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The prison is run under the iron fist of Col Winter (James Gandolfini) who runs the establishment like some sort of plaything; he has a vast collection of military memorabilia in his office, a huge library of military books and yet has never experienced active service. He calls the inmates "the enemy" and is convinced his men and himself operate "behind enemy lines" and is also extremely petty and pedantic about the following of minute rules and regulations.
Irwin on the other hand is the exact opposite. He is a scared and rugged leader with the battle stories to prove it. He leads by example, when punished by Winter to move a pile of rocks from one end of the exercise yard to the other, he completes the task in front of the other prisoners, sweating and straining and never complaining. Saluting isn't allowed in the prison but Irwin implements a system where the inmates will brush a hand through their hair at each other simulating a salute, nicknames are substituted for rank titles, and it is through such tricks as this that Irwin becomes the inmates' leader.
To cut a very long story short Irwin eventually leads the inmates in rebellion against the corrupt and unfair system that Winter is running. In quite a preposterous and yet extremely entertaining riot scene the "lunatics take over the asylum" and dethrone Winter from power. I still want to know how they hid the trebuchet!
There is a huge slice of "all-American" patriotism parp mixed up in it all with a real cheesy and almost sickening ending to do with the flag, but on the whole the film is extremely entreating and is never boring. Interestingly I read here that most other reviewers credit Redford's performance whereas I see it the other way around. Redford is good, make no mistake about that, but it is in Gandolfini's performance as the lisping and mean-streaked Winter that I think the plaudits should go to.
Played by anyone else the character of the general, worshipped by all who come into contact with him, intelligent, as true and honourable a man as you could meet, would seem unbelievable. But Redford has such charm and charisma that he really carries it off. The way the plot develops is well done, with no clunky exposition as you often get in this type of film. The film is well paced, serving up action and thoughtful scenes in regular and balanced way, neatly building up to the big finale. It's entertaining and well worth a watch by fans of action pics with a bit of plot and intelligent scripting.
I enjoyed it the second time through just as much. Read more
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