10 Gangster Movies You Must See Before You Die
8. White Heat
The gangster movie has always been popular and probably always will be, but the James Cagney era was a particular heyday. The kinetic, combustible performer helped to codify the movie mobster as the unfeeling, perpetually smirking, undeniably charismatic figure we still think of today. Films like The Public Enemy and Angels With Dirty Faces made his name, but White Heat, one of his final pictures in the genre, might be his greatest work.
Cagney plays Cody Jarrett, a ruthless gang leader almost devoid of redeeming features. He is married to Verna, but his closest relationship is with his mother, an equally crooked woman who eggs on her troubled son.
Cagney and Margaret Wycherly make a terrible twosome, and the film delves into the star’s psyche in a manner quite shocking for its day. Cody is diagnosed a homicidal psychotic, and it shows - with little onscreen bloodletting or violence, Cagney is able to create a terrifying character on whom no small number of performances have been heavily based. It’s an explosive and bold picture to cap a terrific acting career.