In the climactic scene when James Cagney enters the death chambers he breaks down. So the question for the last 70 years, was it just acting on his part (no pun intended) or was Rocky actually terrified.
I have to say the look on James Cagney’s face before he enters the chamber…one of the greatest moments in cinema.
I think he was acting. He did it for his old friend Father Jerry.
I agree with Sigmagirl. I haven’t seen the movie for 20 years, but that is the thought I have always carried.
For me that was the entire point. He was acting to kill the little boy’s hero image of him, so that he wouldn’t follow his path.
Ditto
I have always thought that it was real, he no longer needed to pretend.
I don’t think he cared at all for the kids. It was all for Jerry.
An act for Jerry. I think if it weren’t for Father Jerry’s plea he would have gone to the chair flipping them the bird.
Mind you he certainly seemed scared enough… could he have actually broken at the last minute and become afraid?
Naw! There is no way a guy like Rocky woulda turned all yella, I tells ya!
I’d say he was scared, but if not for Father Jerry he would have played the tough guy to the end. I think in the sequence leading up to the execution Cagney shows us some fear beneath the bravado. But Rocky’s holding on to his tough-guy image because, like he says, it was the only thing he had left, and as Father Jerry said, it would take real courage for him to sacrifice that.