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The Last Castle is a 2001 drama film directed by Rod Lurie, starring Robert Redford and James Gandolfini. The film portrays a struggle between inmates and the warden of a military prison. Eugene Irwin, a highly decorated U.S. Army Lieutenant General, court martialed and sentenced for insubordination, challenges the warden, Colonel Winter, over his treatment of the prisoners. After mobilizing the inmates, Irwin leads an uprising aiming to seize control of the prison and remove Winter from command. The film was released on October 19, 2001, in the United States, grossing about $28 million worldwide. The low gross of the film in comparison to its high production and marketing expenses led some to call it a box office bomb.[2][2] Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin (Robert Redford) is brought to a maximum security military prison to begin a ten-year sentence for his decision (in violation of a presidential order) to send U.S. troops to Burundi, Africa, resulting in the deaths of eight soldiers. Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini), the prison's warden, is a great admirer of the General but is offended by a comment by Irwin that he overhears. He quickly resents what he perceives as Irwin's attempt to change the attitude of the prisoners. On one occasion, Irwin is punished harshly after stopping a guard from clubbing a prisoner, Corporal Ramon Aguilar, who had made the mistake of saluting Irwin in the prison yard. Continuing to observe acts of cruelty, Irwin attempts to unify the prisoners by building a "castle wall" of stone and mortar at the facility, which in many ways resembles a medieval castle. Envying the respect Irwin is clearly receiving, Winter orders his guards to destroy the wall. Aguilar, directly involved in the building of the wall, takes a stand before the bulldozer. Winter orders a sharpshooter to fire a normally non-lethal rubber bullet directly at Aguilar's head, killing him. After the wall is destroyed, Irwin and the inmates pay final respects to Aguilar in formation. Winter later tries to make amends with Irwin, but Irwin calls him a disgrace to the uniform and demands his resignation.
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