Old Movie Watching with Rob's video: White Heat 1949 - Movie Review

White Heat was a 1949 black and white crime noir classic starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien and Steve Cochra among others. I've watched a number of James Cagney gangster films before and this one definitely felt different. It's a James Cagney crime movie where, once again, he plays a crime boss, but this time there isn't any sort of origin story from the early 1900's about how he started his life of crime or anything like that. Instead the film starts right in the action as his character, Arthur "Cody" Jarrett, is leading his gang in a train heist. And up front, I'll say that Cagney is a bit unlikable. In other films like Public Enemy he's got this "smooth criminal" vibe to him, I mean, you know he's the bad guy but you still like him and want to see him get by with his criminal schemes, but here, to be honest, he really doesn't seem very likable, in fact, he really comes across as criminally insane at times. And one way that's evident in that his character has this weird affection to his mother, who is also part of his Jarrett crime gang. I mean, he's married to the character Verna, played by the lovely Virginia Mayo, but yet he's overly attached to his mom, "Ma" Jarrett. And she's just as much a criminal mind, not just a sweet granny sitting around knitting. Rather, she's just as scheming and criminal as he is. In fact at one point Ma goes to the market to get some fruit and on the way back is tailed by the authorities - and then loses the tail! She's no dummy. Man, this was a weird and fascinating twist to the crime narrative. Additionally, Cody get's these intense headaches that has him running from the room clutching his head, but him mom helps talk him through them. Again, James Cagney has a much different criminal character this time. So the Jarrett gang is hiding out in Los Angeles, the authorities move in, there's a shootout and the gang makes their escape. Jarrett has this plan, that he will head to Illinois and plead guilty to a lesser crime on his record and serve some time. So he winds up in a state prison for three years. But while there, the authorities led by Philip Evans (played by John Archer) send an undercover agent Hank Fallon (as "Vic Pardo") to stay in the same cell. He was played expertly by Edmond O'Brien. He's a great actor - I remember him from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and here he plays the "mole" character who is trying to get in close to Cagney's character. "Big Ed" Somers (Steve Cochran), who was the right hand man, starts to take over leading the gang, and even pays a guy in prison to try to kill Cody. He survives thanks to Hank. Big Ed and Verna have a secretive relationship going on, and then Verna, who really hated Ma all along, kills Ma and word of this gets to Cody in prison. And man, does he freak out. Eventually Cody escapes and catches up with his old gang. Vera blames his Ma's death on big Ed so, of course, he gets gunned down. He and his crew then plan a big payroll heist at a chemical plant, sneaking his men in with a "trojan horse" in the form of an empty tanker. I'll stop the review here as the ending is amazing and, literally, quite explosive. There's a trunk shooting scene was just cold, that I had to make mention of, as this goes back to this being James Cagney as a less than relatable character. "I'll give you a little air!", he says, as he casually fills the trunk with bullets while eating what looks like a chicken leg. That was something... The film was excellent - maybe a little darker but wow, what clever writing and excellent character development. The son obsessed with his mom, the bitter wife, the jealous right hand man. All of it is spot on. And the Hank Fallon/Vic Pardo character was excellent. I've seen the "undercover agent posing as a criminal story before", films like Donny Brasco, or Resevoir Dogs - but I think this was a granddaddy of them all. The end of this film... wow, I don't want to ruin it, but it's classic. These James Cagney films tend to have some epic endings, and this is no exception. "Top of the world!" This was an amazing film, beautifully made, and one of the best crime films I've ever seen.