White Heat

A film about the man at the head of a criminal gang. Cody Jarrett runs a crew. He is clever, quick to decide and extremely dangerous; he also suffers violent headaches, and during the attacks the only person he trusts is his mother. The mother is the gang's real mind. She makes the plans, she steers her son, and everyone in the group knows it. After a train robbery the federal police come after them. Cody turns himself in for a smaller crime; the arithmetic is simple, a short stretch inside will clear him of the larger one. The police answer by putting a man in the prison. Hank Fallon goes in as a convict and works at gaining Cody's trust. The best scene is in the mess hall. Cody gets news from outside and his reaction stops the whole room; Cagney played the moment unprepared and the shock of the extras stayed in the shot. The closing line became one of the most quoted in American cinema. James Cagney plays Cody, Virginia Mayo his wife, Edmond O'Brien the policeman and Margaret Wycherly the mother. Raoul Walsh directed. Cagney returned to gangster parts with this film after years away and built the character far darker than the patterns of the 1930s. One of the peaks of its kind for anyone who likes classic gangster films and noir. Before you watch, know this: for its period the film shows violence coldly and directly.