"White Heat" (1949)

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mongoII
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"White Heat" (1949)

Post by mongoII »

The old saying, "They don't make 'em like they used to" fits this film to a T. Every other crazed-killer-goes-on-a-rampage movie ever made pales next to it.
This is one of the best performance of Cagney's career (although, astoundingly enough, he didn't think much of the picture or his work in it, dismissing it as "just another gangster flicker"). Only Cagney could take a character like Cody Jarrett, a snarling, murderous monster with a mother fixation--someone you KNOW is going to get his at the end--and still almost make you wish he gets away.
The film is one taut nerve from beginning to end. There's not a wasted moment in it; it starts out at full blast with the daring robbery of a mail train barreling through a mountain pass and doesn't let up. Performances are universally top-notch, from the stars on down to the extras. Far and away the finest film of director Raoul Walsh's long and distinguished career.
Joseph Goodheart
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Post by jdb1 »

You're not kidding. This movie remains as strong and shocking now as I'm sure it must have been umpteen years ago. I have never seen the kind of malevolent charisma that Cagney exudes here in any other film of any kind -- he is mesmerising.

I've always been surprised that this one got past the censors of the day - maybe they hadn't read Freud.
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Post by Dewey1960 »

What an unrelenting film both from the standpoint of Cagney's once-in-a-lifetime performance and the electrifying direction of Raoul Walsh. But perhaps the most disturbing component of this film is the queasy relationship between Cody Jarrett (Cagney) and Edmond O'Brien's informant character who's brought in to bring him down. The friendship they develop (at least from Jarrett's perspective) while they're in prison and later once they escape becomes extraordinarily meaningful because of Cagney's uncanny ability to make an unrepentant psychotic so sympathetic. O'Brien's methodical betrayal of Cagney is at once expected and dreaded, casting a veil of uncertainty and confusion over our emotions regarding this action. (It is far more distressing to us than when Jarrett's wayward wife (Virginia Mayo) conspires with henchman Steve Cochrane to do the old boy in.) And therein lies the real love story in WHITE HEAT--Cagney and O'Brien. One the censors clearly never spotted.
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mongoII
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Post by mongoII »

Very interesting analysis, Dewey. I never thought of it that way.
I must also make mention of character actress Margaret Wycherly who played Cagney's Ma to the hilt. It was another wonderful performance ignored by the Academy, just as Cagney's was.
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Dewey1960
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Post by Dewey1960 »

Mongo II wrote:
I must also make mention of character actress Margaret Wycherly who played Cagney's Ma to the hilt.

It was indeed a phenomenal performance; she pretty much matched Cagney every step of the way. Offhand I can't think of any other films she was in--I'm sure she was pretty busy all through the 40s--what other roles was she known for?
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Post by ken123 »

Dewey1960 wrote:Mongo II wrote:
I must also make mention of character actress Margaret Wycherly who played Cagney's Ma to the hilt.

It was indeed a phenomenal performance; she pretty much matched Cagney every step of the way. Offhand I can't think of any other films she was in--I'm sure she was pretty busy all through the 40s--what other roles was she known for?
She was Cary Cooper's mother in SERGEANT YORK, and she was in KEEPER OF THE FLAME, that was on TCM last night. She was in THE YEARLING and MAN WITH A CLOAK among others. :wink:
Last edited by ken123 on May 11th, 2007, 6:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Dewey1960 »

Thanks Ken - No wonder I'm not so familiar with Ma Jarrett's other roles; believe it or not, it's been ages since I've seen the pictures you mentioned!
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Post by nightwalker »

Interestingly, Cagney also claimed in his autobiography to have been the one to come up with the idea of giving Cody a mother fixation and ran it by Walsh, who felt it was a good idea and might serve to raise the picture above the level of an ordinary gangster picture. Cagney also said that the scene where he comes back from a walk at night and, when asked what he had been doing, replies "Just talkin' to ma" was also his idea.
If so, his contribution to the success of the picture was major.

In addition to his performance, I mean.
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A Boy's Best Friend Is...?

Post by moira finnie »

Interestingly, Cagney also claimed in his autobiography to have been the one to come up with the idea of giving Cody a mother fixation and ran it by Walsh, who felt it was a good idea and might serve to raise the picture above the level of an ordinary gangster picture. Cagney also said that the scene where he comes back from a walk at night and, when asked what he had been doing, replies "Just talkin' to ma" was also his idea.
If so, his contribution to the success of the picture was major.
Film historian Robert Sklar once pointed out in his book, "City Boys" that Cagney's screen persona seemed tied to his mother's apron strings emotionally right from his first film, Sinners' Holiday (1930). In that movie the actor foreshadows his climb into Wycherly's lap as he did as Cody Jarrett by whimpering in a babyish voice to his mother(Lucille La Verne) after he's committed a murder and curling up on her lap. It's probably the most startling thing about that earlier movie. His character in both films seems to have little pyschological independence of his mother and his sexual drive is really only expressed as violence--with more than a bit of madness. Sklar also maintained that throughout his career Cagney is often playing a character who's emotionally stunted, and, Sklar suggested, possibly impotent. Sklar sees this as a thread running throughout several key roles, and may be construed from his inability to form healthy adult relationships with any number of female characters, from Mae Clarke & Jean Harlow in Public Enemy to Virginia Mayo in White Heat. It may not be an ironclad observation by Mr. Sklar, but it does cast the subtext of several of Cagney's best roles in an "interesting" light.

I find it interesting that Cagney took a similar approach in one of his last great performances. Of course, White Heat, given the powerful direction of Raoul Walsh, the dynamic cinematography and fine supporting cast, is, in contrast to his first spartanly produced movie, a noir baroque masterpiece.
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Post by nightwalker »

Interesting point, Moira, and as usual, well put. I've not read Sklar's book (though I have read his "Movie Made America") but he may be on to something there.

Not sure I would agree about the sexual impotence thing, though, at least in WHITE HEAT. Mayo may hate Cagney, but I don't think it's even implied that she's sexually dissatisfied with him, particularly when, as he's carrying her piggy back, he tells her to "Grab the brass ring" as they're heading "upstairs." Also, in PUBLIC ENEMY when Jean Harlow makes clear just how she and Cagney spent the previous night, he becomes angry & upset, but from her manner, it doesn't seem as though she has any complaints regarding his performance.

Even in movies where he's the good guy, Cagney seems sometimes to be a bit more "subdued" by the presence of his mother (as in EACH DAWN I DIE) or a mother figure (JOHNNY COME LATELY).
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Post by jdb1 »

I'm perfectly comfortable with Sklar's analysis, Moira.

The gangster and his mamma relationship is by now a cliche in film and literature, and with good reason. Most of these men are unbridled Id, and that has been enabled in large part by the way they are treated by their mothers - the "boys will be boys" attitude that allows them to be as violent and self-indulgent as they wanna be. I've seen it over and over in real life. It would be disingenuous to say that many of these women aren't more than a little proud of their sons.

Because their mothers treat them like princes, they in turn revere their mothers, and in most cases mamma is really the only person they will listen to or whose opinion they worry about.

Cagney grew up in a milieu of crime and tough guys in Old New York, and he himself had a strong and demanding mother who pushed her children, although fortunately for Cagney, she pushed them away from the seedier side of life. Nevertheless, as I remember Cagney's memoirs, he saw men like those he played all around him when growing up, and certainly must have observed their family life to a degree.

When I see a film like Public Enemy I recognize its strength and its harshness, but it doesn't look particularly strange or exotic to me, not even those scenes were Tommy becomes in effect an infant around his mother.
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Post by moira finnie »

Also, in PUBLIC ENEMY when Jean Harlow makes clear just how she and Cagney spent the previous night, he becomes angry & upset, but from her manner, it doesn't seem as though she has any complaints regarding his performance.
Nightwalker & Jdb1,
Interesting thing about the last scene in Public Enemy between Cagney and Harlow: If you notice, they're splitting then, and the way that Cagney sags against the sofa has been interpreted by Sklar and others as a implying his failure as Harlow's lover, not as his being sated after being with her.And I can't look up the dialogue between the two right now, but Harlow talks to him like a little boy, which could imply that their relationship is infantile at best.

Hey, like I said it's not ironclad, but isn't it interesting how complex these "simple" gangster movies really are when one sees them through different eyes?

Judith, I've always noticed the fealty & affection that Cagney lavishes on his Moms in certain movies, as you pointed out. There's Beryl Mercer, Mary Gordon and others who've all seemingly and almost romantically, clung to their child, ol' Jim.
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Post by jdb1 »

Judith, I've always noticed the fealty & affection that Cagney lavishes on his Moms in certain movies, as you pointed out. There's Beryl Mercer, Mary Gordon and others who've all seemingly and almost romantically, clung to their child, ol' Jim.

Have you read Cagney's memoirs, Moira? I haven't read that book in many years, but I do remember how admiringly he spoke of his mother.

Also, the impotence thing seems a pretty common ploy in literature and film to explain the thug's overcompensation through violence. I don't know. In my experience, some people are simply violent by nature, and have no problem at all in the sack. (Or so I've heard.)
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Post by nightwalker »

Moira & jdb1:

I would certainly agree with you about the violent and their (possible) overcompensation for being impotent. But I still would disagree about Cagney in PUBLIC ENEMY because, the undeniably infantile aspects of his & Harlow's aspects relationship notwithstanding, I think her attitude towards him in that scene is key: no sexual dissatisfaction is stated or implied.

Having said that, however, I know full well that such things can occur in real life, and wouldn't want either of you to think I feel otherwise.

I used to work in a state institution and I know from personal experience that JDB1 is right: some people are violent just because they are, and whatever the reason, it's not because they had trouble in bed!
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Post by moira finnie »

Oh, I tend to agree most emphatically with both of you, Nightwalker & Jdb1. In real life, I've encountered very violent individuals and simply chronically irritable and in none of these instances do I actually think they had any easily detectable physical abnormality--but psychologically, there are many people who seem to only be able to express themselves through aggression, especially if they are repressed in another way. Cagney just happened to be one of the most observant and imaginative actors of the last century and brought that quality to especially vivid life on screen.

Judith, I've read and enjoyed Mr. Cagney's autobiography about 3 times, and find it to be very enjoyable, though I think that Jimmy's sometimes blithe dismissal of most of his work reflects his modesty, and his later desire to focus on life-affirming commitments such as his farm, painting, verse, and the environment, rather than his often turbulent years at Warners. I found his reflections on his early childhood in Hell's Kitchen and the criminal denizens on every corner to be particularly memorable.

His admiration for his own mother seems to have been considerable, as does his respect for her ability to bring her children up in such an atmosphere. This was certainly no small feat, and the fact that all but James graduated from college, (I'm sure thanks, in part to Jim's hard cash), is remarkable. Cagney's father was an interesting, if more shadowy figure as well. As described he seems to have been a loving, but ineffectual parent due to bouts of alcoholism--which doesn't seem to have been helped one iota by his having managed and bartended a series of all too successful, (for a time) saloons. Cagney's description of his father's animal-like howls when he endured delirium tremens is quite harrowing and he says it provided the inspiration for his own behavior and sounds when performing that unforgettable prison dining room scene in White Heat in which Cody learns of his mother's death.

Have you read Cagney by John McCabe? McCabe was the ghostwriter for the autobiography and became a personal friend of Cagney. He offers some affectionately couched perspective and insights into Cagney's personality, career, and family that I've never come across in any other work. For example, Billie, Cagney's wife, seems to have geared their entire household to accommodating her husband's demanding focus on work--to the point that their adopted son and daughter were housed in a separate cottage away from their parents' main house, where they were kept out of Jim's way, and when he was around, made to be quiet to avoid interrupting their father's concentration as he prepared for his intense roles.

I could obviously go on all day about James Cagney, but I want to thank all the contributors to this thread, (it's among the most interesting I've seen in awhile), and, I have a question for anyone perusing this thread:

Other than Yankee Doodle Dandy, what non-criminal role(s) of Cagney's do you enjoy?
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