SUBMITTED BY MrSnuggles

September 7, 2001 — A rather negative script review has shown up on the internet at Screenwriter's Utopia. I really wouldn't pay much attention to it because it seems Darwin Mayflower (the reviewer) got hold of a first or second draft. Rewrites were constantly going on during filming, so I'm sure it's a much more different film now (even the ending was changed, as last reported). Here's a clip:

"THE LAST CASTLE, in my opinion, suffers from many wounds in its story and its knowledge. First of all, it’s one of the worst scripts I’ve ever read about prison life. It gets some things right, but for the most part it frames prison life like a high school hangout. People loiter around in the yard talking and shooting the breeze. All races are friendly and work with each other to solve problems (!). There is no violence unless it’s incited by Winter. No one is ever beaten, raped or stabbed. Gangs don’t clash. You can pay off a guard with a carton of cigarettes. This place is more like a sitcom version of a prison."