The Last American Hero (1973)

Jeff Bridges: Elroy Jackson Jr.

Photos 

Quotes 

• Burton Colt : How you've changed. Last time I saw you, you were gonna whip my ass with whatever it by-god takes. Now you want a job.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : [about Colt's racing trophy]  Two questions: how long's it been since you won that thing, and do you want more?

  Burton Colt : Your manners haven't changed.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : I don't want no job, neither. I work for nothin', take fifty percent of the prize money.

  Burton Colt : To begin with, I hire drivers on *my* terms.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : And end up nowhere.

  Burton Colt : Where do you get off being so goddamn snotty?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : I know my potential. So do you.

  Burton Colt : One race, twenty percent, you'll say forty, I'll say thirty. Yes or no?

• Burton Colt : You know, in today's world, you gotta obey rules and regulations. Now as far as the terms of your employment...

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : [grabs his first-place trophy from Colt]  I reckon this gives me a pretty fat hand, Colt, against you or anybody else I wanna race for.

  Burton Colt : You don't have a hand. You have a bad history, boy. If you're my driver, I sign the checks, I run the show, you drive. That's how the big boys play this game. Now are you in or out?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : Well I got another game for you. It goes something like this: my crew, sixty percent of the prize money. Now you'll say forty, I'll say fifty. Yes or no?

• Rick Penny, Driver : [after an argument with Colt]  Six test runs in one afternoon, chewin' on my ass every minute of the way.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : That's a real nut crusher.

  Rick Penny, Driver : Hey, man, let me lay something on you. Wait'll you drive for somebody who ain't won a race in ten months.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : I don't see a gun at your head.

  Rick Penny, Driver : Oh yeah? What's that supposed to mean?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : You don't feel like takin' orders, drive for yourself.

  Rick Penny, Driver : Boy, I never saw it fail. Nobody knows more than a rookie.

• Elroy Jackson Sr. : What if you wreck your next one?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : Well I go to work right here.

  Elroy Jackson Sr. : Down at the lumber mill, they tell the story about the near-sighted fellow who liked playing around with a buzz saw. Lost one finger. Two. Three. He kept right on playing 'till all five was gone. He looked at his hand and said "I'm beginning to think this here is a losing game."

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : That fella sounds like a fool to me.

  Elroy Jackson Sr. : Uh-huh. Now it just might be you didn't get my point. If you lose a race, you get other chances. If you lose runnin' liquor you get a prison cell, 'cause boy, they got your number.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : So what? A little jail never hurt nobody.

  Elroy Jackson Sr. : If you got five seconds to spare, you tell me all you know about jail. Why, you don't know nothing. Not the first goddamn thing! And you're never gonna! Now, this is the only life I know, and I'm not gonna stop now, but my boys are gonna have somethin' different!

  Wayne Jackson : I don't know nothin' else.

  Elroy Jackson Sr. : And you never will, unless you stop right here!

• Elroy Jackson Jr. : You make a move on me, I'll rip his lip off and give it to you for a key ring.

• Elroy Jackson Jr. : If you had gas for brains you couldn't back a pissant out of a pea shell, boy.

• Elroy Jackson Jr. : Don't let your mouth go writing checks your ass can't cash.

• Wayne Jackson : $3,000, man. There ain't that much money in the whole world.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : That's right. Unless you know where to find it.

• Elroy Jackson Jr. : Know what I want from you right now?

  Marge : I hate to think.

• Marge : Oh, me, oh, my.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : Now, don't "me, oh, my" me.

• Elroy Jackson Sr. : You twist a dog's tail, you get bit. Twist a cop's tail, you get eaten alive. When you gonna learn, boy?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : Ain't no profit in playing it safe.

• Elroy Jackson Jr. : Marge, you're really nice.

  Marge : I'm not nice. I'm perfect.

• Marge : Ruby and I got so drunk waiting for those two turkeys to drop the bullshit and start, you know, smooching.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : You thought about that?

  Marge : Oh, yeah.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : I thought only guys thought about that.

• Elroy Jackson Jr. : This is, Elroy talking to you from Hickory - where the cars are fast and the women are faster.

• Burton Colt : Junior, you got the talent and I got the bankroll. Now how many loads of white lighting you think it's gonna take to get you back running?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : How much it gonna take you? I just gotta replace my car. You gotta find a new shoe who ain't got chickenshit in his veins.

  Burton Colt : Woo, you a hard case, kid.

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : Colt, I'm gonna whip your ass, along with everybody else. My car don't hold out, I'm gonna footrace with you!

  Burton Colt : What about arm wrestling?

  Elroy Jackson Jr. : Whatever it by-god takes.