A former U.S. soldier returns to his hometown to find it overrun by crime and corruption, which prompts him to clean house.

Chris Vaughn: Get your tail-lights fixed, sir.
Jay Hamilton: What's wrong with my tail-lights?
Chris Vaughn: [Vaughn smashes the tail-lights with a 4X4] They're broken.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: [after Chris wins the election, he pulls up to address the police force] Sheriff.
Chris Vaughn: Watkins.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: You won the election. Congratulations. But we do have a tradition of professional courtesy up here. And I can personally vouch for each and every one of these men. They're good deputies.
Chris Vaughn: You're all fired.
Chris Vaughn: I grew up in this town, people used to walk tall in this town, they wouldn't have traded the mill for a crooked casino and they wouldn't have stood around while drugs were being sold to kids.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: [after he and his men shoot up the sheriff's office] Hey, sheriff! You home?
[Chris throws casino guard against a truck]
Chris Vaughn: Search him.
Ray Templeton: Oh.
[he frisks casino guard]
Ray Templeton: Woooo. You've been working out?
Burke: [to Ray] You stabbed me with a potato peeler!
[Chris has been found innocent in court. He grabs the 2x4 used as evidence in the case and takes the evidence tag off]
Chris Vaughn: This is mine.
Jay Hamilton: Do you get tired of being all that you can be?
Chris Vaughn: No, I'm still all that I can be.
Jay Hamilton: Oh yeah? We'll just see about that...
Chris Vaughn: I'm not gonna let this stand.
[after Chris' truck is blown up by Watkins]
Booth: [at Chris] A truck for a truck! A truck for a truck!
[Chris has just lost a football game]
Pete Vaughn: Maybe next time, eh?
[Chris walks over]
Chris Vaughn: Maybe next time, I won't catch you smoking weed in the bleachers.
[Chris throws a 2x4 through a window, shattering it. Chris is standing behind it]
Jay Hamilton: I guess that changes our relationship a bit, huh?
[Chris and Ray have torn up Booth's truck as Booth is tied to chair and forced to watch]
Booth: You're gonna get hurt!
[Booth growls at Chris and Ray; they laugh]
Ray Templeton: [laughing] What an idiot!
Chris Vaughn: Ray-Ray!
Ray Templeton: Hello, puddin!
Chris Vaughn: [after knocking Hamilton out in the woods] This is my town. You're under arrest.
[Ray is visiting the injured Chris' hospital bed]
Chris Vaughn: That was a hell of a homecoming party.
Ray Templeton: Chris, I don't know if you noticed, but this ain't exactly home anymore.
Pete Vaughn: You know, Poppa's still got your gun locked up in the garage. Think you could teach me how to shoot?
Chris Vaughn: I figured that would be scrap metal by now, Dad.
Chris Vaughn Sr.: No. I'm still hoping you'll melt that thing down on your own.
[Chris has been captured by Jay's men; he lays on a table. Booth produces a craft knife]
Burke: What are you doing?
Booth: Special forces, special treatment!
Burke: This guy knows Hamilton!
Burke, Booth: [Booth grunts as he starts to cut into Chris' mid-section; Chris screams and struggles]
Booth: [to Burke] Hold him!
[Chris' screams continue]
Chris Vaughn: [speaking to the jury] I don't deny anything that was said here today.
Judge L. Powell: Does that mean you're changing your plea to guilty?
Chris Vaughn: I'm not guilty of anything... except standing up for myself when the law wouldn't.
County Prosecutor: Objection. He's trying to introduce prior events, Your Honor.
Judge L. Powell: Sustained. Mr. Vaughn, stay on point.
Chris Vaughn: [continues to address the jury] I grew up in this town. People used to walk tall in this town. They wouldn't have traded the mill for a crooked casino.
Judge L. Powell: Mr. Vaughn, we're not here to listen to civic speeches.
Chris Vaughn: And they wouldn't have stood around while drugs were being sold to kids.
County Prosecutor: Objection!
Judge L. Powell: Sustained. Mr. Vaughn, you're close to being held in contempt.
Chris Vaughn: I was justified in what I did. And if you acquit me of these charges, then I'm gonna run for sheriff.
Judge L. Powell: Mr. Vaughn.
Chris Vaughn: And if elected, I'm gonna fix this town.
Judge L. Powell: Order! Order!
[pounds the gavel]
Judge L. Powell: Please take your seat!
Chris Vaughn: [starts to unbutton his shirt]
Judge L. Powell: Mr. Vaughn, you are now charged with contempt.
Chris Vaughn: And I will make sure that THIS...
[reveals his brutal scars from a knife]
County Prosecutor: Objection!
Judge L. Powell: Sustained!
Chris Vaughn: ...never happens to anyone again without punishing those who did it.
Judge L. Powell: I'm ordering the jury to ignore what they've just seen!
Chris Vaughn: Your tent's gonna take on water. I could show you how to rig it.
Pete Vaughn: It doesn't look like it's gonna rain to me, colonel.
Michelle Vaughn: PETE. Come on, sit down. Have something to eat.
Chris Vaughn: First of all, I was a sergeant. I worked for a living.
Pete Vaughn: Oh, a grunt.
Pete Vaughn: Did you ever smoke anybody?
Michelle Vaughn, Chris Vaughn Sr., Connie Vaughn: Pete!
Chris Vaughn Sr.: Boy!
[to Hamilton]
Chris Vaughn: You're wrong. This is my town.
Jay Hamilton: You know what my new favorite sound is going to be? The sound of you screaming like a bitch!
Ray Templeton: [while frisking Booth and ending up by the Booth's rear end] Whoooo hooo! Somebody needs a bath!
Ray Templeton: Yeah, casinos are all the same. Room full of fake boobs and real assholes.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Hey, Chris. Good to see you up and about. You're looking spiffy.
Chris Vaughn: I'm here to press charges.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Oh, this is about that incident at the casino a while back, huh?
Chris Vaughn: Yeah, it is.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Because that matter's closed.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: I mean, you're lucky you weren't brought in on charges. I mean...
Chris Vaughn: Did you even look into it?
Sheriff Stan Watkins: They did an internal investigation. Uhmm, yeah. That's good enough for me.
Chris Vaughn: An *internal investigation*?
Sheriff Stan Watkins: Chris, I know you're familiar with the term no-fly zone. Because that's what the casino is. Since the mill closed down, that casino is the main source of revenue in this town. So case closed, basically. I'll see ya.
[walks away]
Chris Vaughn: I'm not gonna let this stand.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: [turns around] Excuse me?
[walks back over]
Sheriff Stan Watkins: What did you say to me?
Chris Vaughn: I SAID, I'm not gonna let this stand.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: You're lucky to be alive right now. That's all you need to be concentrating on. This is my town. Okay? I'm the sheriff here. I'll tell you what stands. Not the other way around. Now please get out of my building.
Chris Vaughn Sr.: Why does it always have to be your fight?
Chris Vaughn: You might need this.
[tries to hand him a shotgun]
Chris Vaughn Sr.: No. I put my guns down a long time ago.
Chris Vaughn: Come on. You're just being stubborn.
Chris Vaughn Sr.: You and me both, boy.
Doctor: [to the Vaughns on Chris] Folks. He's pretty banged up. Inside and out. Whoever did this, left him for dead. A lesser man wouldn't have survived.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: I'm gonna need a statement from him, doctor.
Doctor: Well, he's in no condition to give you one.
Sheriff Stan Watkins: I'll also need a copy of your write-up, along with toxicology and blood-alcohol level.
Michelle Vaughn: What are you talking about, Stan?
Sheriff Stan Watkins: I'm just trying to get some facts here.
Michelle Vaughn: Oh, come on. You need to be out arresting whoever tried to kill my brother. Not testing his blood.
[Vaughn has been acquitted]
Chris Vaughn: [to the judge while taking his two-by-four back] THIS IS MINE.