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White Heat [VHS] [1949]
![Buy White Heat [VHS] [1949]: Edmond O'Brien,Steve Cochran,Margaret Wycherly,James Cagney,Virginia Mayo,](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41E0YXH0TSL.jpg "Buy White Heat [VHS] [1949]: Edmond O'Brien,Steve Cochran,Margaret Wycherly,James Cagney,Virginia Mayo,")
Buy White Heat [VHS] [1949]: Edmond O'Brien,Steve Cochran,Margaret Wycherly,James Cagney,Virginia Mayo,
Buy White Heat [VHS] [1949] Now
Suitable for 15 years and over
Warner Home Video
Release date: Monday 6th of March 2000
Starring: Edmond O'Brien, Steve Cochran, Margaret Wycherly, James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, £9.99 Director Raoul Walsh propels the story from a rolling start, a tautly paced train robbery that goes awry, culminating in the leader's capture. An ambitious henchman (Steve Cochran) plots a behind-bars hit foiled by O'Brien, who's infiltrated the prison to befriend Jarrett, a goal handily accomplished with the rescue. Jarrett's paranoia, murderous anger, and longing for his mother are interwoven with intermittent, incapacitating headaches that underline and amplify his core of inner rage; Cagney makes these seizures harrowing, revealing purely animal pain and terror at once frightening and pathetic. Jarrett's escape, the gang's reunion with fellow escapee O'Brien aboard, trusted by Jarrett but not his partners, and the big score that unravels in a climactic gun battle in an oil refinery are conducted with a gritty economy, and Walsh and his cast evoke a criminal life devoid of glamour, noteworthy for the undercurrents of distrust that keep tempers flaring. The final showdown, and Jarrett's crazed, taunting battle cry in the face of death ("Top of the world, Ma!"), achieve a sense of tragic inevitability that deservedly make this a defining moment in Cagney's screen career. --Sam Sutherland, Amazon.com
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
This superb 1949 crime drama takes elements of plot, character and theme familiar from 30s melodramas and orchestrates them as an existential tragedy noir. James Cagney, in a towering performance, is Cody Jarrett, a transparently psychotic robber with a molten temper, feral cunning, and mercurial charm that are finely calibrated extensions of the doomed gangsters he played a decade before, this time coiled not around a Depression-era impetus of greed or class rivalry, but an Oedipal bond. Cody's beloved, calculating "Ma" (Margaret Wycherly) is the compass for his every move, her iron will and long shadow acknowledged not only by Cody but by his gang, his bored, restless wife (Virginia Mayo, radiating sensuality and guile), and the undercover cop (Edmond O'Brien) planted in Jarrett's path.
Grab the brass ring
Review date: 2009-05-13 Rating: 10 out of 10
One of the great American crime films, Raoul Walsh's White Heat (1949) stars James Cagney as Arthur `Cody' Jarrett, leader of a gang of armed robbers, and a swaggering, psychopathic mother's boy in the thrall of his devoted but equally heartless `Ma', played by Margaret Wycherly. His leadership challenged by `Big' Ed (Steve Cochran), infuriated by the infidelity of his sluttish wife Verna (Virginia Mayo), and plagued by crippling migraine attacks, Jarrett's fate is sealed when his gang is infiltrated by Treasury agent Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien)...
Nominally based on the exploits of `Doc' Barker and the infamous Barker gang, the movie transcends its real-life inspiration to mesh elements of Greek tragedy with almost documentary-style realism and moments of genuine humour. The performances are all faultless, whilst the action sequences mix thrilling energy with wonderful black comedy (notably in the infamous car boot scene). After hurtling towards one of the most celebrated climaxes in film history, the movie finally hits a sublime high with Jarrett's triumphant cry of `Made it Ma, top of the world!', amongst the explosive surroundings of a chemical plant. Interestingly, audience sympathy is skewed totally in the villain's direction in White Heat, as Cagney, one of the most universally popular leading men in Hollywood history, amazingly manages to make his essentially repellent character not only sympathetic, but actually likeable. Though a remorseless criminal and a cold-blooded murderer, he is a typically witty, energetic, Cagney creation, and the odds are so stacked against the doomed Jarrett that the audience inevitably sides with him. Presumably, the viewer is meant to relate to the O'Brien character, but Fallon is an annoyingly multi-skilled `super cop' who is not only an `undercover expert', uncaringly winning and then betraying Jarrett's trust, but also an electronics genius, and most annoyingly of all, a sharp-shooting sniper who is handed a rifle at the movie's end and unhesitatingly shoots Jarrett in cold blood; It is interesting to compare Jarrett's death with the demise of Humphrey Bogart's Roy `Mad Dog' Earle in Walsh's High Sierra (1941); another hunted murderer, and a similarly tragic figure, Earle is eventually killed by an anonymous rifle-wielding posse, meaning that we know nothing about those who kill him, and he remains the audience's sole focal point even after his death. When watching White Heat, I find myself unable to come to terms with Fallon's state of mind as he shoots the out-gunned Jarrett dead, and I am unsure what the filmmakers intended the audience's reaction to be; but for me, it exemplifies the tragedy at the movie's heart and its portrayal of all the characters in shades of grey; Fallon's final, murderous act is not heroic, and in comparison, Jarrett's defiant, deranged shooting frenzy appears almost admirable. As an anti-heroic crime movie protagonist, Arthur `Cody' Jarrett has no equal.
This is a pretty good DVD from Warner Bros, which features a decent (but quite short) documentary about the film, together with an attempt to give the viewer a flavour of a 1949 `night at the movies' with the inclusion of shorts and a newsreel preceding the `main feature', and introduced by film critic Leonard Maltin. But given the reputation of this all-time great film, one can't help but feel that more of an effort could have been made to celebrate and examine it on DVD.
White Heat [VHS] [1949] Reviews
One of the best noirs ever!
Review date: 2008-11-18 Rating: 10 out of 10
This is top quality Cagney in one of his best performances. Cody Jarrett is an incredibly mean, messed up piece of work. His ma remains his best friend and worst enemy combined.
This is a great film with a class (and justly famous) ending. BTW, the scene in jail when Cagney throws his fit shows some surprised looking cons. They were real prisoners, and didn't know what was going to happen! Worth looking out for ....
A complex gangster film
Review date: 2008-09-28 Rating: 10 out of 10
This,without doubt,is an outstanding film, for it draws together several complex issues. Right from the start, when we are introduced to Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) Verna (Virginia Mayo) & "Big Ed" (Steve Cochran) we learn several things. Cody is subject to fits & has a mother fixation; also, "Big Ed" is his rival for gang leadership & for Cody`s wife, Verna. The U.S. law enters the story in the person of Officer Hank Fallon (Edmund O`Brien) masquerading as gang member Vic Pardoe, whose object is to obtain enough information to ensure the capture of Jarrett.
There is one sequence in which the viewer is made aware of the link between Cody & his mother. In the prison cell Jarret remarks that Ma always sees to it that he gets his full share of any robbery, & immediately the scene dissolves from Cody`s image directly onto Ma, thus emphasising their emotional bond, especially when she declares: "Get one thing clear...anything we get, Cody`s in for his full share" There is one visual point to note: all the gang members are dressed in light suits, with the exception of "Big Ed" who always seems "odd man out" these are things which are subconciously registered by the viewer.When Ma takes a vote on Cody`s share, she queries "Big Ed`s" willingness to agree, in fact it is so out of character that it arouses her suspicions & leads to Ed`s subsequent downfall.
Perhaps the most outstanding scene in the movie takes place in the prison canteen when Cody receives news of his mother`s death. He goes hysterical, & is carried out shrieking. It is a great tribute to Cagney that in a scene that might have become unintentionally funny, Cagney plays the part so perfectly, that when this film is shown commercially, the reaction of the audience is the same as the convicts on the screen: stunned silence.
We also find, to our surprise, that we are made to feel some compassion for Jarrett. When he confides to Vic that: "My old lady never had anything...always trying to put me on top `Top of the world!` she used to say" And later, when Pardoe`s true identity is revealed Cody describes how he..."treated him like a kid brother, & I was going to split fifty-fifty with a copper!, adding, "maybe they`re waiting to pin a medal on him!" and somehow, even granting that Jarrett is a madman, fully deserving to be brought to justice, one`s sympathies - for a moment - side with him, for nobody likes a Judas!
An outstanding picture.
John Harman
"Made it, Ma! Top of the World!"
Review date: 2008-04-27 Rating: 10 out of 10
White Heat (1949) - Directed by Raoul Walsh.
Cagney plays Cody Jarrett, the madcap leader of a criminal gang who have just robbed a train. Cody is married to Verna, played by Virginia Mayo, however, throughout the story, Jarrett only seems concerned with the welfare of his dear, lawless mother, 'Ma' Jarrett , a role played by Margaret Wycherly. Cody also experiences regular, insufferable headaches which make his gang wary of him but at the same time see it as a weakness, and an oppurtunity to rise to the top of the chain. It is said that Jarrett's father died in a pschyiatric institution. The story consists of Cody's run from the law, an alibi and the eventual demise of him, his beloved mother and his gang.
The character of Cody Jarrett is likely to have been based on New York murderer Francis Crowley who, in 1931 at the age of 19, engaged in a severe firefight with the NYPD. When executed in 1932, his last words were; "Send my love to my Mother."
The movie was nominated for the 'Best Written Motion Picture Story' at the Oscars in 1950.
Vintage Cagney at his best
Review date: 2007-10-27 Rating: 10 out of 10
This Cagney movie along with 'Angels with Dirty Faces' and 'The Roaring Twenties' are perhaps the best films made by Cagney. Excellant cast and fine performances throughout. A must buy for anyone who loves cinema.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Edmond O'Brien
To find out more about Edmond O'Brien click on their nameSteve Cochran
To find out more about Steve Cochran click on their nameMargaret Wycherly
To find out more about Margaret Wycherly click on their nameJames Cagney
To find out more about James Cagney click on their nameVirginia Mayo
To find out more about Virginia Mayo click on their nameCreators:
James Cagney (Primary Contributor)
Virginia Mayo (Primary Contributor)
Sidney Hickox (Cinematographer)
Owen Marks (Editor)
Louis F. Edelman (Producer)
Ben Roberts (Writer)
Ivan Goff (Writer)
Virginia Kellogg (Writer)
Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 5014789924520
Binding: VHS Tape
Number of items: 1
Format: Black & White, PAL,
Release date: 2000-03-06
Number of discs: 1
Audience rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Running time: 109 minutes
