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441 |
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Plot: This gangster movie centers on a psychotic, mother-obsessed thug.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:July 1, 2008
Hurt only by it's underdeveloped and underwhelming protagonist and co-stars, this is a movie starring James Cagney as a big-time gangster with some big-time mother issues. Like Joe Pesci in many-a-gangster film since, Cagney plays the bad guy like a short, compact stick of dynamite, ready to explode at any moment. He has aspirations for one thing, to be on "top of the world!," and only his mother can be trusted to help him get there.
Cody Jarret (Cagney) has just pulled off a train robbery and killed four men while doing so and decides to take a wrap for a small crime committed elsewhere, preferring 1-2 years in prison over the gas chamber. The police, knowing Jarret has just taken the legal system for a ride, have plans to bend some rules themselves and send Vic Pardo (Edmund O'Brien) inside the prison to pose as a lowlife criminal himself, serving undercover as a roommate and confidant of Cody's.
Each scene in "White Heat" draws the viewer in by doing something that isn't easy -- showing you something you haven't seen before. It's at times fascinating to watch the technology of the time (or lack thereof) be employed by both the gangsters and the coppers to try and out do one another. Tracking devices, tailing a suspect, and laying low are all cliches that are done in fresh ways, this said about a movie that was released in 1949.
Some rewarding plot devices and a spectacular finish make this a great viewing for most anyone. -
MCT:May 6, 2008Great performance by James Cagney in this marvelous gangster movie, a very great classic, definitly worth watching again sometime soon
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MCT:April 29, 2008Cagney's farewell to the genre may be his very best(though I still prefer the Roaring Twenties) when he decides to put a frightening new twist on his traditional gangster role, Raoul Walsh does not hurt either.
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MCT:April 27, 2008
A truly electrifying performance given by Cagney. You never know what he's gonna do, his unpredictability is just scary, and the psychoticness he added to it was truly original fot that time, and still stands today!
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MCT:April 26, 2008
"jimmy, jimmy, just do whatcha did th'last movie, only turn it up a notch, willya..."
and so he did.
ten notches. -
MCT:April 5, 2008
man , cagney is a bad ass mofo back in the day.. i was suprised
whats not to love ..cagney playing the mamma's boy heavy, lots of gun play and an explosive ending
awesome!!!!!
"top of the world ma" -
MCT:February 5, 2008
Cagney lights up the screen in his last great gangster role. His cafeteria scene is phenomenal, though I think it overshadows the rest of his performance.
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MCT:January 3, 2008
It's smokin' awesome. Whether he's the hero, the bad guy or simply tapping his way to the Oscars, James Cagney can do it all and he can do it all looking cool...and adorable. He's like a Pekinese let loose in this film. He totally deserved a nod for this performance. and I'm glad Bo Creel's there..for "comic relief".
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MCT:December 31, 2007
Pretty awesome "gangster comeback" for Cagney. He said he wouldnt make another gangster film but he really socked it to everyone with this one. Not my personal Cagney favorite but its cool as can be. He's angry, he's goin mad,...or ....already mad?.....But its an unforgettable character! A classic..of course!......TOP OF THE WORLD!!!
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MCT:December 30, 2007
widely considered one of the best gangster films of all time, this one really delivers. cagney is menacing and brilliant as the lead gangster, putting in a performance that is believable. he comes across smart and calculated while at the same time being completely psychotic. the tale is also a good one and the story is told with fluidity and passion. one of the best films ive ever seen.
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MCT:December 29, 2007Cagney is a crazy and scary man... and he happens to play one in this movie as well.
This is a pretty decent flick about a mommy obsessed crime figure and I think the casting of the film is what makes it great.
Cagney plays his character like it's second nature and the jumbled mind of the man eminates from the screen with force.
The story is fairly simple but we don't watch for the story, we watch for the people on the screen. We want to see what they do when things start to go south as we know they are bound to do.
Like all old crime flicks this one is dirty and filled with the dirty people and you need to root for someone. We get that guy in the form of an undercover cop named Fallon. His character is interesting as he goes undercover in prisons to get info for the coppers. That has to wear on some men but this guy keeps his cool and his honor though the whole thing.
In the end this is much like the other crime dramas I have seen from this period but it's the persona of Cagney that makes it stand out. -
MCT:December 15, 2007
as the studio shedded off the moral code which had been effeminating the flicks for a decade in 30s, james cagney rises up again to be the incorigible villainy man without converting to the heroic roles he had taken such as "g men", "each dawn i die" and "city of conquest"..etc. this time his sinisterness erupts as some volcanic force which detonates right in front your face when his cody jarret finally reach toward "the top of the world"....
cagney plays cody jarret, a mobster leader with oedipus complex, morbidly fixed at ma, and his mystically legendary headache tears him into pieces then he besseches ma's bossom to soothe it. obsessed with absolute domineering power thru brutal violence that is the psychotic trait of homicidal inclination. he swears like machine gun and he slaughters mercilessly. except his affectionate adherence to ma, his human-ness is amputated then he's a thug machine bridling his gang mugs and his harpy wife. and director raoul walsh settles some scene even with the suspense horror to interpretate cody's intimidating evil momentum: in one scene, his murderous glare creeks thru the leak of doorgate on the eve when he's about to dispose of his rival, then cody cold-bloodedly grabs his mistress' arm to drop-kick the corpse downward the stairway complecently. here you witness a monster striking around with tricky chortle.
as some misogynism expresses proudly in "public enemy" such as the notorious grapefruit-smashing scene, "white heat" also bears cagney role's misogynism in a more subdued way by enhancing cody's affinity with ma that explains his reluctant neglect to his wife, as one scene says it outloud: cody inquires his wife where ma goes, she replies with impatient smirk "don't you like strawberry?! she happens to go to buy some for her boy!!" then cody spurns her away from the chair while she stands upon it to wear her mink coat. as a mama's boy, cody has no concrete relationship with women excpet the amative lust. he treats her friendly only when he's in the urge of sex that suggests his compliment on her looking good in the shower curtain. genuinely cody's heart belongs to ma, the prison scene of him runing lunatic after acquiring the news of ma's demise is a great showcase for cagney. eventually cody ends up ruined without the discerning flair of ma, enmeshing into the scheme of doublecross.
unlike the 30s gangster flicks which always enclosed with a moral lesson, our cody jarret simply doesn't give a damn! he would rather torches himself into the outburst of gasoline than submit to the police imprisonment, persisting untamed as his consistent revolt against society and morality. self-destructs before be destructed by others as he hollers "make it, ma! top of the world!!!" with his last inconformable flatulency. -
MCT:October 20, 2007
This is Cagney at his darkest. Very very nasty. And his swansong to twenty years of being the best gangster ever to grace the silver screen. And his way of making up with, and pretty much saying farewell, to Warner Bros - the studio that made him. For me it's not as easy to watch as mid-career Cagney (Angels, Roaring, Strawberry etc) because of its brutality and cold heart, and because of what I can only describe as an uneasy balance between the old and the new. Cagney as a gangster (or similar) had been a staple of the screen for the preceding twenty years. This, for me, is at odds with the very modern policing tactics used to track him throughout the film. Also, Cagney's character is not offered redemption, which is just considering his nature, but leaves a slightly sour taste compared to Angels and Roaring. True, the same could be said for Public Enemy but that was an altogether more innocent film, from a more innocent time, starring a younger Cagney.
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MCT:September 17, 2007
A most modern crime drama, bearing in mind it was made in the 40s. The plot is completely thrilling, especially the set up within the penitentiary where Cagney (in another fantastic performance) is in danger of either being killed or being caught out for several murders he committed, via two of his inmates. Theres a touch of the 'Psycho's here, too, in the way that Cody has a rather oedipal relationship with his domineering mother, and I wonder if this film was an influence on Hitchcock's masterpiece. Melodramatic, suspenseful, clever, fun... an all round package.
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MCT:September 15, 2007
Amazing film, Jimmy Cagney thrives in every role he takes. And there isn't a line in cinema as iconic to me as 'Made it Ma, top of the world!'
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MCT:August 6, 2007
the ultimate gangster film with james cagney at the peak of his form. Excellent and very fast moving.
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MCT:July 14, 2007
This is a great classic film. James Cagney gives one hell of a performance, perhaps his best performance ever! The scene where Cagney looses it in jail is great.
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MCT:June 12, 2007
My favourite ganster flick. Worth watching for the chase and the end sequence alone. High art...best example of German Expressionism in an American film.
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MCT:May 20, 2007
Was Jimmy Cagney ever better than this, as the totally out of his gourd Cody Jarrett? The scenes where he's being pampered by his mother are really creepy, and I'm sure pretty shocking when it was made. An example of what can happen when you tell your kids they can do anything. "Top of the world, Ma!"
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MCT:April 25, 2007
JC is unbelieveably good in this-especially in the crazy bits!!
It's actually a 15, as true JC fans would already know 'cos they have the DVD and of course do not spend loads of time watching it when they can............ -
MCT:February 24, 2007
James Cagney's most famous role as a mother obsessed psychopath duped by an undercover agent. Hugely influential formula, copied umpteen times by Hong Kong cinema, and of course, QT in Reservoir Dogs.
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MCT:February 9, 2007
This is an excellent film for Cagney fans, but I'm still unable to completely warm to the actor's persona. Mayo and O'Brien are excellent and on the whole it is a really entertaining heist film.
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MCT:February 5, 2007
Gangster movies may have gotten more gorry. but nothing tops this! Cagney's character has ice water in his veins and evil in his heart.
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MCT:November 4, 2006This movie was considerably better than "High Sierra," but it still had its slow parts. Perhaps I don't quite understand the gangster genre, but I felt like this movie had little point as well. Psychological battle was interesting... I suppose.
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