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I can't believe that this film is not well known. Get rid of the terrible courtroom framing device, and you have a gangster masterpiece. Coming on the heels of Cagney's better known White Heat, this film takes violence and corruption to a new level. This film starts off with a brutal jail break and never slows down. The cold blooded violence portrayed is quite jaw dropping. Cagney was born to play this role. He is clearly relishing his cold blooded character. The freshness of this film is surprising. You are totally caught off guard. In this sense, it reminds me most of Kiss Me Deadly. For anyone with a passing interest in Cagney, or gangster films, or film-noir, or film violence, watch this film!!!!!!!

One of the four films made by James Cagney and his brother William for Warner Bros. and directed by journeyman Gordon Douglas this was intended to capitalise on the success of 'White Heat' but failed to do so. This gritty, visceral and deeply cynical film is not without merit however. Strong performnces here from Ward Bond as a corrupt cop and Luther Adler as a seedy lawyer is almost Mephistophelian. What can one say about Cagney? Orson Welles considered him the greatest and in this he was not far wrong. Very few actors could play a psychopathic hood so convincingly yet still be sufficiently charming to capture the affections of the millionaire's daughter, played by classy former model Helena Carter. Critics found this ludicrous of course and made a point of emphasising Cagney's 'maturity'. Producer William was by all accounts thoroughly taken by the sexual charisma of Barbara Payton but of course he was far from being the only one! Of all the sad tales of Tinseltown hers was surely one of the saddest. No need to dwell on this as her bio is freely accessible on IMDB for those who can bear to read it. Mainly peopled by beastly characters with no redeeming features at all this film has sufficient twists and turns to maintain ones interest and has a mesmerising central performance by Mr. Cagney.

Spoilers here.

If they made this movie today, they would call it "White Heat 2: Cody Lives". Cagney is as ruthless as in White Heat, but here, his pathology is under control, (brain surgery after his Oil Tank "accident" in Part 1?) so he can blackmail cops and smoothly double-cross his erstwhile moll while skimming wherever else and whenever he can. In the first couple of minutes of the film, he shoots a fellow prison escapee "just because". His sense of loyalty to his supposed accomplices goes downhill from there.

Barbara Payton is a more resonant and convincing actress than Virginia Mayo, and it can be argued that her strength as an actress creates much of the tension here: We want to see her get wise to the Cagney character's dirty game, and also succeed in avenging her brother's death (the fellow escapee shot in the beginning of the film). And unlike the case of Virginia Mayo's unsympathetic moll in White Heat, we actually do root for her to gain a comeuppance against the Cagney character. But we're torn. Cagney has so much natural charisma, even when playing a snake, that we can never entirely want him to get his. There is a sense of justice and inevitability to the ending. But there remains the nagging hurt feeling at what Cagney-- with all that bristling energy and industry and charisma-- COULD have accomplished if he hadn't succumbed to the dark side. Ten stars. See it!

... and no this is not a remake. I just recently rewatched this, and for some reason I had thought Barbara Payton was actually Virginia Mayo. A second look taught me otherwise. I guess it was because that she looks so much like Virginia Mayo and she plays a role in this film similar to Ms. Mayo in White Heat.

Ralph Cotter (James Cagney) is a prison inmate who breaks out with the help of another inmate, or maybe that is vice versa, because everybody involved in helping them make a run for it is involved with the other inmate - his sister, Holiday (Barbara Payton), his friends.

The other inmate was shot by the guards trying to escape and, out of the view of the guards, Cotter kills the brother. This was probably seen as a necessity by Cotter to keep him from talking, but he didn't seem to not enjoy doing it. Cotter blames the brother's death on the guards. Back at her apartment, Cotter seduces his victim's sister, although his facial expression doesn't show affection, just conquest, probably as her apartment is a matter of convenience for him, a wanted man.

This is a great examination of a psychopath, part gangster picture, part film noir. From the perspective of Cagney's character it is a gangster picture. From the perspective of his new gun moll, Holiday, it is a film noir. The story of a girl who never did anything wrong until she tried to help her brother escape because she thought he was framed and was going stir crazy. And then it is downhill from there with Cotter in charge of her life. And plus you sense she might have always been a little crazy too. She's at least very hard on walls as far as throwing things at them whenever her temper is ignited.

Cagney pulls lots of questionable moves and crimes here that just happen to work out, some due to planning and bravado, some due to luck, some due to the fact that he has no conscience. Cagney does not get much meaningful dialogue, but he really doesn't need it. His character is written on his face. Cagney smiles when things are going his way. Expressionless when things are not with that cold stare.

But then a surprise. What started out as a meaningless incident in the middle of the film that may have you wondering - What is THIS doing here?, well that incident comes back around at the end to what would have been a lucky break for anybody else, but would be a trap for Cotter. But again, he just loves risk and decides to chance it. Taking on all of this danger, thinking he can handle anyone and anything is his undoing.

I said this was like White Heat in an alternate universe. And this is what I mean by that. Cagney is not doing a Cody Jarrett imitation but the comparison does hold up - cold and vicious yet he thinks on his feet. Payton's character is not like Mayo in White Heat. Mayo was as psychopathic as Cagney in that film and seemed to be married to him and staying with him for the high level of excitement and the occasional fur coat. But ultimately she loved nobody but herself. Payton's problem is that she loves him to death.

With William Frawley as a chatty creepy prison guard a year before he became Fred Mertz. And with Ward Bond in probably his meanest role as a crooked police inspector who can stand toe to toe with Cagney in his portrayal of someone with ice water in his veins. He makes baddie Barton McLane look tame by comparison. Quite a bit of range when you consider that just two years later Bond was friendly failed fisherman Father Lonagan in "The Quiet Man".

Highly recommended as a crime film where the tension never lets up.

James Cagney pulled off one of his greatest gangster roles fairly late in his career in 1949's White Heat. You could see he was starting to get a little pudgy in the midsection and gray around the temples for that kind of role, but he still pulled it off.....big-time. What a lot of people don't remember is that he did it one more time - with this film, the following year.

Yup, "Cody Jarrett" was in business for one more tough-guy gangster character. Here, he plays "Ralph Cotter," and he is one nasty dude. It's great to watch Jimmy doing his cocky-thug routine. I wish he could have gone on forever.

The supporting cast, led by Ward Bond, was very good in this film and worth noting. It isn't just all Cagney. Barbara Peyton is realistic as the tough blonde and Helena Carter as the spoiled rich man's daughter. Both are decent at heart and vie for Cagney's affections.

Included in here are crooked cops, a crooked lawyer and other assorted characters. It's a rough movie. Nobody is trustworthy in this story, which is interesting all the way. It should be better known.