White Heat

White Heat is 1949 film which depicts the story of a mentally disturbed gangster with a mother complex who makes a daring escape from prison. Once out he immediately begins plans on a big-time robbery, not realizing that his newest henchman (noir veteran Edmond O'Brien) is an undercover copper and his right hand man is trying to have him killed.

Related Topics:
1949 - Film - Gangster - Edmond O'Brien - Undercover

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The three most memorable scenes, according to many, include:

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• The gangster's mother mother soothing Jarrett during bouts of migraine headaches while he sits in her lap.
• The scene where Cody Jarrett (Cagney) goes beserk in the prison mess when he finds out about his mother's death.
• The films finale as Cody Jarrett dies in a blaze of glory at the "top of the world".

Directed by Raoul Walsh, White Heat is considered one of the great gangster films and a classic film noir. In 2003, the National Film Preservation Board deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Related Topics:
Raoul Walsh - Gangster - Film noir - National Film Registry

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Critical reaction to the film was positive, and today it's considered a classic. Tim Dirk on the website Greatfilms.org writes that the film may have also inspired many other successful films:

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

Related Topics:
John Huston - The Asphalt Jungle - Stanley Kubrick - The Killing - Semi-documentary - Naked City - Film-noirish - Black and white - Cinematography - Femme fatale

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