219. White Heat (1949)

Directed By Raoul Walsh

Synopsis

This criminal has an unhealthy obsession for mummy. He gives himself in to the cops for a crime he didn't commit in order to avoid a bigger sentence for a crime he did commit. The police puts a spy in his cell, to try and get more from him, they eventually escape, and after realising his mother is dead, Cody starts going more insane than usual. He tries to rob a payroll with a trojan-horse like plan, but the spy manages to contact the police and it all goes up in a big ball of fire.

Review

This is a great film, Cagney was always at his best when playing evil bastards, and Cody is one of those. Completely ruthless and slightly insane, but he does love his mommy. This is probably the most violent film on the list until now, the first 4 minutes have 3 deaths and one guy getting his face steamed off.

As all good action films it ends with a great big explosion, but in this case it also gets one of the best quotes ever : "Made it Ma, Top Of the World!". Before he gets blown to bits. That just makes for a high quality film.

Of course the production code would let this film through, as the bad guys do pretty much get decimated in the final scene, but still, the level of viciousness is refreshing at the end of the 40's. Raoul Walsh is really going to the edges of what was possible to put out and this is one of the few American films of the 40's to have a 15 certificate in the UK. Great film.


Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Critical reaction to the film was positive, and today it is considered a classic. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "the acme of the gangster-prison film" and praised its "thermal intensity". Tim Dirks on the website Filmsite.org writes that the film may have also inspired many other successful films:

"This classic film anticipated the heist films of the early 50s (for example John Huston's 1950 The Asphalt Jungle and Stanley Kubrick's 1956 The Killing), accentuated the semi-documentary style of films of the period (the 1948 The Naked City), and contained film-noirish elements, including the shady black and white cinematography, the femme fatale character, and the twisted psyche of the criminal gangster."

The film is rated 100% fresh by Rotten Tomatoes. It was also part of Time magazine's all-time top 100 list.


Whole film on youtube, Part I: