Trailer
Plot summary
Cody Jarrett leads a gang of thieves in California with his wife Verna and his mother Ma, the one person he confides in. The gang hijacks a train carrying mail in the Sierra Nevada, and four crewmen are killed. Investigators track Cody to a Los Angeles motel; he gets away and then confesses to a lesser crime committed at the same time as the robbery, which gives him an alibi and a short prison term. Treasury investigator Philip Evans doubts the alibi and sends an agent, Hank Fallon, into the prison as Vic Pardo.
Cast
Show all 20 cast
- John Butleras Motorist at Gas Station (uncredited)
- Robert Carsonas Agent at Directional Map (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about White Heat (1949)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- James Cagney improvised the scream in the prison mess hall scene, and the shock on everyone's face was real because neither Cagney nor director Raoul Walsh had told any of the extras what was going to happen.
- The story was originally based on real-life bank robber Ma Barker, who raised her sons as criminals; the writers renamed her Ma Jarrett and reduced her four real sons to two for the film, with her son Arthur Barker becoming the character Cody Jarrett.
- Jack Warner wanted to cut the costly prison mess hall scene, which used 600 extras for only one line of dialogue, but relented on the condition it be filmed in three hours so the extras could be released by lunchtime.
- The film inspired songs including Madonna's "White Heat" on her album True Blue, a track that was also dedicated to James Cagney.
