White Heat (1949) *****

White Heat is probably one of the greatest gangster films ever made. The fact that it was released in an era that monitored film violence to the hilt is even more shocking. The film is about Arthur "Cody" Jarrett (James Cagney), a gangland leader that's on the edge and just about ready to fall off. His gang has made moves against him. His wife Verna (Virginia Mayo) is not as enthusiastic about him as she once was. The only thing Cody has going for him in his life is his Ma (Margaret Wycherly). Ma isn't just a mother, but an advisor and nurse to the mobster. When a recent train heist turns bad Cody turns himself in for another job on the other side of the continent. The feds don't buy it and plant Vic Pardo (Edmund O'Brien) to not only get the truth out of Cody, but to catch the man who sets up the jobs and fences the goods.

It's not as easy as it seems. As the film progresses and events continue to turn against Cody he slowly slides over that edge into insanity. Cagney gives us one of the greatest performance of madness ever seen. Even today after countless thousands of psychotics gracing our screens, the Cagney performance still shocks and holds the power that it had sixty years ago. There are scenes where he seems to enjoy killing off the competition, which was unheard of in this era. Cagney created the psychotic gangster model that would be repeated over and over again for the next three score.

Raoul Walsh directs White Heat without the glitz and glamour that permeated in 1940's Hollywood. Virginia Mayo's character snores and spits while Cagney's Cody stomps along as a cold hearted bastard. It's not a shiny gangster film. It goes for the guts and when it has them it doesn't let go. The rest of the cast is your basic '40's stock company, but it doesn't matter because it's Cagney's picture. He is just so amazing to watch on screen as he slowly slips downward.

White Heat is a gangster masterpiece that has had such an impact on film it has reverberated even into today's cinemas. Coppola, Scorsese, and Tarantino owe a debt to this film for laying a blueprint for the modern gangster movie. A true classic masterpiece.