Martin French Quotes in Final Chapter: Walking Tall (1977)

Martin French: Do the words "cruel and unusual punishment" mean anything to you?

Buford Pusser: Damn right they do!... Why don't you explain those words to O.Q. Teal's little boy?

Martin French: [Buford had the kids that stole his car chained up] You never stopped to learn the first thing about civil rights have you, Pusser?

Justine Woolf: Well, you look 1000% better today.

Martin French: I feel better.

Justine Woolf: That's wonderful! For as long as I've known you, you've never even felt good. Why the big improvement?

Martin French: Aw, I suppose it's 'cause we're past the problem of Larry.

Justine Woolf: Problem? That's a funny way to put it.

Martin French: Well, it *was* a problem. Larry's become important to me. It's a strange thing; no one's ever been important to me before. Now Larry is and, in a way, so is everyone on the boat.

Justine Woolf: I figured you would warm up one day.

Martin French: No, you don't understand. I could've come and gone and never cared what happened to any one of you, but...

Justine Woolf: Palo Alma was too much for you...

Martin French: That's right. You see, what happened back there in one day suddenly made me want to know those men. The things they did, they just shouldn't have done. I had to know why. And the only people who knew, were dead. Darby and Hito died forever the day they came to life; I won't try to explain that. You know what I mean. Larry almost died, I expected him to, and then somehow they all changed. They became new men. Men worth knowing. But they only lived that single day. Do you get what I'm driving at?