Why did Cheyenne want Clay Rafferty not to do something foolish when hanged? Why have him beg not to be hung, aside from the obvious?
I can understand giving the other siblings something to prove wrong or something along those lines, but I think I am missing something there. Or I could be wrong.
Any thoughts, any one?
=================================================
There's an evil monkey that lives in my closet.
Warners borrowed heavily from their retinue of feature films. The ending comes straight out of (I mistakenly said "Dead End" in other thread)"Angels with Dirty Faces".
In "Angels with Dirty Faces"...Rockys (played by James Cagney) criminal endeavors make a very favorable impression on the neighborhood kids (Bowery Boys). And they figure, Rocky is going to go out and thumb his nose at everyone. Chutzpah. Instead he turns into a cringing coward, someone not to be admired.
Rocky/Clay met their end badly. This act, might significantly turn the boys in "Angels with Dirty Faces" and the young boy in "The Brand" (who admired Clay immensely) from a similar fate.
Thanks, that clears a few things up.
==================================================
There's an evil monkey that lives in my closet.
[deleted]
I should have included this info, my apologies....
Quotation from "Angels with Dirty Faces"
Soapy (one of the Bowery Boys is reading from the paper)
[reading from the newspaper] "At the fatal stroke of eleven p.m. Rocky was led through the little green door of death. No sooner had he entered the death chamber, than he tore himself from the guard's grasp, flung himself on the floor, screaming for mercy. And as they dragged him to the electric chair, he clawed wildly at the floor with agonized shrieks. In contrast to his former heroics, Rocky Sullivan died a coward".
If you want to read about "Angels with Dirty Faces" and that very significant last scene...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029870/board/thread/46536578