But, I don't have that much life left to invest—it would have taken weeks, and there's a chase and a shoot-out in between that and this and when you're dealing with a director like Raoul Walsh...well, the man is a visceral director, not a contemplative one.
Like James Cagney as an actor. You want contemplation? It's an eye-flick for Cagney and it'll register as deep-thought. When he made a move, he committed and he committed all the way and he made you believe it. Visceral. He and Walsh were a whirlwind combination and volatile. So much that even this apocalyptic over-the-top finale comes across as believable and even inevitable.
In one draft of White Heat, screenwriters Goff and Roberts (they created "Charlie's Angels," btw), Cagney's Jarrett was ignominiously shot atop a hortonsphere, and fell to his death. But, when Cagney reluctantly returned to Warner Brothers (after making a couple of movies for his own production company, he "needed the money"), he looked at the script, initially based on the career of Ma Barker and, not wanting to repeat his earlier gangster roles, said "Let's make him nuts!" The script went through many re-writes (five official drafts), emphasizing Cagney's starring participation, and the Cody Jarrett character got crazier and crazier, mother-fixated, subject to "buzz-saw" headaches, and casually vicious.
And his last line? Cody confesses its origins to detective Fallon, whom he's comes to depend on after the death of his mother: "My old lady never had anything. Always on the run. Always on the move. Some life. First it was my old man - died kickin' and screamin' in a nuthouse. Then, my brother. And after that, it was takin' care of me. Always tryin' to put me on top. "Top of the world," she used to say. And then, times when I'd be losin' my grip, there she'd be, right behind me. Push me back up again. And now..."
And now.
You'll notice that the script and how the film plays out aren't exactly in-line. Walsh and editor Owen Marks very freely played with it and juxtaposed sequences to build tension and gain maximum impact. And Cagney's giggling, insane performance—that was Cagney, filling in the blanks, filling the frame, before he can only be topped by one thing—explosions.
But not completely. I've kept the final "End" credit in the scene, because you can still see Garrett, like a figure in Hell, courtesy of an out-take of a wider angle amongst the flames. It's one last hysterical, crazy flourish for one of the most savage of movie-endings.
Action!
MED. SHOT. Ext. CODY AND RYLEY LATE EVENING
EXT. GROUP OF CARS EVANS, FALLON AND OTHERS
Police and agents pour out of cars. Pan quickly to another group of cars from which more agents and police run out. We see equipment and searchlights being set up and tested, ready for use.
EXT. CODY AND RYLEY AT SUPERFRACTION AREA ALMOST NIGHT
They move slowly with the desperation of whom the net is closing. Searchlights begin playing in the opposite direction.
EVANS: They're heading up.
FALLON: Got them on the ground heading for the Horton Sphere area. Send men out to that section.
He nudges Ryley to follow him, pointing toward Hortonsphere area. Camera follows them as they arrive at base of Hortonsphere. Cody starts up the steps as Ryley lags behind, hides by a large pipe.
(Cody wheels around, his eyes searching.)
His hands upraised, coming slowly forward toward light.
CLOSE ON CODY NIGHT
He raises his gun.
FULL SHOT NIGHT
Ryley still in searchlight beam, coming toward T-men, his hands upraised. A shot is heard. Ryley is hit, winks to the ground. The agents wheel toward source of shot.
As Cody reaches it he realizes, dimly at first, that he has reached a dead end. There is no way down but the ladder he climbed. Voices off screen drawing closer. Weaving slightly, aware now he has chosen his own death-trap, he stands astride the Hortonsphere, which is like the globe itself. He stands there, alone, naked and unprotected, challenging the world in its madness.
ON GROUND NEAR HORTONSPHERE NIGHT
Evans and Fallon stand behind two cars, stare up. They know where Cody is. Evans hands Fallon the gun with snooperscope.
HORTONSPHERE FROM THEIR ANGLE NIGHT
Now it is even more like a globe—the earth itself—with a lone, tragic figure standing atop it, claiming it, refusing to admit defeat.
TOP OF HORTONSPHERE CODY NIGHT
EVANS AND FALLON ON GROUND NEAR HORTONSPHERE NIGHT
Fallon brings up snooperscope, sighting Cody.
TOP OF HORTONSPHERE CODY NIGHT
Another bullet tears into his chest. He staggers, bites his lips against the surging pain. He realizes he's through.*
He is now out of his mind. He staggers against the rail, trying to shoot back at what hit him. Instead his bullets hit the pipe valve which holds the gas in the tank under pressure.
HORTONSPHERE MED. CLOSE CODY NIGHT
He is pumping slugs into the pipe. We hear sound of escaping gas. Suddenly the gas is ignited from the blast of Cody's gun and Cody is completely enveloped in flames.
ON GROUND FALLON, EVANS AND OTHERS NIGHT
camera pans with them as they start running away from the flaming area. Off-screen sound of terrific explosion. The area is all lit up as they continue to run for cover.
FULL SHOT EXPLOSION (STOCK) NIGHT
HORTONSPHERE AREA (STOCK) NIGHT
Flames consuming what was once a cluster of Hortonspheres. Fire hoses playing on the fire, etc.
CLOSE-UP EVANS AND FALLON (FIRE IN BACKGROUND—PROCESS)
They look at fire, say nothing. Then:
FULL SHOT FIRE (STOCK) NIGHT
Words by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts
Pictures by Sidney Hickox and Raoul Walsh
White Heat is available on DVD and Blu-Ray from Warner Home Video.
** In the original script, these are the last words:
EVANS: One man against the world.
FALLON (shakes head): Why do they try?...Why do they try?
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