Yes, Bobby Redford is at it again. In his new film, "The Last Castle," he is once more attacking the American prison system only this time, from the other side of the bars.
In 1980's "Brubaker," his first philippic against the penal system, Redford played a young warden dead-set on reforming a corrupt Southern prison. In his latest flick, Redford plays a court-martialed three-star general out to remove his ruthless prison warden from power.
Do we see a pattern developing here?
Add to the list such pictures such as "Cool Hand Luke," "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile," and the formula becomes clear.
In Hollywood, all prisons are unjust, and all prisoners innocent.
Did anyone say clich?
But don't tell that to the liberal-minded Hollywood moguls in Beverly Hills, because, no doubt, it will fall on deaf ears.
Defending the prison system as an unpleasant but necessary institution would be all but treason in their limited little worlds.
Then again, Redford is only the star.
Ideology or no ideology, "The Last Castle" is good, old-fashioned American entertainment.
Under the apt direction of Rod Lurie and the strong acting of its all-male cast, it even serves to pay timely homage to, dare I say it, national patriotism.
The picture begins as General Eugene Irwin, played by Redford, arrives at The Castle, a military prison dating from the late 19th century.
He has been sentenced for disobeying a superior's command and causing the deaths of eight of his men in action. The audience only learns this valuable information late in the film, though.
At the prison, Irwin is greeted by Colonel Winter, an admiring warden played by James Gandolfini of "The Sopranos" fame.
Almost immediately, they get off to a bad start when Irwin belittles Winter's collection of military history paraphernalia as that of a man who has never set foot on a battlefield.
This is not a military history buff's film.
Irwin is quickly initiated into the harsh ways and strict rules of prison life.
Winter is determined to maintain discipline, order and obedience at almost any cost.
Prisoners are forbidden to salute each other or to address each other with titles of rank.
One prisoner is punished for saluting Irwin by being forced to stand in the prison yard in heavy rain from one evening until the next morning with his hand cocked in the salute.
From the plot to the soundtrack, the film is heavily influenced by "Cool Hand Luke."
At one point, Irwin is punished for restraining a rambunctious guard by being forced to carry a heap of rocks the size of television monitors across the prison yard one by one. Once he has moved them all, he is then ordered to move them back.
This recalls the scene in "Cool Hand Luke" in which Paul Newman is forced to dig a grave-sized hole in the ground, then fill it, then dig it again, then fill it.
The wide-ranging soundtrack intermingles contemporary hip-hop tunes with martial trumpet solos and backwoods blues melodies.
The plot gradually develops into a war of wills between Winter and Irwin.
Although initially resistant, Irwin decides to help the other inmates overthrow the warden by seizing control of the prison. The action soon quickens. and explosions abound.
The set design and costumes are well done in shades of and gray, evoking the oppressing atmosphere that the warden has created within the prison.
The picture was filmed at an actual prison, very similar to the one used for "Shawshank Redemption" in Tennessee.
Overall, "The Last Castle" serves up an invigorating dose of national pride in the military, the flag and all things American. Such patriotism is sorely needed in these trying times.
