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James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Steve Cochran, Margaret Wycherly ... see more see more... , John Archer , Wally Cassell , Mickey Knox , Ian MacDonald , Fred Clark , G. Pat Collins , Paul Guilfoyle , Fred Coby , Ford Rainey , Robert Osterloh , Joel Allen , Claudia Barrett , Ray Bennett , Marshall Bradford , John K. Butler , Bob Carson , Leo Cleary , Hank Fallon , Art Foster , Eddie Foster , Robert Foulk , Buddy Gorman , Sherry Hall , Carl Harbaugh , Perry Ivins , Harry Lauter , Nolan Leary , Murray Leonard , Larry McGrath , John McGuire , Sid Melton , Ray Montgomery , Milton Parsons , Lee Phelps , John M. Pickard , Joey Ray , Grandon Rhodes , George Spaulding , Harry Strang , Jim Thorpe , Jim Toney , Garrett Craig , Fern Eggen , Arthur Miles , Jack Worth , Eddie Phillips , George Taylor

In later years, James Cagney regarded White Heat with a combination of pride and regret; while satisfied with his own performance, he tended to dismiss the picture as a "cheap melodrama." Seen today, ... read more read more...White Heat stands as one of the classic crime films of the 1940s, containing perhaps Cagney's best bad-guy portrayal. The star plays criminal mastermind Cody Jarrett, a mother-dominated psychotic who dreams of being on "top of the world." Inadvertently leaving clues behind after a railroad heist, Jarrett becomes the target of the feds, who send an undercover agent (played by Edmond O'Brien) to infiltrate the Jarrett gang. While Jarrett sits in prison on a deliberately trumped-up charge (he confesses to one crime to provide himself an alibi for the railroad robbery), he befriends O'Brien, who poses as a hero-worshipping hood who's always wanted to work with Jarrett. Busting out of prison with O'Brien, Jarrett regroups his gang to mastermind a "Trojan horse" armored-car robbery. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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92% liked it

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28 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 54 min.

Directed by: Raoul Walsh

Release Date: January 1, 1949

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DVD Release Date: January 25, 2005

Stats: 638 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (638)

  • bottcorecords1
    November 28, 2011
    bottcorecords1
    Someone on IMDB called "White Heat" the bridge "between film noir and WB's classic gangster flicks", and I think it's a pretty apt description. It's the story of Cody Jarrett, psychotic gangster feared by everyone, and yet constantly looking over his shoulder as conspirators lie... read more in wait at every turn (whether it be his right hand man, Big Ed, or the undercover cop, Vic Pardo). Cody the crackpot, with his phantom headaches and his obsessive fixation on his mother, you get the sense of impending doom lingering about his head. So what makes this film so noir-ish? Well, there's a certain amount of lurid fascination we the audience are made to feel with Cody's world, be it with his sleezy, back-stabbing wife or his disturbingly ruthless mother, it's all gritty and seedy. Characters like Pardo or "The Trader" (Cody's "manager") feel like they're ahead of their time in some ways, and we can still see echoes of them in modern day crime films. But it's James Cagney's Cody that steals the show. He's intense, intelligent, but maybe a little too trusting of those around him. His character is kind of pitiful in that he never sees betrayal coming until it's too late. It's a great performance and a great, if quirky crime noir that's right up there with The Big Sleep and The Big Heat (and other "big" movies, for that matter- well, except for Tom Hanks' "Big", obviously).
  • ajv2688
    October 24, 2010
    ajv2688
    My favourite gangster movie, Cagney is brilliant as the crazy mama's boy gang leader. The ending is classic. I love it.
  • garyX
    February 7, 2010
    garyX
    James Cagney stars as Cody Jarrett, a mother obsessed psychopath who breaks out of jail to plan a raid on chemical refinery, whilst unwittingly taking an undercover agent under his wing. Probably Cagney's most well known (and misquoted) character, Jarrett is one of the great gang... read moresters from the old school. The addition of his Oedipus complex made him a whole different animal to his contemporaries, although I personally found his performance a little ripe in the earlier scenes of the film (when he has his headaches and finds out about his mother's death I couldn't help but be reminded of Norman Wisdom!) Once they break out of jail the film and his performance settle down though, and it becomes a masterful character study of a cold blooded hoodlum whose flippant use of violence and contempt for the law has passed into legend. The incredibly influential formula has been copied a million times over the years, not least by Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs and as such White Heat can be seen as a real watershed in the evolution of the crime drama. The cops are of course a little bland especially in comparison to Cagney's exuberant performance, but their use of oscillators and spectrographs must have made it the equivalent of CSI in its day. There is also some great support from Virginia Mayo as the classic gangster's moll, as ugly on the inside as she is beautiful on the outside and Margaret Wycherly as his hard-as-nails ma, and the spectacular finale in the refinery never fails to get the blood pumping. Classic stuff.
  • rayman0071
    July 14, 2009
    rayman0071
    Released in 1949,"White Heat" is considered to be one of the greatest gangster films of all time. James Cagney's performance as Cody Jarrett remains one of the top ten badasses of them all. It is amazing that Cagney did not win the Oscar for his performance here,but still he give... read mores a riveting performance that remains one of his best,thanks to a stellar cast that includes Edmond O'Brien, Virginia Mayo and Steve Cochran.
  • rubystevens
    July 13, 2009
    rubystevens
    what's there to say about white heat? ten years out of the genre and cagney hasn't missed a step. how'd ya like that, ma?
  • pier007
    May 20, 2009
    pier007
    Vibrant and brilliant film, engaging plot, and electrifying performance by James Cagney as the totally amoral and psychotic momma's boy Cody Jarret.
    Cody's farewell line is unforgettable.
  • 76Majikat
    May 4, 2009
    76Majikat
    Worthy of all it?s praise, Cagney just has great presence on screen and of course the lovable rogue image suits him well.

    As a storyline, this ticks many boxes for me, a Gangster story, Robbery, Undercover operation and is such a good base story for modern day films and tv Dra... read moremas.

    An instant favourite!
  • sononothing
    March 7, 2009
    sononothing
    White Heat is probably one of the greatest gangster films ever made. The fact that it was released in an era that monitored film violence to the hilt is even more shocking. The film is about Arthur "Cody" Jarrett (James Cagney), a gangland leader that's on the edge and just about... read more ready to fall off. His gang has made moves against him. His wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) is not as enthusiastic about him as she once was. The only thing Cody has going for him in his life is his Ma (Margaret Wycherly). Ma isn't just a mother, but an advisor and nurse to the mobster. When a recent train heist turns bad Cody turns himself in for another job on the other side of the continent. The feds don't buy it and plant Vic Pardo (Edmund O'Brien) to not only get the truth out of Cody, but to catch the man who sets up the jobs and fences the goods.

    It's not as easy as it seems. As the film progresses and events continue to turn against Cody he slowly slides over that edge into insanity. Cagney gives us one of the greatest performance of madness ever seen. Even today after countless thousands of psychotics gracing our screens, the Cagney performance still shocks and holds the power that it had sixty years ago. There are scenes where he seems to enjoy killing off the competition, which was unheard of in this era. Cagney created the psychotic gangster model that would be repeated over and over again for the next three score.

    Raoul Walsh directs White Heat without the glitz and glamour that permeated in 1940's Hollywood. Virginia Mayo's character snores and spits while Cagney's Cody stomps along as a cold hearted bastard. It's not a shiny gangster film. It goes for the guts and when it has them it doesn't let go. The rest of the cast is your basic '40's stock company, but it doesn't matter because it's Cagney's picture. He is just so amazing to watch on screen as he slowly slips downward.

    White Heat is a gangster masterpiece that has had such an impact on film it has reverberated even into today's cinemas. Coppola, Scorsese, and Tarantino owe a debt to this film for laying a blueprint for the modern gangster movie. A true classic masterpiece.
  • kiriyamakazou
    December 26, 2008
    kiriyamakazou
    Cagney plays one of the most fascinating characters ever put on film. A mother's boy gangster slowly descending into pure insanity. White Heat is a real cops and robbers drama and stands up today against all the greatness it has inspired. The procedural elements of the police hun... read moret can be seen today in The Wire and the under-cover aspects were both tackled in similar ways for Reservoir Dogs and The Departed. It's an exciting watch, where the editing is noticeably quick for 1949. The performances are all strong, with Cagney being terrifying but also empathetic. The climax is exactly that, bringing the film to a fantastic end with a single line echoing the entire film before it. An amazing crime drama with equal focus on either side of the law. Well developed characters and enough intensity to keep you hooked to the very end.
  • moonrivers
    April 26, 2008
    moonrivers
    "jimmy, jimmy, just do whatcha did th'last movie, only turn it up a notch, willya..."
    and so he did.
    ten notches.

View All White Heat Reviews

Critic Reviews

April 27, 2009
TIME Magazine

Brilliantly directed by Raoul Walsh, an old master of cinema hoodlumism, it returns a more subtle James Cagney to the kind of thug role that made him famous. Full Review

Variety Staff
April 27, 2009
Variety Staff, Variety

Cagney has an excellent supporting cast. Full Review

Dave Kehr
April 27, 2009
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Raoul Walsh's heroes had a knack for going too far, but none went further than James Cagney in this roaring 1949 gangster piece. Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 20, 2003
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

The simple fact is that Mr. Cagney has made his return to a gangster role in one of the most explosive pictures that he or anyone has ever played. Full Review

David Parkinson
April 27, 2009
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine

Magnificent examination of the criminal mind and Cagney's finest moment. Full Review

Robert Roten
October 9, 2008
Robert Roten, Laramie Movie Scope

Cagney supercharges the entire film with frenetic energy. Full Review

Mark Bourne
April 5, 2006
Mark Bourne, DVDJournal.com

Its archetypal influence on later films like Goodfellas and the Al Pacino Scarface is striking, even if we can never again experience how new and bold it was back in its day.... Full Review

January 26, 2006
Time Out

Despite chronology (deranged by the censor's influence on the studios), this is really the fitting climax of the '30s gangster movie. Full Review

Pablo Villaca
November 22, 2005
Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

Cagney, intenso como de hábito, cria um personagem que, apesar de sua óbvia instabilidade psicológica e de sua crueldade patológica, conquista o espectador com sua carência emocional.

Emanuel Levy
August 14, 2005
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Raoul Walsh's Freudian film is one of the fastest and toughest crime-gangster films ever made, boasting a bravura performance from James Cagney as a misogynist mama boy ("top of the world, Ma"). Full Review

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  • "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" A famous line, spoken by James Cagney in which film?   Answer »
  • Name the movie where James Cagney shouts out, 'Made it Ma, top of the world'  Answer »
  • James Cagney certainly got around in his time, but he only appeared in one of these all-time screen classics. Which?  Answer »
  • Top 100 Movie Quotes Which 1949 movie has the quote "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"?  Answer »
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