Jun. 20, 2002 - 1:17 am
this is another James Cagney film i had been wanting to see for a couple of weeks. it's on the National Film Registry and was recommended by a couple of professors i had last semester as a good example of the crime genre. thanks go again to my mom for her vast Cagney collection. do you have White Heat? i sure do son.
so this is another gangster film that he was in. keep in mind that gangster films were not the only type of film he did, but they are probably what he is best remembered for. he actually won a Best Actor Oscar in 1942 by singing and dancing his way through Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). you should see that one too. actually i need to see that again because i've all but forgotten it at this point. oh well. maybe sometime soon if i get a couple of spare hours. but this weekend's films are all already on their way to my doorstep.
James Cagney plays Cody Jarrett in this film, the head of a small gang who start out the film by robbing a train and killing 4 people. when the cops start to get wind of what they did, Jarrett escapes the gas chamber by placing himself somewhere else at the time of the crime, committing another crime. so he confesses to the minor crime and only gets a 1-3 year sentence in prison. once he's there, the gang threatens to be taken over by someone else and attempts are made on Jarrett's life. it all finishes up with a huge robbery taking place at an industrial plant.
Cagney does an awesome job in this. he weaves yet another very complex character for us to watch. a man filled with anger and distrust for everyone, save his mother. he's a huge momma's boy and gets violent headaches when he can't get his mother's attention. he also comes from a family with a background of insanity.
my favorite thing about this film was the fact that the police send a man in to bunk with Jarrett in order to gain his trust, friendship, and information. because of Cagney's wonderful and powerful performance, you really empathize with the undercover cop. when Jarrett first meets him, you're just as scared as the cop is. and when he first takes him into his trust, you feel relieved and actually quite proud of yourself. like you're actually in the cop's place. it's hard to describe. maybe i got too into that part of the film. oh well.
but i still decided to just go ahead and give the film a 7/10. the supporting cast is not too good in this film. sort of second-rate acting. there were also parts where the plot kind of drug for an action movie. they followed the tanker truck that the gang was hiding in with radio signals, and as if that weren't boring enough, it lasted a good 10 minutes or so. there were a few other problems, but mostly it was a very good film and films are always a good character study when James Cagney is in them. complicated fellow indeed.