Click here to copy URL

White Heat

1949

Raoul Walsh

James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly ...

8.1

11,267

Film noir Cody Jarrett is the sadistic leader of a ruthless gang of thieves. Afflicted by terrible headaches and fiercely devoted to his 'Ma', Cody is a volatile, violent, and eccentric leader. Cody's top henchman wants to lead the gang and attempts to have an 'accident' happen to Cody, while he is running the gang from in jail. But Cody is saved by an undercover cop, who thereby befriends him and infiltrates the gang. Finally, the stage is set ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Variety	"Cagney has an excellent supporting cast."	POS
United States	Time	"Brilliantly directed by Raoul Walsh, an old master of cinema hoodlumism, it returns a more subtle James Cagney to the kind of thug role that made him famous."	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"[Cagney] could be the most unbalanced hero in film noir, yet Walsh's swift, pounding direction keeps you cheering for him up to the famous ending (...) The film leaves you drained and weirdly exhilarated."	POS
United Kingdom	Phil Hardy Time Out	"This is really the fitting climax of the '30s gangster movie."	POS
United Kingdom	David Parkinson Empire	"Magnificent examination of the criminal mind and Cagney's finest moment (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"It was made to excite and amuse people. And that it most certainly does."	POS
United States	Eric Henderson Slant	"O’Brien plays as crucial a role to the film’s success as a cornerstone of Cagney iconography (…) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	POS

Return to movie

We encourage you to check the reviews' original sources. Intellectual property rights of these reviews belong to their authors and/or the correspondent media from which they have been extracted. If you'd like to help us to add more reviews to your favorite movies, just send us a message.