Max Cady

**Maximilian "Max" Cady** is the main antagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1991 psychological thriller film, *Cape Fear*. He is an ex-convict, who after serving a fourteen year sentence, stalks and plans to murder the family of the lawyer who defended him.

He was portrayed by Robert De Niro, who also played Johnny Civello in *Mean Streets*, Travis Bickle in *Taxi Driver*, Jimmy Doyle in *New York, New York*, Jake LaMotta in *Raging Bull*, Rupert Pupkin in *The King of Comedy*, Jimmy Conway in *Goodfellas*, Ace Rothstein in *Casino*, Frank Sheeran in *The Irishman* and William Hale in *Killers of the Flower Moon*.

## Biography

### 1977

In 1977, Max Cady is charged with statutory rape of a sixteen-year-old girl while living in Atlanta, Georgia. After Max's lawyer, Samuel Bowden, sees what Cady had done to the girl, Bowden helps place Max in prison for fourteen years for assault and battery charges after Bowden had buried reports that could have saved him the sentence. After this, Cady swears revenge on Bowden during his prison sentence.

### 1991

By 1991, Cady is released from prison, still set on getting revenge on Bowden and his family. After Max is released, he tracks down Sam in New Essex, North Carolina and begins to stalk him and his family. He begins following them around, which Sam, at first, dismisses due to the town being described as "small" by Cady. But after Cady is seen watching them on the borders of their property and the dog soon passes away under unknown circumstances, Bowden begins to worry.

Due to Bowden having no evidence of Cady committing a crime, Max is left free from the police. In order to further Max's intentions, Cady meets with a County Courthouse clerk named, Lori Davis, who had been friends with and flirting with Sam. At first, Max acts jokingly and nice to Davis before being brought to Davis' apartment, where he beats and rapes her. Sam begs Lori to press charges, but Lori denies, as she worries Max would go after her if she did. After this, Sam hires Claude Kersek, a private investigator who watches over Max's actions.

Later, Max calls Bowden's daughter, Danielle "Danny" and pretends to be her new theater teacher, with Max meeting her at her school and begins to seduce her, before Danny runs away. After Sam finds out about Cady's attempt to seduce Danny, which drives Sam to desperation. Just after Sam gives Max one last warning, Bowden agrees to plan that Kersek had made previously to have Max beaten up.

Kersek hires three goons to beat up Cady, while Sam watches while hiding behind a dumpster. The plan, however, goes wrong and Max beats up the men with their own weapons and presumably kills one of them. During Max's revenge on the goons, Sam attempts to leave, but accidentally makes a noise, causing Max to call to Sam in a mocking fashion. Max begins to question if Sam is there or not, eventually realizing their would be no point in attacking Bowden right there and then. Later, Cady places a restraining order on Sam after it is revealed Cady had recorded the last warning Sam had given him.

Sam and Kersek agree to trick Cady into breaking into Bowden's house in order to kill Cady in self-defense. In order for this to happen, the family fakes Sam leaving to the airport. While the plan is coming to fruition, Sam begins to worry about the morals of killing Cady, in order to save his family. Eventually, Kersek is murdered by Cady, disguised as the housemaid, Graciela, who he had previously murdered after sneaking in. After seeing Cady run away from the crime scene and find the two bodies, the Bowdens decide to live on a houseboat on the Cape Fear River in order to escape from Cady. Unbeknownst to them, Max had been riding under their car during their trip there.

While on the houseboat, Max knocks out Sam and prepares to rape Leigh and Danny in front of Sam, after he cuts the boat loose from its docking. While lighting his cigar, Danny lights Max on fire with lighter fluid. Max jumps into the water, but returns by grabbing onto the remaining piece of the rope he cut. Max begins to create a mock trail for Sam, while a thunderstorm begins to start. The storm eventually starts to sink the houseboat, with Leigh and Danny taking the chance to jump off the boat to safety. Sam then uses Max's handcuffs to attach Cady to a piece of railing. The boat is then destroyed by a rock and the two fight on the shore with rocks while Cady is still attached to the railing. Just before Bowden murders Cady by crushing his head with a rock, Cady is carried out by the waves and begins to talk in gibberish, to which he the starts singing "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand" before drowning, finally relieving the Bowdens of Cady's terrorizing.

## Deaths

* **Unnamed inmate:** Neck broken and tongue bitten off.
* **Benjamin:** Poisoned.
* **Unnamed man:** Presumably beaten to death.
* **Graciela:** Garroted with piano wire.
* **Claude Kersek:** Garroted with piano wire then shot in the head.
	+ Total: 5

## Trivia

* Robert Mitchum, who played the role in the 1962 version of *Cape Fear*, was recast in Scorsese's 1991 remake, this time as policeman, Lieutenant Elgart. While Gregory Peck, who played Sam Bowden in the 1962 film, played Max Cady's lawyer, Lee Heller in the 1991 film.