MOVIE · 1949

White Heat

ActionAdventureCrimeDramaThriller114 min

James Cagney is Cody Jarrett, a volatile gang leader whose hold on his crew is tangled up with his devotion to his mother, Ma (Margaret Wycherly). While serving time, Cody takes in an apparent young hood, Hank Fallon (Edmond O’Brien), unaware that the new inmate is working undercover. Once Cody breaks out and rejoins his old outfit, he turns to a payroll robbery at a chemical plant, with the law closing in from inside and out. The story moves through prison cells, gang hideouts, and heist planning, built around Cagney’s sudden swings between command, paranoia, and violence.