White Heat (1949)

Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring James Cagney, Edmond O’Brien, Virginia Mayo, Margaret Wycherly, John Archer, Steve Cochran, Wally Cassell, Paul Guilfoyle, Fred Clark.

Potent crime picture finds Cagney returning to the sort of gangster role that made him a star almost twenty years prior. He’s Cody Jarrett, a crazed, violent, migraine-prone thief and killer with an untrustworthy wife (Mayo) and an unhealthy attachment to his mother (Wycherly), who’s anything but a calming voice of conscience in his life. After confessing to a crime he didn’t commit for a much shorter sentence, G-Man O’Brien is sent undercover to get close to Jarrett in prison to uncover the fence for the stolen money and the rest of his gang. Shot with force and style, with plum dastardly roles for Cagney and Wycherly (Cagney may have tired playing brutal tough guys, but he was as good at it as anyone else in Hollywood); O’Brien’s part is more thankless, but who goes to these movies to watch the good guys? Entertaining start to finish, and the acclaimed fiery finale is still a wow even today. Jim Thorpe can be spotted in the prison mess hall scene passing along whispered messages.

89/100