Father Jerry:
We haven't got a lot of time. And I want to ask you one last favor.
Rocky Sullivan:
There's not a lot left that I can do, kid.
Father Jerry:
Yes, there is, Rocky. Perhaps more than you could do under any other circumstances. If you have the courage for it, and I know you have.
Rocky Sullivan:
You mean, walking in there? That's not gonna take much.
Father Jerry:
I know that, Rocky.
Rocky Sullivan:
It's like a barber chair. And when they ask me "you got anything to say?". I'll say, "sure, give me a haircut, a shave, and a massage, with one of those nice new electric massages".
Father Jerry:
Are you afraid?
Rocky Sullivan:
You know Jerry, I think in order to be afraid, you've got to have a heart. I don't think I got one. I got it cut out of me a long time ago.
Father Jerry:
Suppose I asked you to have the heart, huh? To be scared.
Rocky Sullivan:
What do you mean?
Father Jerry:
Suppose the guards dragged you out of here screaming for mercy. Suppose you went to the chair yellow.
Rocky Sullivan:
Yellow? Say, what's the matter with you Jerry?
Father Jerry:
This is a different kind of courage, Rocky. The kind that's well, that's born in heaven. Well, not the courage of heroics or bravado. The kind that you and I and God know about.
Rocky Sullivan:
I don't know what you mean.
Father Jerry:
Look, Rocky, just before I came up here, the boys saw me off on the train. Soapy and several of the others. You can well imagine what they told me. "Father, tell Rocky to show the world what he's made of. Tell him not to be afraid and to go out laughing."
Rocky Sullivan:
Well, what do you want? I'm not gonna let them down.
Father Jerry:
I want you to let them down. You see, you've been a hero to these kids, and hundreds of others, all through your life - and now you're gonna be a glorified hero in death, and I want to prevent that, Rocky. They've got to despise your memory. They've got to be ashamed of you.
Rocky Sullivan:
You asking me to pull an act, turn yellow, so those kids will think I'm no good. You're asking me to throw away the only thing I got left that they can't take away. To give those newspapers a chance to say, "Another rat turned yellow."
Father Jerry:
You and I will know you're not.
Rocky Sullivan:
You ask a nice little favor, Jerry. Asking me to crawl on my belly the last thing I do.
Father Jerry:
I know what I'm asking. The reason I'm asking is because being kids together gave me the idea that you might like to join hands with me and save some of those other boys from ending up here.
Rocky Sullivan:
You're asking too much. You wanna help those kids, figure out some other way.
Father Jerry:
It's impossible to do it without your help. I can't reach all of those boys. Thousands of hero-worshiping kids all over the country.
Rocky Sullivan:
Don't give me that humanity stuff again. I had enough in the courtroom. Told everything. Named names. Told the whole mess. What more do you want?
Father Jerry:
What I've always wanted, Rocky. Straighten yourself out with God. Outside of that, I can't ask for anything else.
