Fred Blake Quotes in The Family (2013)

Fred Blake: [narrating] Al Capone always said, asking polite with a gun in your hand is always better than just asking polite.

Fred Blake: [writing his memoirs] I won't spare myself. I'll tell the story without trying to make myself look good. But in this chapter I'll do the opposite and demonstrate to you that if you take a closer look, I'm a good guy. I'll prove it to you in 10 points. A bit like one of Letterman's Late Show Top 10 Lists. So here we go...

Fred Blake: 10: I am always up front. Always.

[sneaks up and shoots a couple of guys in a car]

Fred Blake: Number 9: I never look for a scape goat.

[tied up and laughing at thugs that are beating him up]

Fred Blake: Number 8: If you give me a job, I'll always see it through.

[dunking a guy into liquid nitrogen]

Fred Blake: Number 7: I've never shown contempt for people who fear me.

[robbing some Hasidic Jews]

Fred Blake: Number 6: I've never betrayed the guy who gave me my first gun.

[refuses to identify Fat Willy in court]

Fred Blake: Number 5: I never wished any harm on anybody.

[demonstrates his influence over street cops]

Fred Blake: Number 4: I lived outside the law, but only outlaws didn't judge me.

[schmoozing with wise guys]

Fred Blake: Number 3: Anybody who doesn't contradict me can expect nothing but good things from me.

[pays off a photographer to not photograph him]

Fred Blake: Number 2: In my neighborhood when I was running it, there was never a single robbery on the street.

[glad-handing around town]

Fred Blake: People lived and slept peacefully.

Fred Blake: Number 1 of the top 10 reasons why I'm a good guy? I don't like to cause pain for no reason, because all my sadistic urges are satisfied when I cause pain for a good reason.

[beating the plumber with a baseball bat until the bat breaks]

Fred Blake: Wait, I'm not fuckin' finished.

[grabs a 3-pound hammer from the plumber's bag]

Fred Blake: Is everything all right?

Maggie Blake: Nothing much, just the prospect of packing up and moving again when they find out you killed the plumber.

Fred Blake: I didn't kill him, I took him to the hospital.

Maggie Blake: Why'd you beat him to a pulp? He's the only plumber within a radius of 20 miles.

Fred Blake: But he disrespected us and he made you wait on him, honey.

Maggie Blake: Geez, honey, I survived.

Fred Blake: And you know the guy was trying to rip me off, so put yourself in my shoes.

Maggie Blake: Oh, I definitely wouldn't have beaten him up. I mean, who's gonna fix the pipes now?

Fred Blake: Well who's gonna rebuild the supermarket that burned down the day we got here? Huh?

[last lines]

Fred Blake: This morning I was worth 20 million dollars. I'm probably worth double that now. I've cheated death so many times in my life, I don't even think about it any more. It's like getting caught outside in a storm. You just have to avoid being hit by the lightning.

Fred Blake: But all things considered, I had a pretty good day. My family is more together than we've ever been, the water in town ain't brown no more, and for a couple of hours, I was the toast of the local film society in Cholong-sur-Avre. In fact, the only thing that's pissing me off now is that I have to rewrite this entire fuckin' book. And we have to change our names again. Son of a bitch!

Fred Blake: [narrating] The only real question we should ask ourselves during our existence is: "How much is a man's life worth?" Knowing what you're worth is like knowing what day you're gonna die. Me? I'm worth 20 million dollars... and I'd hand over every last dollar to get my old life back.

Fred Blake: I didn't always do the right thing by both of youse. And I put you in a tricky situation. And I regret that.

Belle Blake: Dad. Dad. What are you talking about? You're the *best* dad anybody could ever ask for.

Fred Blake: Really?

Belle Blake: Fuck, yeah!

Fred Blake: Oh, well, let's go party then.

Fred Blake: Can't you just sit down and relax and enjoy it? In our long friendship, this is our first ever guys' night out.

Robert Stansfield: [scoffing] Friendship?

Fred Blake: Yeah. I mean, you're probably the guy I hate the most in this whole fuckin' world, but we've known each other what, nine, ten years already? My freedom is based on the deep respect that I have for you.

Robert Stansfield: Explain how that works. How can we have a friendship when you hate me?

Fred Blake: It works just fine. Look at my best friends, I killed them all.

Robert Stansfield: [speechless]

Fred Blake: Just kidding.

Robert Stansfield: [while driving in car and listening to phone] Jesus, the police switchboard is down!

Fred Blake: What's goin' on?

Robert Stansfield: I don't know, but if I find out if you had anything even remotely to do with this, you're gonna go away for a hell of a long time.

Fred Blake: Calm down. I was with you all night.

Robert Stansfield: That's the problem. Your alibi is too good.

Robert Stansfield: You're not a writer, Fred.

Fred Blake: You even said I have a style of my own.

Robert Stansfield: You're just a mean son-of-a-bitch that managed to save his own ass.