'White Heat'

I've been fascinated with a certain archetype in film, TV and books, but I've never been able to define it.

I think of James Cagney's characters from "Public Enemy" and "White Heat." Or Tony Soprano, Joe Pesci's "Tommy" from Goodfellas.

Unironically, "White Heat" was a common pop culture reference on HBO's "The Sopranos," as it was referred to as Tony's favorite film. Appropriate since Cagney's character and Soprano had a lot of similarities including the nutty mother and the scheming partners in crime.

In a biography of music producer Phil Spector, author Mick Brown quoted critic Kenneth Tynan in regards to a type of person that fits this description: The Imposer.

Tynan defines these individuals as "One about whom one worriesw whether his repsone to one's next remark will be a smile or snarl."

Perfect.

I watch these films and TV shows just waiting for them to explode. Their fuses are perpetually lit and ready to blow due to years of always looking for the bullet in the back of the head or generally being crapped on their entire lives.

Poor Cagney. So old and fat at this point. Almost looks like a different person than the energetic and happy George Cohan from "Yankee Doodle Dandy," filmed just seven years earlier.