- [McNeal is trying to get Zaleska to name his real partner in the crime and get a chance at parole]
- P.J. McNeal: What have you got to lose? You're in for life now. C'mon, tell us the truth.
- Tomek Zaleska: Sure, I could say I did it. Then maybe have a chance of getting out, like you say. But if I confessed, who would I name as my partner, Joe Doakes? I couldn't make it stick for one minute. That's the trouble with being innocent. You don't know what really happened. I didn't do it. Me and Frank had nothin' to do with it.
- Laura McNeal: What's the matter, won't the pieces fit together?
- P.J. McNeal: *Some* of them, but they make the wrong picture.
- Laura McNeal: Pieces never make the wrong picture. Maybe you're looking at them from the wrong angle.
- P.J. McNeal: [to warden, after trying to talk Tomek into confessing to get parole] You must run a nice jail; this guy doesn't want to get out either.
- P.J. McNeal: Aw, look, Frank, it's a big thing when a sovereign state admits an error. But remember this: there aren't many governments in the world that would do it.
- P.J. McNeal: You look nice. Will you marry me?
- Laura McNeal: I did.
- P.J. McNeal: Oh yeah, yeah, that's right... Thanks.
- Laura McNeal: You're welcome. Just remember I'm here.
- P.J. McNeal: Would you be willing to take a lie detector test?
- Frank Wiecek, P.J. McNeal: Mr McNeil, for 11 years I've been waiting for a chance to get to that box.
- Brian Kelly: Well, I want to know why it's worth 5000 bucks to someone to find out who killed a cop 11 years ago.
- P.J. McNeal: 1932 was open season for cops. Over on the north side they were shooting them in pairs, like a brace of ducks.
- Warden of Stateville Prison: Ninety-nine years is a long time.
- P.J. McNeal: Maybe he'd have been better off if he'd got the chair.