Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

• White Heat
• Directed by Raoul Walsh
• September 2, 1949
• Based on White Heat by Virginia Kellogg

A criminal with a mother complex leads his gang in a payroll heist after making a daring break from prison.

Films can become iconic for any number of reasons. Here I think it has everything to do with the legendary James Cagney as the lead character Arthur ‘Cody’ Jarrett. With his performance in White Heat Cagney became the template for numerous movie criminals that have come in the 75 years since its release. He’s got a supportive mother, but the relationship is clearly unhealthy. One of the standout elements of the film making it something different for the time.

Jarrett is cold and definitely multiple fries short of a Happy Meal. He rules his roost through intimidation and the general fear that those under him have of really not knowing what he will do next. He is emotionally abusive to his wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) who is no saint either. Verna is cheating with Cody’s underling “Big Ed” Somers (Steve Cochran) with both plotting to remove Cody from the gang.

Toss in Edmond O’Brien as undercover man Hank Fallon going by the name Don, erm, Vic Pardo who infiltrates the gang to find some stolen money and you got quite a heady mix. I felt all this made it as much a gang movie/ crime thriller as it did a soap. You could find something as convoluted on Days of Our Lives. There is double-dealing and Cody’s gang members are not as loyal as he thinks they are. Fearful yes but not loyal. There’s a plot to kill him which only serves to aid the Fed’s investigation.

Cody is a loose cannon. No matter how well-planned things are he his general insanity throws a monkey wrench into everything. And his general insanity seems to be what keeps him alive and just successful. Interesting spin when you look at it.

Despite being from the late 40s there are some surprisingly modern elements of this when it comes to the Feds. They use (for then) the latest science to connect clues and even have phones in their cars which when you think about it is not that dissimilar from cellphones. The car phone had only been created three years earlier so that was indeed some cutting-edge technology.

As one would expect Cody gets his just desserts in the end. You certainly cannot have the antihero being successful and Cody Jarrett most certainly is an antihero played to perfection by James Cagney. His “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” quote has been repeated numerous times over the decades to the point I’m betting most people don’t know that it was made famous by this very movie. And he says it with such gusto in his character.

At nearly two hours the great director Raoul Walsh methodically builds to the conclusion laying out each element as it goes along yet your interest will never wane. White Heat takes its time getting to the climax as it does so. That which pulls him down as well as the famous quote are based on stuff placed throughout the narrative. The movie is one log tease building to the finale.

I do have some gripes. Poorly explained is the fencing of the stolen money. I have no idea how getting pennies on the dollar after risking life and limb for $300,000 works but nobody really thinks twice about that here. They have a fence (Fred Clark) but what he does sounds like he might be scamming Cody and pals and not doing any type of money laundering.

If there is anything genuinely wrong with the characters it’s the performances of the good guys. The Federal agents and their plant of Don, erm, Vic Pardo are all a little bland. If Cody was not as dangerous looking as he was I dare say you would not care if they got their man. Then again evil is always more interesting than good but good should never be lame or just boring.

With great performances and a villain that grows to larger-than-life by the end White Heat is a movie that holds you from start to finish. It’s exciting and dramatic and just about everything you want in a good gangster film. You can’t go wrong here!