A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn

Cody Jarrett: Made it, Ma! Top of the world!
Cody Jarrett: [while eating a chicken leg, Jarrett speaks to Parker in the trunk of the sedan] How ya doin', Parker?
Roy Parker: It's stuffy in here, I need some air.
Cody Jarrett: Oh, stuffy, huh? I'll give ya a little air.
[pulls a gun from his pants and shoots four times into the trunk]
Verna Jarrett: I'd look good in a mink coat, honey.
Cody Jarrett: You'd look good in a shower curtain.
Roy Parker: You wouldn't kill me in cold blood, would ya?
Cody Jarrett: No, I'll let ya warm up a little.
[Pardo has just saved Cody's life]
Vic Pardo: I saw that just in time.
Cody Jarrett: Whaddya want - a medal?
Engineer: What's this, a hold-up?
Cody Jarrett: Naw, naw, you're seven minutes late. We're just changin' engineers.
[the sound of shooting is heard]
Zuckie Hommell: Sounds bad, Cody.
Cody Jarrett: Why don't you give 'em my address too...
Verna Jarrett: It's always "somebody tipped them." Never "the cops are smart."
Cody Jarrett: A copper, a copper, how do you like that boys? A copper and his name is Fallon. And we went for it, I went for it. Treated him like a kid brother. And I was gonna split fifty-fifty with a copper!
Cody Jarrett: We got enough food for a week, what'd she have to go to the market for?
Verna Jarrett: You like strawberries, don't you? She just HAD to get some for her boy.
[Cody kicks the footstool out from under her]
Cody Jarrett: To me, you're a face and a number, and let's keep it that way.
Jerry: And this time I'm going right to the top to get you out. Herbert, are you listening?
Michael 'Reader' Curtin: Sure, Jerry, sure.
Jerry: But if that fails, you'll just have to serve the rest of your term.
Michael 'Reader' Curtin: Jerry, you couldn't get me out of here if I was pardoned.
Cody Jarrett: You know something, Verna, if I turn my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there'd be a hole in it.
[last lines]
Philip Evans: Cody Jarrett...
Hank Fallon: He finally got to the top of the world... and it blew right up in his face.
Hank Fallon: You put it on a pole, wind a spool of silk thread around it, and you hold the pole over the water. Then you sit under a nice shady tree and relax. After a while, a hungry fish comes along, takes a nip at your hook, and you've got dinner. For the next two weeks, I'm not gonna think about anything except the eternal struggle between man and the fish...
Cody Jarrett: I told you to keep away from that radio. If that battery is dead it'll have company.
Hank Fallon: I've been promised a vacation. You remember?
Philip Evans: Sorry, Hank, that's out.
Hank Fallon: Phil, look at me. College degree, lovable personality, and I spend most of my time in prison. An undercover specialist. Eight sentences in five years. Dannemora, Sing Sing, Leavenworth. I joined the department to put criminals behind bars, and here I am stir crazy.
Ma Jarrett: I told you, Cody hasn't been in California for months.
Philip Evans: I suppose he shot me all the way from another state.
Ma Jarrett: What makes you think *he* shot you? Lots of people have guns.
Philip Evans: I was as close to him as I am to you.
Ma Jarrett: Anybody else see him?
Philip Evans: Just you. And his wife.
Ma Jarrett: Of course, being an old woman, I wouldn't know much about the law, but I hear you got to have *witnesses* to make anything stand up in court.
Hank Fallon: What's holding him up?
Cody Jarrett: [Fallon is hiding the tracking device under the phony fuel truck] What are you doin'? We're on our way.
Hank Fallon: You gotta have a chain bouncin' the ground - get rid of electricity.
Cody Jarrett: That's only when you got gasoline or chemicals sloppin' around inside.
Hank Fallon: You wanna have some traffic cop think you got a load of somethin' else?
Cody Jarrett: That's usin' your head, kid. All right, snap it up.
[Jarrett walks off]
Cody Jarrett: Big Ed, Great... Big... Ed. Know why they call him that? Because his ideas are big. Someday he's gonna get a really big one, about me. It'll be his last.