White Heat (1949)
Country: US
Technical: bw 114m
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly, Virginia Mayo
Synopsis:
A mother-fixated psychopath robs a train and embarks on a crime spree that lands him in jail. He comes out more out of control than ever.
Review:
The legendary Cagney comes full circle back to a version of his Public Enemy character, with fashionable psychological addition. As would later be explored in Peckinpah's films, whereas patriarchal oppression breeds repressed and unfulfilled puritanical sons, over-exposure to the maternal gives rise to licentiousness, self-absorption and misogyny towards any other females. (The casting of an unknown as Ma Jarrett was inspired.) This is rip-roaring stuff in Walsh's best idiom, with a famously explosive finale.
Country: US
Technical: bw 114m
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly, Virginia Mayo
Synopsis:
A mother-fixated psychopath robs a train and embarks on a crime spree that lands him in jail. He comes out more out of control than ever.
Review:
The legendary Cagney comes full circle back to a version of his Public Enemy character, with fashionable psychological addition. As would later be explored in Peckinpah's films, whereas patriarchal oppression breeds repressed and unfulfilled puritanical sons, over-exposure to the maternal gives rise to licentiousness, self-absorption and misogyny towards any other females. (The casting of an unknown as Ma Jarrett was inspired.) This is rip-roaring stuff in Walsh's best idiom, with a famously explosive finale.
Country: US
Technical: bw 114m
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: James Cagney, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly, Virginia Mayo
Synopsis:
A mother-fixated psychopath robs a train and embarks on a crime spree that lands him in jail. He comes out more out of control than ever.
Review:
The legendary Cagney comes full circle back to a version of his Public Enemy character, with fashionable psychological addition. As would later be explored in Peckinpah's films, whereas patriarchal oppression breeds repressed and unfulfilled puritanical sons, over-exposure to the maternal gives rise to licentiousness, self-absorption and misogyny towards any other females. (The casting of an unknown as Ma Jarrett was inspired.) This is rip-roaring stuff in Walsh's best idiom, with a famously explosive finale.