James Woods, Robert Sean Leonard

James Woods gives one of his finest performances in this flawed but fascinating film about imprisoned serial killer Carl Panzram, who was hanged in 1930 after he beat a prison worker to death--the las...( read more  read more... )t of a reported 21 killings. The film centers on the tentative trust and friendship between Panzram and prison guard Henry Lesser (Robert Sean Leonard), whose attempt to understand Panzram's violent life leads him to believe that Panzram could redeem himself from a life of crime. Told primarily in flashbacks, Panzram's story unfolds as Lesser reflects upon its significance. In reality Panzram's life was a constant succession of unspeakable acts and violent crimes; for the purposes of the film, writer-director Tim Metcalfe attempts to humanize Panzram's story, leaving the viewer to decide if Panzram was deservedly executed, or the victim of his own miserable past. The film's ambivalence--and its tendency to leave crucial questions unanswered--lessens its impact as a biographical drama, but Woods and Leonard work superbly together, and Metcalfe's script paints a vivid portrait of the criminal mind. The DVD includes a full-length director's commentary that fills in some of the factual details that the film leaves out. --Jeff Shannon

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44% liked it

944 ratings

R, 91 min.

Directed by: Tim Metcalfe

Release Date: September 6, 1996

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DVD Release Date: August 19, 1997

Stats: 36 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (36)


  • April 7, 2008
    Really good movie I love this stile of story telling like the green mile from one old man
    And I think that James Woods was rely good
  • August 8, 2007
    Henry Lesser, un hombre de principios y fe en el sistema penitenciario, ingresa como guardia de prisiones en Leavenworth, una de las cárceles más infernales del país. Allí conoce a Karl Panzram, un asesino catalogado de irredimible cuya mente está cargada de odio pero que a la ve...( read more)z está dotado de una gran personalidad.
  • July 2, 2007
    I haven't heard many good things about this, but Carl Panzram may have been the meanest, most amoral serial killer of them all. He was not so much a serial killer, in fact, as an all-around sociopath whose criminal exploits seem almost unbelievable today. Woods strikes me as the ...( read more)right man to play him.
  • May 28, 2007
    james woods is fucking awesome
  • March 19, 2007
    facinating movie......
  • November 29, 2006
    I'd like to see this movie!
  • November 5, 2006
    Robert Sean Leonard!!
    First I planned not to see it, but then I saw that RSL was in it so I changed me mind. The film was pretty good, but boy, that James Woods carachter killed a lot of peaple!

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