James Cagney credited as playing...
Cody Jarrett
- Verna Jarrett: I'd look good in a mink coat, honey.
- Cody Jarrett: You'd look good in a shower curtain.
- Roy Parker: You wouldn't kill me in cold blood, would ya?
- Cody Jarrett: No, I'll let ya warm up a little.
- Cody Jarrett: [while eating a chicken leg, Jarrett speaks to Parker in the trunk of the sedan] How ya doin', Parker?
- Roy Parker: It's stuffy in here, I need some air.
- Cody Jarrett: Oh, stuffy, huh? I'll give ya a little air.
- [pulls a gun from his pants and shoots four times into the trunk]
- [the sound of shooting is heard]
- Zuckie Hommell: Sounds bad, Cody.
- Cody Jarrett: Why don't you give 'em my address too...
- Cody Jarrett: A copper, a copper, how do you like that boys? A copper and his name is Fallon. And we went for it, I went for it. Treated him like a kid brother. And I was gonna split fifty-fifty with a copper!
- [Pardo has just saved Cody's life]
- Vic Pardo: I saw that just in time.
- Cody Jarrett: Whaddya want - a medal?
- Cody Jarrett: My old lady never had anything. Always on the run. Always on the move. Some life. First it was my old man - died kickin' and screamin' in a nuthouse. Then, my brother. And after that, it was takin' care of me. Always tryin' to put me on top. "Top of the world," she used to say. And then, times when I'd be losin' my grip, there she'd be, right behind me. Push me back up again. And now...
- Engineer: What's this, a hold-up?
- Cody Jarrett: Naw, naw, you're seven minutes late. We're just changin' engineers.
- Cody Jarrett: You know something, Verna, if I turn my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there'd be a hole in it.
- Cody Jarrett: You know somethin' Verna? If I turn my back long enough for Big Ed to put a whole in it, there'd be a hole in it. Big Ed. Great Big Ed. You know why they call him that? Because his ideas are big. Someday he's gonna get a really big one - about me. And it'll be his last.
- Cody Jarrett: You like the truck idea, huh?
- Trader Winston: Admirable. We might all profit by a closer study of classical literature.
- Cody Jarrett: We got enough food for a week, what'd she have to go to the market for?
- Verna Jarrett: You like strawberries, don't you? She just *had* to get some for her boy.
- [Cody kicks over the chair she is standing on, while gazing in a mirror wearing a negligee and mink coat]
- Ma Jarrett: No. No, not yet, son. Don't let 'em see you like that. Might give some of them ideas.
- Cody Jarrett: Always thinkin' about your Cody, aren't you?
- Ma Jarrett: That's right.
- [Pours and hands Cody a drink]
- Ma Jarrett: Top of the world, son.
- Cody Jarrett: I don't know what I'd do without you, Ma.
- Verna Jarrett: What about me? What do I do for the next two years?
- Ma Jarrett: Same as you did before he married you.
- Cody Jarrett: You better not, baby. I'll be back.
- Verna Jarrett: I'll be waitin' for you honey. You can trust me.
- Cody Jarrett: I'll take care of that when I get out.
- Ma Jarrett: That's what I told myself. And I'll help you Cody, like always. You'll be out soon! Back on top of the world.
- Cody Jarrett: With your arm, Ma, nothing can stop me.
- Ma Jarrett: That's right, son.
- Cody Jarrett: We're back in business, boys. We're back in business. And not Big Ed's way either. And not for fifty grand. But, first, a question: Supposin' - Supposin' you wanna push in a place like Fort Knox and grab yourself a couple a tons of gold, what's the toughest thing about a job like that?
- Jarrett Gang Member: Gettin' inside the joint.
- Cody Jarrett: A silver dollar for the gentleman in the balcony. Right on the button. Gettin' in. Which brings me to a story Ma used to tell me when I was a kid. A story about a horse. Way back, there was a whole army tryin' to knock over a place called Troy and gettin' nowhere fast. Couldn't even put a dent in the wall. And one mornin', one morning the the people of Troy wake, look over the walls, and the attackin' army's disappeared. Men. Boats. The works. Takin' a powder. But, they left one thing after them: a great, big wooden horse. And accordin' to Ma...
- Cody Jarrett: You're just lonesome. Lonesome, like me.
- Hank Fallon alias Vic Pardo: You? What about...
- Cody Jarrett: You mean Verna?
- [shakes his head no]
- Cody Jarrett: All I ever had was Ma.