Rebecca Opstedahl

Robert Redford’s newest movie places him as a general wrongly court-martialed and sent to a maximum-security prison in “The Last Castle” directed by Rod Lurie (“The Contender”). General Irwin (Redford) seems to accept his punishment rather well as he is brought into the prison and given an overview of the layout by prison warden Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini) who also happens to be an ardent admirer of the general’s book.

The prison inmates also appear enthusiastic about Irwin’s incarceration. They come to him asking that he lead an uprising against the corrupt prison officials. The inmates tell Irwin of the wrongful deaths and punishments that happen there constantly, but Irwin has no desire to rock the boat, as all he wants to do is serve his time and get out. After a prison buddy is wrongfully shot in front of him, Irwin decides to take down Winter’s corrupt establishment. Behold the prison riot of all time.

Through clever planning and plain sheer genius, Irwin is able to give the prison guards and Winter himself a run for their money. Who knew you could construct a catapult with various prison materials?

Redford gives a good performance typical to his style but the real spotlight deserves to be on Mr. Soprano himself. Gandolfini absolutely takes the role of a corrupt prison warden to new heights and portrays a man so heartless that you’d like to strap him to the catapult yourself. For better part of the movie, the action is slow, and you’re left wondering when the big prison riot is going to occur. You know it’s coming, it just doesn’t seem quick enough. But when it does occur, you forget how long it took to get there. “The Shawshank Redemption” comes to mind while watching “The Last Castle” because of the comparable quality and performance the two films have in common.

STARS: 4

The year 1975 saw “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” take all five major Oscars, the first since the 1934 film “It Happened One Night,” and become one of top grossing movies of the year and essentially of the decade. The film was nominated for 9 awards in all; Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay Oscars went to the cast.

Jack Nicholson won his first Oscar (Best Actor) for playing R.P. McMurphy, a troubled man with a history of assaults and statutory rape sent to a mental institution to determine his level of (in) sanity. McMurphy seemingly does not belong there as he is fully coherent of his surroundings, and he eventually admits he’s there to avoid serious jail time. He befriends several of the other patients and manages to become a thorn in Nurse Ratched’s (Louise Fletcher-Best Actress) side. The patients (and the audience) are drawn to McMurphy because of his highly charged wise-guy antics and blatant disregard for the institutional establishment. Bored with the strict rules of the ward, McMurphy fights for television rights, antagonizes Nurse Ratched and steals a bus to take the fellow patients to the wharf to fish.

Although serious in content, the movie features humor as the best medicine. Several of the patients are humorous in themselves: Martini (Danny De Vito) is really only immature, Tober (Christopher Lloyd in his film debut) makes trouble constantly, and Billy Bibbit (Brad Dourif), a pathetic and paranoid stutterer deathly afraid of his mother. Nicholson gives a stellar performance but never once does he outshine his cast members. Czech director Milos Forman does an outstanding job of directing his movie and luckily for him, all the factors came together for a wonderful memorable film. The entire ensemble help to create a movie worthy of its Oscar nominations as well as a spot on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest Movies.

STARS: 4