Did Ricky know? *spoiler*
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — American Beauty
fiatlux-1 — 10 years ago(December 25, 2015 08:42 PM)
Did Ricky realize his father was actually a closet gay?
When he says 'What a sad old man you are." is it because he realizes his dad is gay, or just because he's kicking him out?
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush. -
TxMike — 10 years ago(December 28, 2015 10:02 AM)
I realize people don't usually like my answer, but it is true. Since these are fictional characters they don't "know" anything not specifically contained in the movie we see. I don't recall anything in the movie that would indicate to us that he knew his dad was closeted gay, and we did see (and hear) a number of reasons that his son would consider him a sad old man.
So my answer to your question is
"There is no way of knowing therefore it is moot."
.... TxMike ....
Take a risk, Take a chance, Make a change.
Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway -
Lester_Burnham_Risen — 10 years ago(April 02, 2016 05:30 PM)
I seem to remember he said something to his mum about their marriage just before leaving and she said "wear a raincoat", which was strange but could have meant a condom [for whatever reason?]
http://www.kindleflippages.com/ablog/ -
tristandude14 — 9 years ago(September 21, 2016 09:36 PM)
I'm pretty sure Ricky had a very good speculation that his father was gay. In the scene where Ricky tells his father that gays make him sick I think it was to get a reaction out of him knowing deep down that it would hurt him to hear that from his own son.
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YuunofYork — 9 years ago(November 10, 2016 12:54 PM)
^ This. There's no other explanation for the delivery Ricky gives than this, since we find out later he was never unstable.
There's also the bit with the urine cup, which felt very uncomfortable, like there was some expectation he was going to do it right there. -
fiatlux-1 — 9 years ago(November 30, 2016 11:01 PM)
My impression was that Ricky said that gays made him sick in order to placate his father.
Ricky does this several times throughout the film, trying to keep his very unstable dad calm.
I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus.
Didn't he discover America?
Penfold, shush. -
TruthXSeeker — 9 years ago(January 21, 2017 07:01 PM)
Ricky struck me as a meticulous person. He was a very good observer. In my opinion, Ricky told his dad that, "Those fags make me want to puke" not only to see if he would get a reaction from him, but to tell the Colonel's poker face what it wanted to hear. If Ricky is the mind reader I think he is (remember his response to his dad kicking him out? "You really mean that") it would have been obvious to him when the Colonel started to cry. I mean, if his dad wasn't a closeted homosexual and simply hated gay people, I think he would have beaten Ricky to death right then and there since he assaulted him before and said he'd rather let his son die than be a "fa99ot". In short, I believe he had his suspicions, but definitely knew the truth in their last scene together.
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coaltrain123 — 9 years ago(January 25, 2017 07:40 AM)
All these people are making assumptions based on what happened in the past. The scene with him watching a military show makes him gay???
I honestly don't think Ricky knew at all, because his dad kept it so hidden, he became the opposite of the "typical gay', as a macho, military man. To him, you were either a strong, patriotic man, or you were a twink, no in between.
Ricky's response of "fags making him want to puke" was a perfect response to his father, knowing his extremist ideologies. To be merely tolerant, or indifferent of gays, was not an option.
In retrospect now based on the many examples we've seen in movies and real life, its the ones that have a huge problem with gays that are the closeted ones. But I personally don't think Ricky knows.
But Ricky's dad will definitely suspect that his dad killed Lester, based on their last conversation.