Scenes That I Love: The End of White Heat


Since today is Raoul Walsh’s birthday, it only makes sense that our scene that I love should come from one of Walsh’s best films.

In 1948’s White Heat, James Cagney plays Cody Jarrett, a gangster who loves his mother and goes out like a raging inferno.  Here, for those who don’t mind a spoiler or two, is the end of Raoul Walsh’s White Heat.

 

 

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Raoul Walsh Edition


4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

127 years ago today, film director Raoul Walsh was born in New York City.  He started out as an actor and a second unit director, learning how to make films under the tutelage of D.W. Griffith.  He made his directorial debut in 1915 with Regeneration, which is considered to be the first gangster film.  Refusing to sidelined after losing an eye in an auto accident, Walsh continued to direct and his career stretched from the silent era all the way to the mid-60s.  Walsh directed westerns, war films, and gangster films.  He was a master of tough but sometimes quirky action films.  Martin Scorsese continues to cite Walsh as being an influence on his own work.

Today. we pay tribute to Raoul Walsh with….

4 Shots From 4 Raoul Walsh Films

The Roaring Twenties (1939, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Ernest Haller)

They Drive By Night (1940, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Arthur Edeson)

White Heat (1949, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Sidney Hickox)

Esther and the King (1960, dir by Raoul Walsh and Mario Bava, DP: Mario Bava)

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Raoul Walsh Edition


4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

126 years ago today, film director Raoul Walsh was born in New York City.  He started out as an actor and a second unit director, learning how to make films under the tutelage of D.W. Griffith.  He made his directorial debut in 1915 with Regeneration, which is considered to be the first gangster film.  Refusing to sidelined after losing an eye in an auto accident, Walsh continued to direct and his career stretched from the silent era all the way to the mid-60s.  Walsh directed westerns, war films, and gangster films.  He was a master of tough but sometimes quirky action films.  Martin Scorsese continues to cite Walsh as being an influence on his own work.

Today. we pay tribute to Raoul Walsh with….

4 Shots From 4 Raoul Walsh Films

The Big Trail (1930, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Lucian Andriot and Arthur Edeson)

The Roaring Twenties (1939, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Ernest Haller)

Gentleman Jim (1942, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Sidney Hickox)

White Heat (1949, dir by Raoul Walsh, DP: Sidney Hickox)

The Last Gangster: James Cagney in WHITE HEAT (Warner Brothers 1949)


gary loggins's avatarcracked rear viewer


When James Cagney burst onto the screen in THE PUBLIC ENEMY, a star was born. Cagney’s machine gun delivery of dialog, commanding screen presence, and take-no-shit attitude made him wildly popular among the Depression Era masses, if not with studio boss Jack Warner, with whom Cagney frequently battled over salary and scripts that weren’t up to par. Films like LADY KILLER , THE MAYOR OF HELL , and ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES made Cagney the quintessential movie gangster, but after 1939’s THE ROARING TWENTIES he hung up his spats and concentrated on changing his image. Ten years later, Cagney returned to the gangster film in WHITE HEAT, turning in one of his most memorable performances as the psychotic Cody Jarrett.

Cagney is older and meaner than ever as Jarrett, a remorseless mad-dog killer with a severe mother complex and more than a touch of insanity. Jarrett has frequent debilitating headaches…

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