1) We make one hell of a team Row Ark. 2) We might have. We really might have.
1. I thought you were dead. 2. I’m trying.
1: All right, i can;t get to this, why don;t you just take your pants off. 2: Oh come on Roark, do i look that easy? 1: Oh what are you afraid i’m gonna, see you in your underwear? 2: Well with Carla gone, the laundry’s piling up, i’m not wearing any. 1: Oh that’s alright i haven;t worn any in years. Look i’m not gonna watch, now strip, please.
1: Nice night. 2:Finder of precedence, mystery woman of the court. 1: Yup. Care for a beer? I assume that’s the infamous change-of-venue-motion under your arms. Ellen Roark. R-O-A-R-K that’s Roark in Boston, but it seems to be Row Ark here in Mississippi. 2: Boston huh? 1: Yup, i was born there, my father’s the notorious Sheldon Roark? 2: Attorney to the stars, i’m duely impressed. So what brings you to Mississippi, Row Ark, slumming? 1: Law school at Ole’ Miss, it’s a family tradition, Mom was a sweet little sorority girl there till dad- till dad married her. 2:I married a sweet little sorority girl from Ole’ Miss myself. 1: Well they, have an excellent selection. 2: Now really Row Ark, what brings you to Canton? I’m not believin they don’t have cars to sit on on campus. 1: Carl Lee Hailey. I;d really like to help you with the case. 2: Now what makes you think i need help? 1: Well, you’re trying one of the largest capitol murder cases these parts have ever seen, and you work alone. You have no clerks, paralegals, researchers, nor can you afford to hire any, so if Noose doesn’t accept that motion under your arm you got trial in, less than a month? Trust me, you need help. 2: And how do you know all this? 1: Well, i’m an excellent researcher. Listen, i’ve played goffer for 7 capitol murder cases, i’ve witnessed 2 executions, i’ve uh, i’ve written briefs for the ACLU, i’m top 5% of my class, i’m published, i’m young, and when i graduate i plan to spend a glorious career stomping out the death penalty, uh, what else? Oh! Genius runs in my family, So you see, you’ll be gettin me on my way up and i really think that now’s a good time to, you know, grab me. 2: mm-hmm, is there anything else i should know? 1: Uh, let’s see, anything else? Oh, my father’s filthy rich so i’ll be workin for free! What do ya think? 2: I think i’m gonna go drop this envelope in Noose’s night slot, and go home and see my family. Thank you Row Ark, but i can handle the case myself.
Aint nothing more dangerous than a fool with a cause.
America is a war, and you’re on the other side.
And until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be even-handed. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices.
Carl Lee : So thats supposed to be a jury of my peers?
Harry Rex : God bless America.
Daddy, I’m sorry I dropped the groceries.
Did I mention that my father’s filthy rich and I’ll be working for free?
Got a little spicy on your lip
Harry Rex: Oh dear. You know i’m a sucker for those, German-type convertables.
Jake: ::laughs:: c’mon loverboy, let’s get to court. Lucien thinks those 2 hyeenas just might get off.
Ethal: You saw Lucien? When? Where? Has he been eatin any better? Just curious…
Harry Rex: Uh, Ms. Ethel, refresh my recollection. Exactly how long were you and Lucien together?
Ethel: We were never together! I was his secretary for 20 years.
Jake: C’mon ole girl.
Harry Rex: You can tell us you know.
Jake: He was your boyfriend.
Ethel: I am an upstanding, God-fearing, respectable Southern woman, with unimpeachable morals who has been happily married for 27 years. And i have never had, or ever will have any BOYFRIEND. And if i did, it certainly would not be that old pickled scoundral, Lucien Wilbanks.
Jake & Harry Rex: She did him.
Harry Rex: oh yeah, a lot.
I am a liberal Row-Ark. What I am not is a card-carrying ACLU radical.
I can not promise you riches. What I can offer you the chance to save the world one case at a time.
I do believe its my birthday!
I hope they burn in hell
I just thought our kids could play together.
If you win this case, justice will prevail, and if you lose, justice will also prevail. Now that is a strange case.
It ain’t easy saving the world, even one case at a time.
Jake: Now the other day, you said you were opposed to the death penalty, why?
Roark: You’re not?
Jake: No actually i’m very much in favor of it, i’d like to go back to hanging’s on the courthouse lawn if we could.
Roark: You’re kidding right?
Jake: No.
Roark: I see well have you told your client Carl Lee Hailey this?
Jake: Well Carl Lee Hailey does not deserve the death penalty, now those 2 boys that raped his daughter, did.
Roark: I see well how do you tell who gets it and who doesn’t?
Jake: Well it’s simple. You take the crime, and you take the criminal. Now say a, crack dealer, guns down an undercover cop, well you strap his ass in the chair and flick the switch.
Roark: I’m sorry i thought you were a liberal.
Jake: Well i am a liberal Roark, what i am not, is a card-carrying ACLU radical. I do not believe in forgiveness nor in rehabilitation. I believe in safety, i believe in justice.
Roark: I see well, lemme ask you something. Have you ever seen a man executed?
Jake: Not that i recall.
Roark: Ok, well what you do is you go watch a man be executed, you watch him die, you watch him beg, you watch him, kick and spit till he pisses and shits the life out of him, then you know what? Then you come back here, and you sing this crap to me about-
Jake: Roark, spare me your Northern, liberal, we are the only enlighted ones in the Northern hemisphere bullshit.
Roark: Oh i’m sorry, you are the enlightened, yes you are the enlighted, and that’s why you brought me here to this, this balck diner in this black neighborhood. Right? So you could convince me you’re this JFK-meets-Jesus….Christ white boy? Is that, is that it? Or MAYBE, your just another repressed, hipocritical Southern credential who didn’t wanna be seen around town with a woman like myself, is that it? Yes sirree, you sure are enlightened. Thank you very much for your time Mr. Brigance.
Jake:) I need a drink. Lucien:) At three o’clock in the afternoon? What would your wife think? Jake:) I’m my own man, Lucien. I drink when I want to. Lucien:) When did she leave town? Jake:) This morning.
Now i had a great summation, all worked out. Full of some, sharp lawyering. But i’m not going to read it. I am here to apologize. I am young, and i am inexperienced. But you cannot, hold Carl Lee Hailey, responsible, for my short cummings. But ya see in all this legal manuevering, something has gotten lost, and that something is the truth. Now it is incumbant upon us lawyers not to just talk about the truth, but to actually seek it, to find it, to live it. My teacher taught me that. Now let’s take Dr. Bass for example. Now obviously i would have never knowingly put a convicted fellon on the stand, i hope you can believe that. But what is the truth, that-that-that he is a disgraced liar? Now what if i told you, that the woman he was accused of raping was 17, he was, 23 that she later became his wife bore his child, and is still married to the man today does that make his testimony, more, or-or less true? What is it in us that seeks the truth? Is it our minds? or is it our hearts? Now i set out to prove that a black man could recieve a fair trial in the South, that we are all, equal in the eyes of the law. But that’s not the truth, becuase the eyes of the law are human eyes, yours, and mine and until we can see, each other as equals, justice is never going to be even-handed. It will remain nothing more, than a reflection, of our own prejudices, so until that day, we have a duty, under God, to seek the truth. Not with our eyes and not with our minds where fear and hate are incommonality into prejudice, but with our hearts, where we don’t know better.
Now i’m gonna tell ya’ll a little story. I’m gonna, ask ya’ll to close your eyes while i tell ya this story, i want you to listen to me, i want you to listen to yourselves. Go ahead, close your eyes, please.
This is the story about a little girl, walking home from the grocery store one sunny, afternoon. I want you to picture that little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. 2 men jump out, and they grab her. And they drag her
Now imagine she’s white
Sweet dreams baby girl
This is what i had to do to get you to kiss me.
Woman: I have not now, nor have I ever, had any boyfriends! Man 1 & 2: Oh yeah. She did him. Man 2: A lot.
yes I want you to stay….so you should go.
Yes they deserved to die. I hope they burn in Hell
You do that Winston. I mean right quick.
you’ve got one big chance to show them through your eyes…and they’re good eyes.
Page Topic: Movie Quotes from ‘Time to Kill, A’: Quotes from the movie ‘Time to Kill, A’
