Cape Fear (1991 film)

Cape Fear is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a remake of the 1962 film, which was based on the 1957 novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. The film stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, and Juliette Lewis. Robert Mitchum has a small role in the film, while Gregory Peck (in his final theatrical film role) and Martin Balsam make cameo appearances, all three having starred in the original film.
The film tells the story of a convicted violent rapist who, by using his newfound knowledge of the law and its numerous loopholes, seeks vengeance against a former public defender whom he blames for his 14-year imprisonment due to purposefully faulty defense tactics used during his trial.
Cape Fear marks the seventh collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro. The film was a commercial success and became the first Scorsese film to gross over $100 million. It received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for several awards, including the Oscars and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis).
Maximilian "Max" Cady, a psychopathic rapist, is released from prison after serving out a sentence for the rape and battery of a 16-year-old girl. During his trial 14 years earlier in Atlanta, his public defender Samuel “Sam” Bowden was so appalled by Cady’s crimes that he hid a report stating that the victim was promiscuous, which might have lightened Cady’s sentence or even acquitted him altogether. Bowden assumed that Cady, who was illiterate at the time of the trial, would never become aware of the report. Cady was ultimately convicted and given the maximum sentence.
Cady tracks down Bowden who is now a private practice attorney living in New Essex, North Carolina, with his wife Leigh and their teenage daughter Danielle ("Danny"). Cady moves to New Essex and quickly makes his presence known to Bowden. He tells Bowden that he learned to read in prison, studied law and attempted several unsuccessful appeals of his case representing himself, implying that he knows about the hidden report. Soon after, he begins to stalk and terrorize the Bowden family. After their dog is mysteriously poisoned, Bowden tries to have Cady arrested, but Police Lieutenant Elgart states that there is no evidence of Cady committing any crime.
Cady meets Lori Davis, a courthouse clerk who is attracted to Bowden. Cady rapes and nearly beats her to death. Davis refuses to press charges out of fear that her ongoing flirtation with Bowden will become public. Bowden hires private investigator Claude Kersek to follow Cady.
Impersonating her new drama teacher, Cady approaches Danny and kisses her. When Bowden learns of this, he agrees with Kersek to have Cady beaten up to intimidate him and coerce him into leaving town. Before the beating, Bowden gives Cady a final warning to leave him and his family alone and to leave New Essex, threatening physical harm against Cady if the warning is not heeded. Cady uses a hidden tape recorder to capture the threat.
Kersek's hired thugs ambush Cady, but Cady manages to fight back and viciously beat them instead. Cady uses his recording of Bowden and exaggerations of his injuries to file for a restraining order against him, which is granted. Cady's attorney petitions the ABA Ethics Committee for Bowden's disbarment, triggering a two-day emergency meeting in Raleigh.
Thinking that Cady might break into the Bowden home while Bowden is away, Kersek and Bowden fake his departure. They wait to see if Cady will break in at which point they intend to shoot him in self-defense. Cady sneaks in undetected and kills the housekeeper, Graciela. Donning her clothes, he blindsides and kills Kersek before fleeing. After discovering the bodies, the Bowdens flee to their houseboat docked upstate along the Cape Fear River, not knowing that Cady has strapped himself to their car's undercarriage and tracks down their houseboat.
While Bowden is on deck and Leigh and Danny are in the cabin, Cady boards the boat and attacks Bowden, choking him unconscious before tying him up. He then severs the rope that was keeping the boat docked, setting it adrift into a violent thunderstorm. He drags Bowden (who has since regained consciousness) into the cabin and prepares to rape Leigh and Danny while forcing Bowden to watch. Danny sets Cady on fire by squirting lighter fluid onto him as he lights a cigar, causing him to jump off the boat to extinguish the flames. Leigh and Danny untie Bowden who attempts to steer the boat back to shore. Cady, however, manages to grab a rope attached to the boat and pulls himself back on board.
As the boat is rocked by the storm, a badly burned Cady puts Bowden on a mock trial at gunpoint. Beating Bowden and getting him to confess to hiding the report 14 years earlier, Cady scolds him for failing to do his duty as an attorney before sentencing him "to the ninth circle of hell." The storm knocks Cady off his feet, allowing Bowden to gain the upper hand. As Leigh and Danny jump off the boat and swim to shore, Bowden cuffs Cady to the boat with his own handcuffs. The boat hits a rock and is destroyed, and the storm washes the remains of the boat to shore where Bowden and Cady exchange blows. Bowden, who angrily tells Cady that he intends to kill him, grabs a large rock to bring down on Cady's head. Just as he slams down the rock, the current carries the remains of the boat away from the shore with Cady still cuffed to it. As the boat sinks, Cady speaks madly in tongues and sings the hymn "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand." Cady exchanges a final glare with Bowden before being pulled underwater and drowning. Bowden wipes Cady's blood from his hands and joins Leigh and Danny on shore. In narration, an adult Danny states that the family was irreparably changed by the experience and never spoke about it again.
The film's screenplay was adapted by Wesley Strick from the original screenplay by James R. Webb, which was based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald.
Originally developed by Steven Spielberg, he eventually decided it was too violent and traded it to Martin Scorsese in exchange for Schindler's List, which Scorsese had decided not to make. Scorsese agreed to direct Cape Fear out of gratitude, as Universal had supported Scorsese during the controversy over The Last Temptation of Christ. Although Spielberg stayed on as a producer through his company Amblin Entertainment, he chose not to be credited personally on the finished film.
Although Scorsese had previously worked with Nolte in New York Stories (1989), he originally envisioned Harrison Ford in the role of Sam Bowden. However, Ford was only interested in playing Max Cady. Nick Nolte, who by contrast was more interested in playing Bowden, convinced Scorsese to cast him instead. Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon both auditioned for the part of Danielle Bowden and Spielberg reportedly wanted Bill Murray to play Cady.
Nolte lost weight for the film while Robert De Niro gained muscle; this ensured that De Niro, who was noticeably shorter than Nolte, still came across as physically threatening on screen.
The work of Alfred Hitchcock was a significant influence on the style of Cape Fear. As with the 1962 film, where director J. Lee Thompson specifically acknowledged Hitchcock's influence and employed Bernard Herrmann to write the score, Scorsese also adopted Hitchcock's style, using unusual camera angles, lighting, and editing techniques. The opening credits were designed by Saul Bass, a frequent collaborator of Hitchcock, and the link to Hitchcock was further cemented by the reuse of Herrmann's original score, albeit reworked by Elmer Bernstein. Portions of Bass's title sequences were reused from the unreleased ending to his film Phase IV.
Cape Fear collected $10.5 million during its opening weekend, ranking in first place at the box office, beating out Curly Sue. It would be overtaken by The Addams Family a week later, but still made another $10 million while staying ahead of Beauty and the Beast. The film was a box-office success, making $182,291,969 worldwide on a $35-million budget.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 57 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart and stylish, Cape Fear is a gleefully mainstream shocker from Martin Scorsese, with a terrifying Robert De Niro performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, commenting:
In 2015, Taste of Cinema ranked the film 13th among the "30 Great Psychopath Movies That Are Worth Your Time", and GamesRadar+ named Cady one of the "50 Creepiest Movie Psychopaths.
The film was parodied in the 1993 Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", with Sideshow Bob in the role of Cady stalking Bart Simpson. The episode parodies several scenes from the 1991 film. This parody was itself the basis for Anne Washburn's play Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, which imagines post-apocalyptic theatre troupes attempting to recreate the episode, and by extension the two films and the novel.
In the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the Seamus O'Grady prison introduction scene is a direct reference to Max Cady's prison-set intro.
The film was parodied as Cape Munster in the premiere episode of The Ben Stiller Show, with Ben Stiller playing an adult Eddie Munster stalking the family of a studio executive (played by Bob Odenkirk) out of anger for his show being canceled.
The film was the inspiration for professional wrestler Dan Spivey's character Waylon Mercy in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1995, and subsequently for professional wrestler Bray Wyatt's original The Wyatt Family character in WWE in 2014.
Seinfeld also parodied the film with the 1998 episode "The Bookstore".
On November 21, 2023, a television adaptation was announced, with several networks in a bidding war to air it. Spielberg and Scorsese are signed on as executive producers while the showrunner is Nick Antosca. The series will be released on Apple TV+. On November 18, 2024, it was revealed that Javier Bardem was cast as Max Cady. On February 11, 2025, it was revealed that Amy Adams was cast as Amanda Bowden. Both Adams and Bardem executive produce the series in addition to starring. On February 25, 2025, Patrick Wilson joined the cast in the series. Wilson’s role has yet to be officially disclosed.