White Heat
| White Heat | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Raoul Walsh |
| Produced by | Louis F. Edelman |
| Screenplay by |
Ivan Goff Ben Roberts |
| Story by | Virginia Kellogg |
| Starring |
James Cagney Virginia Mayo Edmond O'Brien |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Sidney Hickox |
| Edited by | Owen Marks |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
White Heat is a 1949 film noir starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien and featuring Margaret Wycherly and Steve Cochran. Directed by Raoul Walsh from an Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts screenplay, it is based on a story by Virginia Kellogg. Considered one of the classic gangster films, this film was added to the National Film Registry in 2003 as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress.
Arthur "Cody" Jarrett (James Cagney) is a ruthless, deranged criminal gang leader. Although married to Verna (Virginia Mayo), Cody is overly attached to his equally crooked and determined mother, "Ma" Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly), his only real confidante (Cody's father died in an insane asylum). Cody suffers from debilitating headaches, and Ma consoles him—even sitting him on her lap and giving him a shot of whiskey with the toast, "Top of the world," an expression she uses more than once.
Cody and his gang rob a mail train in the High Sierra at the California border, resulting in the deaths of four members of the train crew as well as a member of Cody's gang, Zuckie (Ford Rainey). With the help of informants, the authorities close in on a motor court in Los Angeles where Cody, Verna and Ma are staying. Cody shoots and wounds US Treasury investigator Philip Evans (John Archer) and makes his escape. He then comes up with a scheme—to confess to a lesser crime committed in Springfield, Illinois, which an associate committed at the same time as the train robbery, thus providing him with a false alibi. He turns himself in and is sent back to Illinois, where he receives a one- to three-year sentence in state prison. This plan does not fool Evans, however, who plants undercover agent Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien) in Cody's cell in the Illinois State Penitentiary, where Hank goes by the name Vic Pardo. His main task is to find the "Trader," a fence who launders stolen money for Cody.
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Wikipedia