White Heat (1949)

White Heat (1949)

It’s hard to say what the best acting performance (captured on film) by James Cagney was. Initially typecast as a tough little "bad" guy from the streets of New York (e.g. Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)) with something to prove he exhibited terrific range particularly later in his career from his Best Actor Oscar winning portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) to another biographical performance as Lon Chaney in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) and even in more sophisticated comedies like Billy Wilder’s One Two Three (1961). But I believe two of his best performances were captured in films released after he’d turned 50 even though both were roles in which he returned to that original type because he showed us something more each time. One was opposite Doris Day’s portrayal of Ruth Etting in Love Me or Leave Me (1955) and the other was in this picture. Cagney’s portrayal of ‘Cody’ Jarrett allows him to play a particularly nasty gang leader utilizing his many physical gifts whose character is actually a "Momma’s boy" who’s mentally unbalanced. Given an Oscar nominated story (by Virginia Kellogg her first of two Academy Award nominations) to work with the actor gives us a convincing psychopath in his best of four collaborations with action director Raoul Walsh. Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts wrote the screenplay.

Margaret Wycherly (Sergeant York (1941)) plays Ma Jarrett while Virginia Mayo plays his beautiful dumb blonde wife. Edmond O’Brien (The Barefoot Contessa (1954)) is given the only other meaty role as a government agent who’s put in the same prison as Jarrett in on a minor charge to befriend Cody and catch him doing something that would mean "the chair". Once O’Brien’s character earns Cody’s trust they’re able to escape together. Besides the famous "top of the world" ending two other memorable scenes occur when Jarrett learns of his mother’s death while in prison and the act (once they’ve escaped) which gives O’Brien’s character what he needs. This movie was added to the National Film Registry in 2003. "Made it Ma! Top of the world!" is #18 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movie Quotes list.

Purchase this DVD now at

or buy the Blu-ray Disc here

or buy the DVD collection here

or buy the Blu-ray collection here