LogFAQs > #968899264

Vis
Still very early in chronological order for this list, we hadnt really gotten the classic cop goes undercover as a criminal to infiltrate the mob storyline, but I think White Heat did a solid job of executing that concept. These movies really like writing crime bosses as violent, unstable psychopaths though, huh? Its crazy that a lunatic like Cody would ever be put in a position of power, yet here we are, with him running point on numerous violent sprees. Still, it makes the film more interesting to have the success or failure of the criminal dependent on the whims of a guy whod shoot you if you looked at him funny. I think thats what makes the undercover angle work, because Vic is so able to manipulate Codys emotions to guide him in a direction that benefits the police investigation. Plus, I like seeing that Vic has to improvise numerous times when Codys erratic behavior draws the plot off-course.

The only drawback I have is that I feel like you could almost afford to remove the mother/wife subplot, because they feel so irrelevant to everything. Dont get me wronghaving those characters helps characterize Cody in his lunacy, but I feel like theyre not given proper due as characters in their own right. The mother gets killed off-screen, and the wife swings wildly between faithfulness and betrayal, and it feels like neither one lives up to their full potential. I just think that if youre not going to write them as more than crutches to Codys story, you can afford to remove them outright and trim the movie down just a little bit. But thats a nitpick on my part, and I still enjoyed the film overall.

rockus
Cagney carries with a powerhouse performance and driven home by an iconic finale. Kind of a shame that it spends so much time on OBriens undercover plant who is just dwarfed by Cagney in so much of the film.

John
There are several films on this list carried by their lead, but James Cagney kind of raises the bar for that here. I'm going to make the bold assumption that The Public Enemy is dropping before White Heat does, so it won't be a spoiler that I really didn't care for the former. This is almost 20 years later, with Cagney in the lead, again as an over-the-top gangster, and man he does SUCH a better job this time around, with a performance that is still outrageous enough to grab and hold the viewer's attention, but without feeling as silly. Cody might be the least intmidating gangster name of all time, but he's an absolute dangerous lunatic and that's never in question. Seeing his progression from a mama's boy train robber to the screaming gang leader gunning down his own last crew member before blowing up half a mile of fuel tanks just to avoid getting caught or shot by cops is just a hell of a journey.

Tangy
This one surprised me! I ended up watching this near the end and was feeling pretty burned out at this point. Especially after I wasnt too hot on some of the other b&w films. White Heat however did a very good job on showing how much film had evolved over the course of nearly 20 years. For starters we see Cagney again and he proceeds to knock it out of the park. You can tell he was having some fun with the role at this point. Im also personally loving how these films affect each other. Scorsese must have been inspired by this when he was working on The Departed. Honestly this movie alone is making me want to watch the next list in chronological order.

seginus
A good reminder that the genre could have used more badass gangster mamas throughout (and even within this movie). It's such a boys club after this, all godfathers this and goodfellas that. Cagney chews it up as a tortured maniac who goes around robbing trains and slapping everyone. The tension is high when the undercover cop tries to befriend him in jail, because you know if he slips up Cagney is going to slap the shit out of him. Seriously though, the scenes teasing out the possibility of the cop getting found out are the best in the movie. The over-the-top ending is fun too. But I thought the overall narrative lacked a driving force and kept me at arm's length.

Karo
So we have this convict who the feds are trying to find the location of his hidden stash or something so they get as his cellmate this undercover cop who follows the crime boss around with a weird clingy demeanor that says either 'seriously I'm totally not a narc' or 'hey bro, I want to fuck'. Is this moron really the best man they have?
Anyway things go sideways due to a prison break and the ensuing manhunt sees ridiculous plans from everyone that are as unnecessarily complicated as the antics of Wile E Coyote and only slightly more effective.
Characters are cartoonish and lacking in basic common sense. People are knocked out by being hit lightly in the shoulder with a gun barrel. But by golly, the good ol' moral fiber of america was preserved. Hallelujah!
Indeed, front and center is an idiotic and contrived plot just to get around the hays code stipulation than you can't have a criminal as the main character. I know this is not truly the fault of the filmmakers, but rather the fascist anti-art puritans that this damn country still cant seem to be rid of, but I really don't know how you would expect a gangster movie made under the code to be anything other than very very dumb.
The only white heat I see here is white hot agony, and even one movie from this era on the list is one too many.