The Last American Hero (1973)

Art Lund: Elroy Jackson Sr.

Photos 

Quotes 

• Elroy Jackson Sr. : [about working in the saw mill]  It didn't seem to worry most of the boys. They put in their time, looking ahead to payday. But not me. That paycheck wasn't money, it was a bill of sale. Three months of that, back to whiskey. It's been hard on your ma, but damn foolishness to one person is breath of life to another.

• 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 Sr. : City hall's so full of crooks, they're falling out of the windows. Country club boys with their pay-offs and kickbacks. Where do you go to find a little justice?

• Elroy Jackson Sr. : People buy from us expect quality. Quality don't come out of no tank. There's only two grades of everything: the best and all the rest.

• 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.