American Beauty Violence Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from American Beauty.

Quote #1

FRANK: You know I don't like locked doors in my house, boy.

Frank is extremely controlling with Ricky, so he doesn't like when he isn't granted immediate access into his private space. Even though he doesn't get physical at this point, he seems pretty threatening and scary.

Quote #2

LESTER: On what grounds? I'm not a drunk, I don't f*** other women, I don't mistreat you, I've never hit you, I don't even try to touch you since you made it so abundantly clear just how unnecessary you consider me to be. But I did support you when you got your license, and some people might think that entitles me to half of what's yours.

When Lester and Carolyn get into a tiff about that fact that Lester has started masturbating in bed and she threatens divorce, Lester defends himself by reminding her of all the terrible things he could be doing to harm her. Ick.

Quote #3

CAROLYN: I was so stressed out. [laughs]

BUDDY: Know what I do when I feel like that?

CAROLYN: What?

BUDDY: I fire a gun.

Firing a deadly weapon to get rid of stress might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it suits Buddy just fine—and he gets Carolyn into it as well.