White Heat (not rated)
AFI Catalog; Great but Forgotten; IMDb; Rotten Tomatoes; TCM; TV Tropes; Warner Bros.; Wikipedia
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This came out in 1949. I first saw it in 2021. It's a gangster movie, which I don't think is typically synonymous with film noir, but Wikipedia calls it film noir, and I'm inclined to agree. Wikipedia also says it's considered one of the greatest gangster movies of all time, which I guess I can see. I wasn't that enthusiastic about it, but I can understand how fans of the genre would be. I liked it well enough, and it's nice to now know where the quote "Top of the world, Ma!" comes from.

A group of thieves led by Cody Jarrett (James Cagney) rob a train, killing four people in the process. This means that if Jarrett is convicted of the crime, he'd be executed. So, he confesses to a different, lesser crime that he didn't actually commit, and goes to prison for that. (He couldn't have been in two places at once, so this is meant to prove he didn't pull the train job.) A US Treasury investigator named Philip Evans leads a team that's trying to prove Jarrett guilty of the train job, as well as learning the identity of the person who fences stolen money for Jarrett, known only as "Trader". To this end, Evans sends an undercover agent named Hank Fallon to be a cellmate of Jarrett's, using the name Vic Pardo.

Meanwhile, one of Jarrett's associates, Big Ed, takes over the gang as well as having an affair with Jarrett's wife, Verna (Virginia Mayo). After learning of a separate incident which I won't reveal, Jarrett escapes from prison to seek revenge, and take back control of the gang. He brings his cellmates with him, including "Pardo", who helps the authorities find Jarrett and his gang. He also learns the identity of the Trader.

That's all I want to say about the plot, but of course a lot more happens throughout the movie. I will say it was all reasonably interesting and has a thrilling conclusion. But I just couldn't manage to enjoy it quite as much as I would have liked to, and I don't expect it to leave me with a strong memory of the film. And I feel bad about that.

The DVD includes two short films, So You Think You're Not Guilty, and a Bugs Bunny cartoon called "Homeless Hare", which I didn't care for enough to bother reviewing.