The Last Castle

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The Last Castle

Directed by	Rod Lurie
Produced by	Robert Lawrence
Written by	David Scarpa Graham Yost
Starring	Robert Redford James Gandolfini
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith Tom Waits
Cinematography	Shelly Johnson
Distributed by	DreamWorks Distribution LLC
Release date(s)	2001
Running time	131 min
IMDb profile

The Last Castle is a 2001 movie starring Robert Redford and James Gandolfini.

[edit] Plot

Eugene Irwin, a Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army, was court-martialed, stripped of his rank, and sentenced to a maximum security military prison. Warden Colonel Winter, who had admired Irwin before his conviction, runs the prison with an iron fist. Criminals must be disciplined, but not treated like animals. When the line has been crossed, the prisoners rally behind the general in his new mission - to seize control of the prison and remove Winter from his command.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

(left) Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini)
(right) General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford)

The men were sent here because of the atrocities they had committed while wearing the uniform of the United States military: murder, drug smuggling, etc. Irwin was sent here because he ignored a presidential order and sent troops on a mission that ended in death. Whenever Winter begins to feel reluctant about his abuse of the prisoners, he need only look at the criminal records to reassure himself that he is justified in tormenting once-honorable men.

Seeking change, Irwin attempted to unify the prisoners with a "castle wall" building project of stone and mortar. He would earn the respect and camaraderie of his brothers and restore what sense of honor and dignity the men had. This would displease Colonel Winter, who ordered his guards to destroy the wall with a bulldozer. Former Marine Corporal Ramon Aguilar stood before the wall in defiance. Winter then ordered his sharpshooter to shoot Aguilar in the head. The non-lethal rounds used at the prison would normally stun the inmates, but in the head, the round proved fatal. The wall is destroyed and left in ruin. Irwin and his prisoners paid final respects to Aguilar in formation, singing what they could remember of the Marines' hymn.

Colonel Winter had now gone too far. The men imprisoned had been told that they are no longer soldiers but are about to prove they can still fight a war. Using the cunning military tactics of Irwin, they staged a riot against Colonel Winter, commandeered his riot helicopter and using custom built bazookas made from prison utilities. The goal - to take out Winter's main prison control elements and raise the American flag upside down, representing the international signal for distress. After the riot had ended, an enraged Colonel Winter shot Irwin as he was raising the American Flag, to everyone's surprise, rightside up.

Winter is arrested and relieved of his duties. The prison policies would change for the better. And the inmates would never forget the sacrifices of Corporal Aguilar and General Irwin.