The Last Castle (2001)

A court-martialed General rallies together twelve hundred inmates to rise against a corrupt and sadistic warden.

Director:

Rod Lurie

Writers:

David Scarpa (story), David Scarpa (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Redford	...	General Irwin
James Gandolfini	...	Col. Winter
Mark Ruffalo	...	Yates
Steve Burton	...	Capt. Peretz
Delroy Lindo	...	Gen. Wheeler
Paul Calderon	...	Dellwo
Sam Ball	...	Duffy (as Samuel Ball)
Jeremy Childs	...	Cutbush
Clifton Collins Jr.	...	Aguilar
George W. Scott	...	Thumper
Brian Goodman	...	Beaupre
Michael Irby	...	Enriquez
Frank Military	...	Doc
Maurice Bullard	...	Sgt. McLaren
Nick Kokich	...	Pvt. Niebolt

Storyline

Robert Redford stars in this action drama as General Irwin, a respected three-star tactician whose career ends in disgrace when he's court-martialed and sent to The Castle, a maximum security military prison. Irwin quickly butts heads with the facility's autocratic warden, Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini), who runs his command with an iron fist, even killing prisoners when he deems it necessary. Irwin rallies his fellow convicts into a rag-tag army and leads them in a revolt against Winter, an action that the warden is ready to repel by violent means.

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Plot Keywords:

hanoi vietnam | 2000s | badge | bus | transport | 

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Taglines:

A castle can only have one king

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Castle

Filming Locations:

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$72,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,088,213, 21 October 2001

Gross USA:

$18,244,060

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$27,642,707

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks, Robert Lawrence Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Irwin tapes pictures of his grandchild on the wall of his cell, they are pictures of Director Rod Lurie's son Hunter.

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Goofs

The letter the General receives from his daughter has a return address of Ardmore, Oregon (a non-existent town) with the ZIP Code 95386. That ZIP code, however, is in Waterford, California.

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Quotes

Yates: I've never crashed one before.

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Connections

Referenced in Flushed Away (2006)

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Soundtracks

Soul Searching
Written by Jim Sumber, Dave Jay (as Dave Bumpstead) & Austin Reynolds
Performed by Soul Hooligan
Courtesy of Maverick Recording Company
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

A good if predictable movie.

The Last Castle is a fine if somewhat predictable jail movie of redemption and determination against the odds. Having seen the previews I thought nothing of ever seeing the film, but saw it on the shelf in the video store and thought it would pass an evening.

It did that very well, and is worth seeing for at least one reason. Although Robert Redford puts in a solid performance, James Gandolfini steals this movie with his simpering, bully-boy performance. Despite knowing from the opening scene that he will undoubted lose against Redford's disgraced general, Gandolfini's depiction of a man in authority but with little power is very subtle and worth watching.

The rest of the film has some clever moments, but you see everything coming - Redford inspiring the other prisoners, the inevitable conflicts and the finale. The Last Castle is worth seeing once.