Original artwork, not a still
Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
— White Heat ‧ 1949
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
A madman's last triumph, delivered to the one person he loved, from a perch he has climbed as high as he will ever get. James Cagney's gleeful scream turns a gangster's death into a self-made myth, and the line has been quoted by every film that wants a villain to go out in a blaze. The AFI ranked it 18th on its list of movie quotes.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for White HeatShow the scene
In White Heat (1949, directed by Raoul Walsh), the psychotic gangster Cody Jarrett's gang is surrounded by police at a chemical plant and most of it is shot down. Cody retreats to a field of giant spherical gas tanks and climbs one, cornered. An undercover agent shoots him, but Cody fires back at the tank, setting it ablaze. As the police take cover, Cody shouts the line to his dead mother, and the tank explodes. It echoes the toast he and Ma made earlier in the film.
Sources (1)
- White Heat (Wikipedia)Plot, LegacyReference checked
Context reviewed