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Colonel Edward "Ed" Winter is the main antagonist of the 2001 prison drama The Last Castle.

He is the authorative and sadistic commandant of the Fort Leavenworth's military prison, treating prisoners like less than humans. He initially sees as the Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin as his idol, but when the said idol begs the differ about some of his habits, Winter decides to make his former idol's life into a living hell, treating him even worse than he treats the other prisoners.

He was portrayed by the late James Gandolfini, who also played Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, Virgil in True Romance, Ben Pinkwater in Terminal Velocity, Kenny Kane in The Mighty and Eddie Poole in 8mm.

Background[]

Upon Lieutenant General Eugene Irwin's arrival at Fort Leavenworth's military prison, Colonel Winter greets him with a cordial demeanor, and expresses great admiration towards him. However, said admiration ends quickly when Irwin calls out Winter's habit of collecting prized military artifacts in a way that is uncharacteristic for battlefield veterans. Winter takes Irwin's comment as a personal insult, and later opposes what he perceives as Irwin's attempt to change the attitudes of the prisoners.

One of Winter's more infamous management methods is forbiding the prisoners from following military customs and courtesies, as from his perspective, they are no longer true soldeirs. On one occasion, Irwin is reprimanded for stopping a guard from unnecessary clubbing prisoner Corporal Ramon Aguilar due to the latter saluting Irwin in the prison yard.

Irwin's attempts to unify the prisoners include building a wall of stone and mortar, which resembles a medieval castle. Envying the respect Irwin earns, in contrast to himself relying mostly on fear and manipulations, Winter orders his guards to destroy the wall. When Aguilar blocks a bulldozer, Winter orders Corporal Zamorro to kill Aguiler by shooting a non-lethal rubber bullet directly at Aguilar’s head, making it look like a lethal accident.

After the destruction of the wall, Irwin and the inmates pay final respects to Aguilar. Winter offers some small concessions, which is rejected by Irwin as insufficient. Irwin calls Winter a disgrace to the uniform and demands his resignation.

Upon seeing the prisoners behaving like soldiers around Irwin, who organizes a plot to throw the prison into chaos and show Brigadier General Wheeler (his friends and one of Winter's superiors) that Winter is unfit to his job and should be removed from command, Winter further increases the pressure on the prisoners. During a visit from Wheeler, Winter receives a letter demanding that he resign, Or else the prisoners will kidnap Wheeler.

Winter eventually discovers the letter was a bluff orchestrated by Irwin, which was used to gain intelligence on how the guards would react during an actual uprising. Wheeler comes with the offer to transfer Irwin to another prison but Winter declines, because he prefers to submit and humiliate Irwin. An infuriated Winter reaches out to an anti-social prisoner named Yates, and bribes him with a reduced sentence. Yates repays the bribe by betraying information about Irwin's plans, which are taking over the prison, then raising the USA flag upside down to signal distress. Unknown to Winter, Yates was still on Irwin's side, as shown when he steals a USA flag from the warden's office.

Winter orders all the prisoners to the yard in an attempt to prevent their plot, but Irwin anticipates this in advance, and a prisoner uprising commences. Using improvised weapons, the prisoners capture an armored vehicle and the prison helicopter, which is used by Yates to kill Zamorro. The prisoners call Wheeler's headquarters and inform him of the riot. As he has little time to regain control before Wheeler arrives to see the prison under siege, Winter orders the use of live ammunition, even though rubber ammunition could be just as deadly when used in the wrong way.

Irwin's men create havoc, but are overwhelmed by the guards. Winter orders the men to surrender, but they refuse. He warns then about the sharpshooters that will fire if they do not obey. Just before Winter's order is given, Irwin orders them to give up and lie face down. Winter then tells Irwin to return his flag, but Irwin replies, claiming that it isn't Winter's flag. Irwin begins walking toward the flagpole to raise it, which upsets Winter.

An increasingly unsettled Winter tells Irwin that he has neither the right nor the authority to raise the flag upside down, but Irwin continues walking toward the flagpole. Winter orders the sharpshooters to fire, but they refuse. After all of Winter’s men refuse to kill Irwin, Winter kills Irwin himself by fatally shooting him in the back. However, killing Irwin does little to prevent him from raising the flag even in his last moments.

Captain Peretz places Winter under arrest for his actions. The prisoners, now standing again, begin to salute the flag. Winter notices that Irwin raised the flag right-side-up, meaning shooting Irwin to death was futile. The flag flies above the prison's walls as General Wheeler arrives. Colonel Winter is led away in handcuffs. The inmates build a new wall as a memorial to their fallen comrades.

Personality[]

Colonel Winter initially presents himself as a reasonable authority figure within the military prison, and shows great admiration towards Irwin. He does his best to make his idol feel wanted, even though he keeps his harsh treatment towards the other prisoners.

However, after Irwin calls Winter out, Winter reveals his true self as a petty control freak who cares only about himself and enjoys abusing the prisoners under his care. His admiration for Irwin is revealed during the movie as self-centered in nature, and he's proven to be perfectly willing to kill his idol for a petty grudge. He's also shown to be cunning and ruthless, as he has developed ways to kill prisoners and make it look like accidents, including use non-letahl weapons with lethal results. He doesn't show any care for his subordinates either, showing either indifference when bad things happen to them or sheer pragmatism in regard to their well-being.

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