Ma Jarrett, who does very little to cut the ties of dependency with his son, Virginia Mayo as his beautiful wife whose morals are many times looser than the negligee she seems always to be dressed in, and Edmond O'Brien in the thankless role of Vic Pardo/Hank Fallon, the undercover t-man who tries to insinuate himself into the Jarrett Gang.
Oh, yeah, and it has one of the top endings in screen history.
Also included on the disk is a trailer for the Gary Cooper vehicle "The Fountainhead," also starring Patricia Neal. The special "Warners Night at the Movies" begins with a newsreel, "Newsreel Digest of 1949," that rather abruptly ends in mid-story (must not have had a lot of 1949 newsreels in the vault.) A short follows, Joe McDoakes, one of an interminable number of "So you ..." stories starring the Man Behind the Eight Ball McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) that were, apparently, a movie house feature from the early `40s to the mid `50s. The short is "So You Think You're Not Guilty," which tracks a minor, $2 traffic violation escalate through the courts until it becomes a ten-year prison sentence. Fortunately the sequence ends with a funny, Chuck Jones' directed Bugs Bunny cartoon, "Homeless Hare."

No one from that era or today could have made such two
different and opposite roles their own but James Cagney,
no one.He's the main reason why you'll never see remakes
of either of these movies.In pure talent and acting ability
for these two roles,no one would even come close.