- [first lines]
- [the train carrying the Deputy Sheriff and his prisoner, Jim Larsen, pulls into the depot at Porter]
- Deputy Sheriff George Allison: We'll be in Porter for a few minutes. Want some air, Jim?
- Jim Larsen: Why don't you get off without me?
- Deputy Sheriff George Allison: I'd be lonely.
- Reed Williams: Mister, you're butting into something that doesn't concern you. Either you're extra good with that gun, or you're bluffing.
- Jim Larsen: All you gotta do is figure out which it is.
- Mark Riley: I never did thank you. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have gotten married.
- Jim Larsen: As long as you're thankin' me and not blamin' me, you're welcome.
- Ellen Bailey: You look different... bigger.
- Jim Larsen: Well, maybe it's the gun. It would make anyone look bigger.
- Reed Williams: Riley, if I have to kill you, I don't much care whether it's tomorrow or now. You can save us both time by starting the trouble now.
- Mark Riley: Are you trying to tell me I should ask her to marry me now? Tonight?
- Jim Larsen: That's what I'm trying to tell you.
- Mark Riley: Don't you realize that I might be killed in the morning?
- Jim Larsen: Anybody can be killed... any day.
- Mark Riley: Anybody is me! Any day is tomorrow!
- Mark Riley: Now, no one is as important enough to walk wherever he wants. He's bound to run into something that will stop him.
- Ellen Bailey: Why didn't you leave tonight, Ray?
- Jim Larsen: Oh, I just couldn't seem to get started.
- Ellen Bailey: I've heard men say that the first part of the journey is often the hardest.
- Jim Larsen: Yeah, I guess it is.
- Ellen Bailey: Why is that?
- Jim Larsen: Oh, I don't know... different reasons.
- Ellen Bailey: Is it ever because you're afraid to start out from one place to another... to try something different... even if it's bad?