Format: DVD from Rockford Public Library on kick-ass portable DVD player.
I went into White Heat with high expectations. For starters, I love film noir, and this is a film from the heart of the genre and the heart of the period. Second, and even more critical, I like James Cagney. He had the potential to overact at times, but it often fit in with his persona. Cagney often played larger-than-life characters, and a little histrionics never hurt anyone too much. Knowing it was Cagney in the same mode as a film like The Public Enemy, the sort of film that made him a gangster in the minds of movie fans, I was ready for anything.
This is an odd film in a number of ways, though. It’s an atypical noir in that the characters are flawed in different ways than is expected. Oh, there’s plenty of violence and more callousness than I was expecting, but there’s more to it than that. Our characters here are odd ducks, and none is odder than Cagney’s Cody Jarrett.
