White Heat with James Cagney: DVD Cover
  • Cover Image
  • Cover Image

White Heat Director: Raoul Walsh Cast: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Steve Cochran

DVD - Full Frame / Subtitled / Dubbed Learn more

BUY THIS ITEM

  • $19.99 Online price
    $17.99 Member price
    Join Now
    • skip to cart
  • Add To List uiAction=GetAllLists&page=List&pageType=list&ean=012569672352&productCode=VH&maxCount=100&threshold=3

GET FREE SHIPPING ON ORDERS OF $25 OR MORE

DELIVERY & GIFT DETAILS:

Usually ships within 24 hours

Delivery Time and Shipping Rates

Eligible for gift wrap & gift message.

Enter a zip code

  • DVD Release Date: 01/25/2005
  • Original Release: 1949
  • Rating: Not Rated
  • Sales Rank: 25,016

Viewer Rating: (5 ratings)

See All Detailed Ratings

 
  • Overview
  • Editorial Reviews
  • Scenes
  • Customer Reviews
  • Cast & Crew
  • Full Product Details

Features

Closed Caption; Leonard Maltin hosts Warner Night at the Movies 1949 with newsreel, comedy short So You Think You're Not Guilty, cartoon Homeless Hare and theatrical trailers; New featurette White Heat: Top of the World; Commentary by film historian Dr. Drew Casper; Subtitles: English, Français & Español

Full Product Details

Scene Index

Side #1 --
1. Credits [1:19]
2. Train Heist [4:07]
3. Red-Hot Buzzsaw [5:12]
4. Taking Care of Silky [4:22]
5. Tip-Off, Tip Over [3:12]
6. Tailing Ma [4:43]
7. The Lesser Rap [4:32]
8. Not Going Fishing [5:05]
9. Psychopath Profile [3:04]
10. Danger of Discovery [2:48]
11. Little Tricks [3:16]
12. Ma's Watchful Eye [2:16]
13. Metal Shop Accident [2:49]
14. Payback Vows [1:58]
15. Breakout Planning [3:23]
16. Ma's Dead [6:13]
17. Raving Maniac [2:47]
18. Taking a Little Trip [2:48]
19. Giving Him Some Air [4:40]
20. Cody Wouldn't Like It [1:48]
21. In the Back [2:47]
22. Big Ed's Fall [3:03]
23. Trojan Horse [3:03]
24. The Trader [3:45]
25. Maybe I Am Nuts [3:27]
26. Radio Fixer [3:17]
27. Mirror Message [3:27]
28. Catching the Signal [4:10]
29. Hank Fingered [2:30]
30. Cody Jarrett Talking [4:21]
31. Refinery Chase [2:31]
32. Come and Get Me [2:35]
33. Top of the World [2:00]

Scene Index

Editorial Reviews

James Cagney's career was filled with largely indifferent films in which his incredible charisma and overwhelming acting ability enabled him to deliver unforgettable performances. In White Heat, however, he found a vehicle worthy of his talents. This potentially routine police procedural was elevated to the level of a cinematic classic by skillful direction, brilliant performances, and a story line built on fascinatingly perverse relationships between the characters. Psychotic mama's boy and gangster Cody Jarrett (Cagney) executes a daring train robbery, which sets off a chain of events that leads to his downfall at the hands of an undercover detective (Edmond O'Brien). Cagney had said "no more" to gangster films and left Warner Bros. years before, unhappy with the studio's exploitation of his familiar tough-guy screen persona. White Heat marked his triumphant return, and he pulls out all the stops -- his chilling prison breakdown was based on a childhood visit to an insane asylum. Director Raoul Walsh specialized in action films, creating efficiently told tales of masculine behavior and ambition, and this was one of his best. Amy Robinson, Barnes & Noble

More reviews and recommendations

Customer Reviews

Cagney makes a great bad guyby tmbrat

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

February 09, 2009: White Heat is pretty good, but Cagney's best bad guy performance has to be as Rocky Sullivan in Angels with Dirty Faces. And if you like gangster movies, don't miss G-Men where Cagney gives an outstanding performance as a good guy.

You can't beat Cagney!

I Also Recommend: The Maltese Falcon, G-Men, Angels with Dirty Faces, The Maltese Falcon.

"White Heat" Is Red Hot!by Anonymous

Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings

November 30, 2005: The connection between real-life criminals and the movies goes back at least as far as the time Al Capone's henchmen went to question screenwriter Ben Hecht about the script for the original "Scarface" (1932). And it's no secret that some more recent films have had mob backing. But filmmakers who try to tell the story from the criminal's point of view run two risks. If they are too true to the vile, stupid, petty, boring, and squalid nature of most crime, they can turn off an audience. But if they put on too much gloss and glamour, they lose all credibility. Even by contemporary standards, "White Heat" is a shockingly brutal movie, but with one great scene following another, it builds tremendous momentum. James Cagney plays Cody Jarrett, a sociopathic train robber who gets terrible headaches, kills blithely, and loves his mother (who's also in his gang). While he is in prison, another member of the gang steals his wife and murders his mother, which tears him completely off his hinges. Cagney's "Ma's dead!" breakdown in the prison's dining room is a classic of Oedipal dementia. Edmond O'Brien gives a subtle performance as the dislikable heel of an undercover agent who helps Cagney out of prison to avenge his mother's death. His creepy blandness somehow makes Cagney's righteous madness seem noble by contrast. The tension builds inexorably down the stretch, and when Cagney explodes--literally--at the end, it is not just fitting, it is the logical conclusion. [filmfactsman]


More Customer Reviews