White Heat/Trivia

• Award Snub: Seriously, Cagney didn't even get nominated for Best Actor that year?
• Awesome Music: The score is one of Max Steiner's best.
• Beam Me Up, Scotty: The page quote is often misheard as "Top of the world, Ma!"
• Enforced Method Acting: The extras in the scene where Jarrett goes ape after being informed of his mother's death were not told of how far Cagney would go. Their surprise was real.
  • Virginia Mayo, who played Verna, revealed in an interview that Cagney was hiding in a different spot than where she had been told he would be during the scene when they are reunited after he's been in prison. He then deliberately missed his cue, causing her shock and fear to be real. She said for a few seconds, she was actually afraid he was going to kill her.
• Throw It In: In the scene where Cody has his Villainous Breakdown, he had the two biggest extras seated on both sides of him and had the camera follow him no matter what.