James Woods did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Carl Panzram in Killer: A Journal of Murder.
"Killer", which tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a prison guard and a real life serial killer, is bad in a lot ways. It is centrally flawed as it wants to examine the inhumanity of the prison system, however doing so through the examination of a man whose real life record simply suggests pure evil probably isn't the best way to go. That is only part of it. This as the film has such a crummy look about it. Almost every scene is shot flatly. The narration sounds more like it should be attached to a fairy tale. The musical stings are often overtly comical. The editing is clunky, and the majority of the performances sound like they come from the first rehearsal that didn't go particularly well and led to a few guys getting fired. There's a lack of general film making competence that is real quite notable for a film with, at the time, relatively name actors.
Anyways James Woods is also in the movie as the serial killer Panzram. Woods is the only guy who didn't seem to attend those bad rehearsals, in fact it seems like he wasn't quite aware of dumpster fire he was in. This as Woods treats the part and the film as though it is a worthy endeavor. Now it helps that Woods in his prime was one of the most naturally compelling actors around. This as within that time he delivers a particular form of a charged onscreen charisma. He isn't traditionally charming, certainly not here, but he is magnetic, and that is the case here. Woods's performance brings something to explain why the prison guard, Henry (Robert Sean Leonard), would take a fascination in him, though strictly in a fanboy kind of way which makes one question his supposed humanitarian leanings. Woods though brings something captivating in the early scenes in portraying the brutal discontent in the man as he attempts to avoid conforming to the system. Woods presents a basic ferocity that isn't really so much of a man, but rather carries this certain caged animal sensibility in these moments. It's not just hatred, rather there is something Woods delivers that is deep within the man that creates this constant source of a tension. Woods, I suppose contrary to the film however probably more truthful to the man he's playing, makes Panzram something of nature not of nurture.
There is actually a brilliant scene....for Woods, where Henry comes in to check the bars in Panzram's cell turning his back on the killer. Now this is after Henry gave Panzram a gift, after seeing Panzram beaten to a pulp by another guard. Woods is rather amazing in his portrayal of the scene as in his eyes there's a killer's viciousness that comes out. Woods portrays the scene though not as a guy who is thinking about killing the man for reason rather he presents it as instinct. There is almost a lust in his eyes that Woods depicts along with him also at the same time showing the man gritting his teeth, trying to hold back that instinct for a moment. His breaths as he manages to not kill the man, has this pressure that Woods brings as though the man just forced himself not to give into a insatiable urge. Woods again creating a reality towards the sense of Panzram, something perhaps the film itself should've taken more notice of. This as Woods very carefully never shows that Panzram is any normal criminal, he's far from it. There isn't the sense of a desperate man within the man, rather he is a kind of beast. This right to the point when we hear about Panzram's story, narrated with a reality more befitting to the nature of the story by Woods than we hear in the main narration by Harold Gould as an older Henry.
Woods's narration again almost seems strangely devoted, at least comparison to the film, this as even when Panzram recalls an older prison and a reformer warden's tenure, there is a palatable sense of nostalgia in Woods's voice. We then see Panzram story where he is given certain allowances, including going into a nearby town. Although Woods portrays a certain enjoyment of the freedom, he maintains the intensity within the man. This within his eyes still the intention towards whatever animal lust should take him. This taking him quickly enough when almost immediately Panzram rapes a librarian in the town. Woods delivering the horrifying brutality of the moment. Although within the film, you do ponder what exactly is the point of including this, as it basically says "see reforms don't work for certain prisoners", despite the film seeming to advocate for reforms based around Panzram. Anyways, enough we continue with Panzram's life story, where he tells about every one of his killings. In Woods's voice though is a lack of a repentance towards a single word. Woods's delivery keeps everything as just the reality of Panzram simply telling of what he did, almost with a slight pride at times. Of course Henry doesn't see this tale as a rabid beast, who was a violent creature long before his time in prison, but rather a indictment of the system.
Although there is surely many stories, even of actual convicts, that would be a great example of the brutality and potential reductive nature of the US prison system, the story of Karl Panzram is not it, especially not as the film presents it. Again though Woods's performance really doesn't seek to be anything but an actual reality for the man that if you even read further about him beyond what the film tells you, only exacerbates one's sense of the man. Woods likely did his own research, as his own performance is something rather terrifying, though the film tries to diminish everything he can by throwing in violin riffs as though he is Michael Myers or something. Woods still in these moments, whether it is a moment just calmly smoking in his cell planning the murder of a guard, or the murder itself, Woods doesn't hold back. The moment of calm having this strange determined satisfaction on his face. The moment of attack Woods almost portrays as this sexual act in every step of it. This portraying a strict enjoyment in every moment of the attack, and once the man is bleeding profusely from his head, Woods's face glows with an orgasmic exhilaration. Woods's performance isn't as some misunderstood man driven to violence by a hard life, no Woods makes Penzram the blackhearted psychopath he was.
I think one of Woods's best scenes is after the killing and he is boasting about it to Henry. Woods displays a jubilation from the event. This as his face conveys a sheer enjoyment not only of what he did but is also exhilarated with the idea of being hanged for it. Woods's makes the deranged state of the man wholly tangible in the moment. This as in every words he seeds a irrational perspective of a man, who so believes in dog eat dog, that he is happy to be the one on the menu at some point. Woods even grants a reality to a contrived scene, which I suppose just shows how full of it Henry is, where the two seemingly just talk as men. Woods never loses the idea of the man, and is honest to the character even in this moment. Although he feigns a decency Woods still has that raw intensity within him at all times. There the killer's edge is never lost. This particularly, in the most correct moment in the entirety of the film, is when Penzram accuses Henry of really just being in it for the visceral excitement of being near a killer. Woods speaks with a lurid persuasion, and in the moment suggests the most overt truth in the piece. There isn't a point where Woods excuses the man within his performance, as much as the film wants us so badly to feel sympathy for the character. Woods is consistent, even in the moment of Panzram hearing his death sentence, the relief on his face, isn't of a victim waiting to die, but rather a twisted mind taking in some strange success. Watching the film again, which is a complete failure of intention and technique, I still found this to be a searing and captivating performance by James Woods. As much as the film doesn't understand the man its dealing with, Woods does and delivers a befitting portrait of depravity.
