The film is about Luke Jackson, a laid-back Southern petty criminal, played by Paul Newman, who is sentenced to two years in a rural prison, but refuses to conform. Luke is a willing martyr, a man so obsessed with the wrongness of the world that he invites death to prove himself correct. He knows he can’t win but he continues to absorb punishment indefinitely, refusing to admit defeat or sacrifice his dignity. And he endures all this while keeping a cool, nonchalant smirk on his face.
Luke’s adversary is the Captain, the sadistic, brutal warden of the prison, played by Strother Martin. Luke's bravado and an unbreakable will, even in the face of repeated stints in the prison's dreaded solitary confinement cell, "the box," make him a rebel hero to his fellow convicts and a thorn in the side of the prison officers.
There are two occasions where the line is used in the film.
After being captured and returned to the chain gang after a brief escape, Luke mocks the Captain’s words. The outraged Captain strikes Luke, who then falls and rolls down the hill. While Luke remains slumped beside the roadway, the frustrated Captain recovers his composure and delivers the line.
Near the film's climax, after Luke's third escape from prison brings him to a country church where he is surrounded by the flashing lights of police cars, Luke goes to the window and speaks his rendition of the line, as the posse instantly shoots him.