James Cagney: White Heat

James Cagney, who gave an excellent performance in Public Enemy, surpasses himself in the classic gangster film White Heat. I quickly forgot that this is really James Cagney and not Cody Jarrett, gangster. He brought a depth to the role that wasn't present in the earlier gangster film that I recently saw, Public Enemy. Cody Jarrett isn't just a sneering sociopath, but a psychologically crippled individual, as well as a very dangerous one.

The scene in prison dining area when he discovers that his mother is dead is the most powerful in the film, both in Cagney's performance and the staging. Cagney sees that a newcomer has arrived and is sitting at the same table, with about ten or more people in between. He asks the person next to him to pass a question about his mother down the table, and we see each man turn to his neighbor and track the progress of the question as it slowly reaches the new prisoner. We then watch it make its way back, and we sense it's bad news. The tension builds as the answer works its way closer and closer to Cody. We know when it reaches him, there will be an explosion. Cagney doesn't disappoint. He freezes, as if taking it in, as if deciphering it, and then slowly stands up and gives out a moan that can only be described as that of an animal in pain.

The supporting cast is excellent. A very young Edmund O'Brien played the undercover cop who goes into prison to make friends with Cody. Virginia Mayo, whom I remember as always playing the glamorous, sexy, seductive roles comes across with a very different portrayal as Cody Jarrett's wife who is forced to compete for his affections with his mother. In her first appearance in the film, she is seen sleeping and very obviously snoring, a not very sexy introduction. She is convincing as the trashy and brassy woman who just isn't quite the light of Jarrett's life.

Margaret Wycherly is superb as Cody's mother, the mother from hell. She's tough, ruthless, and smarter than her son. Her goal in life is to see him succeed, to make it to the "top of the world," regardless of what he does. It's her advice that keeps him as the head of the gang, and he'd be lost without her. Once she dies, his end is only a matter of time.

The ending is a memorable one, quite different than the endings of the two gangster films I had written about earlier. In Little Caesar, Edward G. Robinson lies dying behind a billboard and plaintively asks, "Mother of Mercy, is this the end of Rico?" James Cagney in Public Enemy staggers out of a house after a gun battle, falls into the gutter, and mutters, "I ain't so tough." In contrast, at the end of White Heat, Cagney is on a catwalk at the top of what appears to be an oil storage tank which is blazing furiously. Cagney, wounded, stands up and shouts "Made it, Ma! Top of the World," as the tank explodes, still defiant in a scene from hell.

Overall Rating: very good, Cagney at his best with an excellent supporting cast.

Little Caesar meets The Public Enemy

I recently watched two classic "gangster" films, Little Caesar (LC) and The Public Enemy (TPE). Both appeared in 1931, and both were the breakout films for their respective stars, Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. Ironically, both struggled with being typecast from that point on. Other stars were Jean Harlow and Joan Blondell in TPE and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in LC. Jean Harlow seemed out-of-place, but that just may have been her role as a high society type who gets involved with gangsters. Both films were placed by the American Film Institute (AFI) on its top ten gangster film list with TPE at No. 8 and LC in the 9th position.

Both films focus on the development of the main character as he shoots his way to the top, or near to the top of the gang. The two lead characters, Tom Powers (Cagney) and Rico (Robinson), while both see violence as necessary, differ considerably, even though they both end violently.

Rico comes across as tough, mean, and nasty as he snarls his way to the top, growling around his ever present cigar, or holding and jabbing it at a hapless underling who has displeased him. Cagney seems psychotic, almost easy-going and sometimes insolent as he winks and sneers his way through confrontations, but always seemingly on the verge of exploding into violence. Cagney's habit of playfully pulled punches supposedly suggests affection, but they seem to occur at times when Cagney represses a violent reaction, sometimes even with his mother.

Rico (Robinson), at the beginning of LC, is a small time thief who decides to go to the big city where the real action is. He and his friend Joe Massala join a mob. As the film progresses, one can see his growing ambition as he moves on up the criminal corporate ladder. His craving for power eventually drives him to become one of the most powerful gangsters in the city.

TPE, on the other hand, begins with Tom Powers (Cagney) as a young boy, growing up in a lower class urban setting. The film traces his development from shoplifting when only a child to a robbery that goes wrong and ends with a dead police officer. He and his friend Mike join a gang just as Prohibition begins. Bootlegging then becomes extremely lucrative. Powers moves up in the gang hierarchy because he is more violent than the others, but he differs from Rico in that he does not seem to be driven by Rico's craving for power.

Both films, naturally, feature violent endings, as the Biblical injunction demands: "All they that take the sword shall perish by the sword."

After Power's friend is shot down during a struggle between two gangs, he gets two guns and marches into the rival gang's headquarters. In a surprising display of restraint, the film does not depict the gory shootout, with every splatter of blood shown as it would be today, but we only hear a number of shots and a scream. Then, during a driving rainstorm, Cagney staggers outside, obviously badly wounded, takes a few steps, falls into the gutter, and utters what probably is his most famous last line: "I ain't so tough."

Rico, on the other hand, is shot and killed by the police officer who had vowed to bring him down. Rico also uttered the last words of the film as he is shot down in the bitter cold behind a billboard advertising the appearance of his friend Joe and Joe's girlfriend as a dance team: "Mother of Mercy. Is this the end of Rico?"

While both films were considered violent when they appeared in 1931, standards have changed considerably since then, and I doubt that either would get an R rating today.

TPE is also famous for the incident at breakfast, when Powers, irritated by his moll, shoves a grapefruit in her face. There are a number of stories about the origin of that scene, but the one that critics consider most credible and also the one told by Cagney and Mae Clarke (the victim) is that it was conceived by Cagney and Clarke as a practical joke on the film crew. Even though it wasn't in the script, William A. Wellman, the director, at end of filming changed his mind and decided to keep it in.

Overall Reaction: two very good films. I would recommend watching them together.