"Lynch law rules the mob!"
The Ox-Bow Incident - Movie Quotes
Memorable Quotes
A man just naturally can't take the law into his own hands and hang people without hurtin' everybody in the world, 'cause then he's just not breaking one law but all laws.
— Gil Carter (reading Donald Martin's letter)
Context:
Read in the silence of the saloon after the posse discovers they hanged innocent men.
Meaning:
The film's central thesis: vigilante justice destroys the very fabric of civilization and law that protects everyone.
Law is a lot more than words you put in a book, or judges or lawyers or sheriffs you hire to carry it out. It's everything people ever have found out about justice and what's right and wrong.
— Gil Carter (reading Donald Martin's letter)
Context:
Continuing the reading of the letter to the shame-faced mob.
Meaning:
Defines law not as a set of rules, but as the collective conscience of humanity.
God better have mercy on you. You won't get any from me.
— Sheriff Risley
Context:
Said to the posse leaders after revealing that Kinkaid is alive and the real rustlers were caught.
Meaning:
Highlights the severity of the crime; the 'law' (Sheriff) will now hunt them down, just as they hunted the innocents.