 Seemingly broken , and again working on the chain gang , Luke stops working to give water to a prisoner . Watched by the disappointed prisoners , he runs to one of the trucks to take Boss Godfrey 's rifle to him . After Boss Godfrey shoots a snapping turtle , Luke retrieves it from a slough for him , complimenting the boss for his shot . Luke takes one last stab at freedom when he is ordered to take the turtle to the truck . He steals the dump truck , as well as the keys to the other trucks . In the excitement of the moment , Dragline jumps in the dump truck and joins Luke in his escape . Later , after abandoning the truck , Luke tells Dragline that they should part ways . Drag agrees and leaves . Luke enters a church , where he talks to God and blames Him for sabotaging him so he cannot win in life . Moments later , police cars arrive . Dragline walks in and tells Luke that the police and bosses have promised not to hurt Luke if he surrenders peacefully . But Luke , feeling that his life is no longer worth living , walks to a window facing the police and mocks the Captain by repeating the first part of his speech ( " What we 've got here is a failure to communicate . " ) . He is immediately shot in the neck by Boss Godfrey . Dragline carries Luke outside , then charges at Boss Godfrey and attempts to strangle him until he is beaten and subdued by the other guards . In tears , Dragline implores Luke to live . The local police want to take Luke to a nearby hospital , but the Captain tells them to take him to the prison hospital instead , a long enough distance that Luke 's chances of survival are slim . As the captain 's car drives away , it crushes Boss Godfrey 's glasses . After Luke 's implied death , Dragline and the other prisoners reminisce about him . In the final scene , the prison crew is seen working near a rural intersection close to where Luke was shot . Dragline is now wearing leg irons , and there is a new Walking Boss . As the camera zooms out , the torn photograph of Luke grinning with the two women is superimposed on a bird 's eye view of the cross @-@ shaped road junction . 
