White Heat is a 1949 crime film starring James Cagney, Virginia Mayo and Edmond O'Brien and featuring Margaret Wycherly, and Steve Cochran. Directed by Raoul Walsh from the Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts screenplay based on a story by Virginia Kellogg, it is considered one of the classic gangster films.
Plot
Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) is the ruthless, deranged leader of a criminal gang. Although married to Verna (Virginia Mayo), Jarrett is overly attached to his equally crooked and determined mother, "Ma" Jarrett (Margaret Wycherly), his only real confidante. When he has one of his splitting headaches, she consoles him, sits him on her lap and gives him a whiskey with the toast, "Top of the world." It is revealed that Jarrett's father died in an insane asylum.
Jarrett and his gang rob a train, resulting in the deaths of four members of the train crew and a Jarrett accomplice, Zuckie (Ford Rainey). With the help of informants, the police close in and Jarrett shoots and injures US Treasury investigator Philip Evans (John Archer). Jarrett then confesses to a lesser crime, which was committed by an associate at the same time as the train robbery, thus providing Jarrett with an alibi. He is sentenced to one to three years.
Evans is not fooled. He plants undercover agent Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien) in Jarrett's cell; Fallon goes by the name Vic Pardo. His main task is to find the "Trader," a fence who launders stolen money for Jarrett.
On the outside, "Big Ed" Somers (Steve Cochran), Jarrett's ambitious right-hand man, has designs on both Jarrett's gang and his treacherous wife Verna. He pays a convict, Roy Parker (Paul Guilfoyle), to kill Jarrett. In the prison workplace, Parker arranges to drop a heavy piece of machinery on Jarrett, but Pardo pushes him out of the way to save his life. Ma visits and vows to take care of Big Ed herself, despite Jarrett's attempts to dissuade her. He begins to worry and decides to break out. Before he can, Jarrett learns that Ma is dead and goes berserk in the mess hall.
Jarrett takes hostages and escapes, along with Pardo, their cellmates and Parker, who is locked in the trunk of the getaway car. Later, when Parker complains, "It's stuffy, I need some air," Jarrett replies, "Oh, stuffy, huh? I'll give ya a little air." He proceeds to empty his gun into the trunk.
On hearing of Jarrett's escape, Big Ed nervously waits for him to show up. Verna tries to slip away, but she is caught by her husband. She convinces him that Big Ed murdered Ma (though it was really Verna who shot her in the back). Jarrett guns down Big Ed.
The gang welcomes the escapees, including Pardo, for whom Jarrett has developed a genuine liking. Jarrett insists on sharing the proceeds from their robberies with him, stating, "I split even with Ma, didn't I?"
A stranger shows up at the gang's isolated country hideout, asking to use the phone. Everybody expects the stranger to be murdered: "Looks like Big Ed's gonna have company." To Pardo's surprise, he is introduced by a trusting Jarrett to the Trader (Fred Clark), the fence he was to track down.
Jarrett intends to steal the payroll at a chemical plant in Long Beach, California by using a large gas truck as a Trojan Horse to hide inside. Pardo manages to get a message to Evans and an ambush is set up. The gang gets into the plant but the driver, Creel (Ian MacDonald), recognizes Pardo as Fallon.
The police surround the building and Evans calls on Jarrett to surrender. Jarrett decides to fight it out. When the police fire tear gas, Fallon manages to escape. All of Jarrett's henchmen are shot by the police, or by Jarrett himself when they try to give themselves up. Jarrett then flees to the top of a gigantic gas storage tank. When Fallon shoots Jarrett several times with a rifle, Jarrett starts firing into the tank and shouts, "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" just before it goes up in a massive explosion.
Inspiration
The character of Cody Jarrett was based on New York murderer Francis Crowley,[1] who engaged in a pitched battle with police in the spring of 1931 at the age of 19. Executed on January 21, 1932, his last words were: "Send my love to my mother."
Another inspiration may have been Arthur Barker, a gangster of the 1930s, and a son of Ma Barker.
The train robbery which opens the film appears to have been closely based on the robbery of Southern Pacific's "Gold Special" by the D'Autremont brothers in 1923.
Critical reaction
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".[2] Tim Dirks on the website Filmsite.org writes that the film may have also inspired many other successful films:[3]
- "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.[4] It was also part of Time magazine's all-time top 100 list.
In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. White Heat was acknowledged as the fourth best in the gangster film genre.[5] Also, the quote; "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" was number 18 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie quotes.
Awards and honors
The movie was nominated for a Best Writing, Motion Picture Story at the Oscars and was nominated for Best Motion Picture at the Edgar Allan Poe Awards.
In popular culture
- Toward the end of the song "Drop the Gun" by Kings of the Sun, the phrase "Top of the world, Ma!" can be heard.
- One of the convicts who passes along Jarrett's request to find out how his mother is, and then returns the information of her death, is played by legendary athlete Jim Thorpe. The scene was parodied in the film Johnny Dangerously.
- "Weird Al" Yankovic's music video to "Don't Download This Song" includes a reference to the famous "top of the world" finale.
- An audio outtake from the movie is on a track of the worldwide #1 Madonna album True Blue just before the song "White Heat".
- In the 1992 film Juice starring Tupac Shakur, his character (Bishop) and his companions can be seen watching White Heat. Bishop imitates the ending "Made it Ma, Top of the World!" quote.
- In the Night Court episode "Top Judge", just before Judge Harry Stone becomes the victim of the supposedly ultimate practical joke, he shouts "Top of the world, Ma!"
- In a Jimmy Neutron episode ("Who framed Jimmy / Flippy"), Sheen runs out of the lab yelling at the police. During this rant, he says "Top of the world, Ma!"
- The outside entrance of the unnamed prison in the film was later used as the Fox River Prison from the TV series Prison Break (recognised by the gatehouse-like façade).
- Most of Naked Gun 33⅓ is a parody of the second act of this film.
- In Madonna's True Blue (album), the song White Heat is dedicated to James Cagney and includes an exceprt from the movie.
References
External links
