Sam Bowden

**Samuel "Sam" Bowden** is the main protagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1991 psychological thriller film, *Cape Fear*. He is a lawyer who is terrorized and stalked by ex-convict Max Cady, due to Bowden being responsible for Cady's 14 year sentence.

He was portrayed by Nick Nolte.

## Biography

### 1977

In 1977, Sam Bowden is working as a lawyer in Atlanta, Georgia, when he gets a new client, Max Cady, who is being charged with statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl. Due to Bowden's moral compass which reveals itself after Bowden sees what Cady had done to the girl, Bowden hides evidence of the victim's promiscuity, with Cady instead being charged with assault and battery, earning him a 14 year sentence.

### 1991

By 1991, Bowden is living in New Essex, North Carolina along with his wife, Leigh and his daughter Danielle, aka "Danny". One day, Sam encounters Cady, now released from prison. Throughout the next couple of days, Sam attempts to have Cady arrested due to Bowden's feelings of being stalked by Cady, as well as the Bowden family dog dying under suspicious circumstances.

Later, Bowden is hit with the news that County Courthouse clerk, Lori Davis, who is implied to be having a crush on Bowden, has been brutally raped and beaten by Cady, although Cady is never arrested and charged with rape due to Davis being to afraid to testify against him. After this event, Bowden hires a PI named Claude Kersek to keep an eye on Cady.

One day after Danny returns from school, Leigh finds a joint in her schoolbook, where it is then revealed to Sam and Leigh, that Danielle had encountered Cady at her school, where he impersonated her new drama teacher. This leads to Sam to feel extremely desperate and on the edge to stop Cady, even hitting Danny when she can't take the idea of Cady molesting her seriously. After having enough of Cady's actions, Bowden agrees with Kersek's previous idea of having Cady be beaten by three goons. At first, the plan goes successfully, until Max turns the tables on them, to which Bowden, having been hiding behind a dumpster watching, attempts to leave, but accidentally makes a noise, causing Cady to slowly walk up to the dumpster, intimidating and ranting to Bowden, before backing off.

Max then uses recordings of a threat placed on Cady by Sam, to place a restraining order against Bowden, which succeeds. Eventually, Kersek and Sam come up with an idea to have Max break into Sam's house, in order for them to murder Cady in self defense, despite Sam's own morals telling him not to go with the idea. Instead, Max breaks into Sam's house, murders Kersek and their maid, Graciela and runs off. The family, now traumatized, leave the house and travel to their houseboat on the Cape Fear River to escape Max, while unbeknownst to them, Cady had been following them the entire ride there.

While on the houseboat, Sam is knocked out by Cady, who proceeds to terrorize Leigh and Danielle, as well as preparing to rape them after Sam wakes up. When Sam wakes up, now tied up, he is beaten by Max, who just before raping Leigh and Danielle, is lit on fire by Danny, with Max jumping into the river. Unfortunately for them, Max returns and sets up a mock trail for Sam, where Sam reveals information on the reports of the victim's promiscuity, that were hidden from the court, which would have saved Max 14 years in prison. Suddenly, a thunderstorm begins that causes Max to fall, giving the women a chance to jump into the water to safety. Sam handcuffs Max to a railing, however the boat is destroyed after it crashes into a giant rock. Max, still handcuffed to railing and Sam wash on shore, where they battle it out with rocks. Just before Sam kills Max with a boulder, the tide carries out Max away, where he then drowns while singing "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand." Sam watches in horror, as he begins to question his morals, where he then returns to his family on the shoreline.