The Last Castle

The Last Castle is a 2001 drama film about a struggle between inmates and the warden of the prison, based on the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth. A highly decorated U.S. Army Lieutenant General, court martialed and sentenced for insubordination, challenges the commandant over his treatment of the prisoners.

Directed by Rod Lurie. Written by David Scarpa, Graham Yost, and Sam Mercer.

Colonel Winter

• Oh, as a courtesy? They should be naming a base after the man. Not sending him here. My God, Eugene Irwin... Well, we have a verdict, we have a sentence, we have a prisoner. We do our job. Whether we like it or not. Puts us on our toes, though, doesn't it?

• I know what you're thinking. Do I salute you or do you salute me? Well, the answer is neither. My men salute me, of course, and each other according to rank but there is no saluting amongst the general prison population.

• At the war college, his name was spoken with a reverence, as if the syllables themselves conveyed what it meant to be a soldier. Now here he is, commanding an army of one. The stuttering monkey.

• I discussed the regulations for saluting with Aguilar, did I not? Remind him again. Effectively.

• Whenever I am... filled with doubt... whenever sentiment creeps in... I just have to open an inmate's file and see what he's done. I see what he's capable of. I see the worst in him. And that makes my job easier. It crystallizes my mission.

• Since I've assumed command there have been zero escape attempts, zero injury assaults, zero fatalities. Some may question my methods- but they do work. No soldier has ever died needlessly under my command, Mr. Irwin. You see, I too share the burden of command. You may not think I have never set foot on a battlefield, but that is because you have never sat behind this desk. This desk! My men and I are vastly outnumbered. We spend every day behind enemy lines because, make no mistake about it Mr. Irwin, they are the enemy!

Eugene Irwin

• Take a look at a castle. Any castle. Now break down the key elements that make it a castle. They haven't changed in a thousand years. 1: Location. A site on high ground that commands the territory as far as the eye can see. 2: Protection. Big walls, walls strong enough to withstand a frontal attack. 3: A garrison. Men who are trained and willing to kill. 4: A flag. You tell your men you are soldiers and that's your flag. You tell them nobody takes our flag. And you raise that flag so it flies high where everyone can see it. Now you've got yourself a castle. The only difference between this castle and all the rest is that they were built to keep people out. This castle is built to keep people in.

Corporal Zamorro

• [Last words] To hell with this rubber bullet shit.

Dialogue

Irwin: [Winter is trying to compromise with Irwin] No. Not okay! It's too late, Colonel.

Winter: Too late for what?

Irwin: For your offer. The men don't want to salute. They don't want to use rank. They don't want better food and they don't want more TV. They just want your resignation. So do I.

Winter: My resignation?

Irwin: You're a disgrace, Colonel! A disgrace to the uniform. You should not be allowed to retain your command.

Winter: Well, I guess I better go pack!

Irwin: I think you should.

Winter: Tell me, Mr. Irwin. What's to stop me from simply placing you in the Hole, for say six months?

Irwin: Nothing. If that's the way you want to win.