Movies We Like: ‘White Heat’ (1949)

Acting’s in the eyes and regardless of the role Jimmy Cagney’s eyes always screamed “caged.” Whether playing George M. Cohan or some middle-aged Coca-Cola executive, watching Cagney is like watching the lit fuse of a firecracker and whether it was with an explosion of song, dance or violence, Cagney never disappointed — he went off. In “White Heat,” director Raoul Walsh’s magnificent closing chapter in a magnificent two-decade series of Warner Brothers’ gangster pictures, Cagney again explodes …only this time, literally.

Jimmy Cagney in the early 1930s

Produced in 1949, within just a few minutes “White Heat” announces itself as something unlike anything that came before starting with the introduction of Verna Jarrett (29 year old Virginia Mayo), a striking, almost regal beauty shown fast asleep in a close up. Walsh immediately knocks the bark off his perfectly groomed leading lady by having her snore like a sailor after a three day bender. The message is clear: don’t believe everything you see. In just a few more minutes things will move even further beyond normal and straight into disturbing.   (more…)

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Tags: Cody Jarrett, Edmond O'Brien, gangster, James Cagney, Jimmy Cagney
Posted Aug 26th 2009 at 9:10 am in Reviews, Today's Pick | 21178638 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/08/26/movies-we-like-white-heat-1949/Movies+We+Like%3A+%27White+Heat%27+%281949%292009-08-26+16%3A10%3A46John+Nolte

Memorial Day Top 5: Great WWII Films You Might Have Missed

These may not be the best known or most famous of WWII films, but they deserve to be. Keep an eye out. You’ll be glad you did.

1. Command Decision (1948) – Made just after WWII, this Air Force drama set in 1943 when the outcome of the war was still in doubt, is one of the most intelligent examinations of the burden of command ever put on film. Clark Gable is absolutely outstanding as Casey, a Brigadier General forced to give orders that on their face appear cold and even monstrous, but in truth are just the opposite. Caught between the Washington brass who have a war to sell and the men under him who see only a General ordering their comrades to certain death, Casey is a leader willing to be hated and even lose his command in order to do the greater good. What Casey cares about before anything is saving American lives. That means winning the war as quickly as possible, something which can only be accomplished if unspeakable sacrifices are made in the here and now.   (more…)

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Tags: Alan Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Command Decision
Posted May 25th 2009 at 2:28 pm in Top 5 | 1430503 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/25/memorial-day-top-5-great-wwii-films-you-might-have-missed/Memorial+Day+Top+5%3A+Great+WWII+Films+You+Might+Have+Missed2009-05-25+21%3A28%3A05John+Nolte

And Now We Pause For A Ronald Reagan Moment

The clip would be perfect had it ended at the 2:30 mark, but the scene still plays.

The film is Raoul Walsh’s “Desperate Journey” (1942), a patriotic actioner, a sort of “Gunga Din” behind German lines with a terrific cast and Reagan nearly stealing the show as the wiseacre up for any kind of adventure. (more…)

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Tags: Alan Hale, Desperate Journey, errol flynn, Raoul Walsh, Raymond Massey
Posted Mar 28th 2009 at 7:54 pm in Politics, Video | 913543 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/28/and-now-we-pause-for-a-ronald-reagan-moment/And+Now+We+Pause+For+A+Ronald+Reagan+Moment2009-03-29+02%3A54%3A28John+Nolte

TCM Pick O’ The Day: Sunday, March 22nd

9pm PST - Sunrise (1927) – In this silent film, a farmer’s affair with a city woman almost destroys his life. Cast: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing Dir: F. W. Murnau BW-94 mins, TV-PG

Set your TiVo and prepare yourself for a silent film for those who don’t think they like silent films — what you might call a gateway drug.

Studio chief William Fox brought F.W. Murnau to Hollywood and practically handed his entire studio over to the German director, promising him anything he needed to make the film he wanted. The result was a commercial disappointment, but a pure masterpiece, easily one of the five best films ever made, and something so emotionally haunting it will stay with you for days afterward, or in my case, forever. (more…)

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Tags: "Sunrise", Frank Borzage, Howard Hawks, john ford, MGMmusical
Posted Mar 21st 2009 at 5:14 pm in Today's Pick | 8643025 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/21/tcm-pick-o-the-day-sunday-march-22nd/TCM+Pick+O%27+The+Day%3A+Sunday%2C+March+22nd2009-03-22+00%3A14%3A22John+Nolte