Bayflicks.net

James Cagney became a star playing tough-but-likable gangsters in the 1930’s. But by the time he made White Heat in 1949, he insisted on playing a complex, oedipal, and totally despicable psychopath who neither asks for nor receives the audience’s sympathy. It’s an electrifying performance, the best of his career, making us easily forget Edmond O’Brien as the nominal hero. One of the best, and most unique, gangster movies ever made.