Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

I just finished watching White Heat with James Cagney. Amazing performance, GREAT movie. Tim Burton must've used this movie as an influence for Batman. More specifically, in White Heat, the final scene takes place in what looks like a chemical plant and there are shots almost identical to the chemical factory scene in Batman. Cagney and another guy are the last two guys left in the plant, the cops surround them. Cagney climbs up on top to a balcony area, the other guy goes to turn himself in. As the guy is walking, Cagney holds out his gun and grins pretty much the same way Nicholoson did when he shot "Eckhart". And then Cagney gets shot and starts laughing maniacally which is pretty close to the same laugh Jack does when he walks out of the surgery place after falling into the acid. Tim Burton and Jack Nicholoson must've both used this movie as a part influence. This is all my opinion of course.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

This was the only thread I found discussing White Heat. Had a quick question and I didn't want to start a new thread. Just finished watching this and I must have missed something. Where did the inmate rooming with Cagney get the gun that he brought to Cagney when serving the food?

I figured there had to be an explanation how he got it but I scanned back thru the movie and didn't find anything.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Can't help with the movie but I am amazed no one responded to the thread way back when.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Same here.

Now I'm curious if Burton indeed was inspired by that scene in White Heat for his Batman 1989.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

I'm a big fan of WHITE HEAT and I can answer your question. When Vic Pardo, aka Hank Fallon (Edmond O'Brien), the undercover Treasury agent, first arrives at the prison and is put in the cell with Jarrett (Cagney) and the others, someone tells Jarrett that Tommy Riley (Robert Osterloh) has got a gun stashed.

And, yeah, it's a safe bet that the scene in BATMAN cited in the opening post owes a lot to WHITE HEAT.

NEW JACK CITY also pays homage to WHITE HEAT.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Thanks for the clarification. I figured that was what happened but I missed it twice.

I have never seen White Heat before today and I loved it.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

You ever get the BD? Fucking gorgeous image, man. Still need to get that gangsters set from WB hat has WH, Public Enemy, Petrified Forest, and Little Caesar.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

I have the set that has WHITE HEAT, G MEN, EACH DAWN I DIE and CITY FOR CONQUEST, every one of them a winner. CITY FOR CONQUEST is possibly my favorite Cagney film after WHITE HEAT,

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Is that a DVD set? Or a BD set?

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

DVD - "TCM Greatest Gangster Films Collection: James Cagney"

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Ah. You should get that gangsters BD set from WB. It's top notch work. I love it when old movies get some proper care on BD

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

I gotta agree with Snake. I rented the White Heat BD thru Netflix and the transfer is fantastic. It looks like it was filmed yesterday.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

You know, WHITE HEAT was a modern-day blockbuster...

Those 4K remasters look stunning when done right. And here I have friends who insist that upscales DVDs "look exactly the same." I saw the Blu of Jaws projected on a big cinema screen as part of a local film club thing (basically, a bunch of horror fans rent a theater and make smartass remarks while watching movies and hitting each other after probably drinking), and was surprised just how good it looked when it was blown up to that size. My HDTV is so inexpensive, sometimes I forget they Blu-Ray is almost 2K. Incidentally, WH is a cracking good gangster flick with a fantastic, almost feral performance from Cagney at his ferocious best.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Bah! It was under two hours and wasn't rated R.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

If there had been ratings in 1949 it would have gotten whatever the equivalent to an "R" would have been. You should read some of the reviews of it. Bosley Crowther, the lead reviewer at The New York Times for 20-odd years, was outraged at the Times Square crowd's enthusiastic reaction to the film in a Sunday piece that followed his review by a couple of days. He was worried about the crowd's morals. Apparently, some kid in the audience responded to a piece of Cagney business with, as Crowther spelled it, "Bee-yoo-ti-ful!" Unfortunately, he doesn't say what scene it was. I'm guessing it was either the one where Cagney pulls the pistol from the sun visor holder in the car and shoots the Treasury agent who's trying to arrest him, or the scene where Riley slips him the gun as he unties his straitjacket. More likely the first. Of course for me, it would be when Cagney tells the inmate who'd tried to kill him and is now locked in the car trunk yelling for air, "Okay, Parker, I'll give you some air," upon which he empties a .45 into the trunk. That's one of my favorite lines in the film, along with:

"If that battery's dead, it's gonna have company."
"If I turned my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there'd be a hole in it."
"And I was gonna split fifty-fifty with a copper!"

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

You know that you typed all that up in response to a recurring joke on this forum, right?

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

He's old, man. Let it go. He won't remember this shit after his morning shit.

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Of course, but Trevor gave me an opening to give a history lesson, so how could I pass it up?

Re: Similiarities between White Heat (1949) and Batman (1989)
 

Okay, I just watched the film again. Here's what happens: as they plan a jailbreak in their cell at night, talking in whispers, Jarrett himself tells Pardo that Riley has a gun stashed and he wants to use that in the break. Pardo counters that they'll then have to take Riley with them and he wants to keep it just to the two of them. As we see later, of course, the gun turns out to be key.