Cape Fear (1991) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON TV a list of 30 titles created 25 Mar 2012 a list of 49 titles created 29 May 2014 a list of 33 titles created 13 Mar 2015 a list of 32 titles created 18 Nov 2015 a list of 29 titles created 27 Nov 2015 Search for " Cape Fear " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 15 nominations.

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Director: Robert De Niro Haunted by the patients he failed to save, an extremely burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three fraught and turbulent nights. Director: Martin Scorsese A lawyer's family is stalked by a man he once helped put in jail. Director: J. Lee Thompson Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two best friends, a mafia underboss and a casino owner, for a trophy wife over a gambling empire. Director: Martin Scorsese A Puerto Rican former convict, just released from prison, pledges to stay away from drugs and violence despite the pressure around him and lead on to a better life outside of N.Y.C. Director: Brian De Palma An egotistical saxophonist and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long, up-hill climb. Director: Martin Scorsese Edit Storyline Sam Bowden ( Nick Nolte )is a small-town corporate attorney/"Leave It to Beaver" type family-man. Max Cady ( Robert De Niro ) is a tattooed, cigar-smoking, bible-quoting, rapist. What do they have in common?

Fourteen years, ago Sam was a public defender assigned to Max Cady's rape trial, and he made a serious error: he hid a document from his illiterate client that could have gotten him acquitted. Now, the cagey, bibliophile Cady has been released, and he intends to teach Sam Bowden and his family a thing or two about loss. Written by James Craver The Bowden family has moved to New Essex. See more » Genres: Rated R for strong violence, and for language | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 15 November 1991 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Cabo de miedo See more » Filming Locations: Reese Witherspoon auditioned for the role of Danielle Bowden. See more » Goofs When Sam Bowden is first confronted by Max in his car, he offers to buy Max off. Max counters Sam's hypothetical $10,000 offer with, "Let's say $50,000--$50,000 into [about] 5,000 days" equals $10 per day.

He meant to say 5,000 days into $50,000, which would give his daily pay rate. (The first calculation equals 1/10th of a day per dollar.) See more » Quotes [first lines] Danielle : My reminiscence. I always thought that for such a lovely river the name is mystifying: "Cape Fear". When the only thing to fear on those enchanted summer nights was that the magic would end and real life would come crashing in. See more » Crazy Credits At the start of the film, when the Universal Pictures logo appears on screen, instead by studio's theme, sounds from the thunders and rainy is heard, and the logo changes of Egyptian ripple waters. See more » Connections Don't Mess with the Voodoo Written by Graham Drout, Bob Hamphill, Nick Kane and Joe Smith Performed by Iko Iko (NC) – See all my reviews Robert De Niro is one of those actors that just melts into a role. His performance as rapist, convict, and all-around not-a-very-nice fellow Max Cady is certainly one of his most memorable performances for its stamina, strength, and excessiveness.

The film by Martin Scorsece is a remake of the classic film starring Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck. Although Scorsece keeps the spirit of the film intact, he does make some very modern changes. He changes the role of Sam Bowden and family from one of harmony to dysfunction. No character is the epitome of a universal good, but rather flawed(very flawed) goodness. Nick Nolte does a fine job as Bowden and Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis both give deep, emotional performances. The film is really a sea of emotion...most of that emotion being fear. Scorsece adds some arty touches with the camera, but it is his gritty style that really dominates the film's impact. Scorsece also is ever the protector of film as he gives cameos to Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Balsam(all in the original film). The other acting standout goes to Joe Don Baker as a hired private investigator. But make no mistake....this is De Niro's film all the way. He has some of the best lines as he harasses the Bowden family, terrorizes the Bowden family, and strips the Bowden family of all civility, pretense, and dignity.

This film is definitely a keeper! 42 of 54 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Max Cady | Villains Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia You're gonna learn about loss. „ ~ Max Cady to Sam Bowden in Cape Fear (1991). Maximilian Cady, often shortened to Max Cady, is the main antagonist in John D. Macdonald's 1957 psychological thriller novel The Executioners, which has been adapted into a film named Cape Fear. He is portrayed by Robert Mitchum in the 1962 film and Robert De Niro in the 1991 remake. Contents [ show ] Biography Cady is an ex-convict who comes back after several years (eight years in the original film and fourteen years in the remake) in prison to take revenge on Sam Bowden, the lawyer who helped put him in jail, and his family. It must be noted that in the original film, Bowden testified against Cady in court, while in the remake he was in charge of his defence, but buried a report that could have kept him from serving time. The charges were of sexual abuse and battery (in both films).

Also, during his confinement, Cady dedicated himself mostly to studying law, so he won't be caught off guard next time. In the 1991 film, he also takes a keen interest in the bible and uses it to justify his actions as that of a man of God. Cady's wife and kid left him while he was convicted, and since he blames Bowden for the loss of his family, he wants him to know what it's like to experience such a loss, which is why he targets the counselor's teenage daughter, presumably with both sexual and criminal intentions. Upon leaving jail, he meets Sam Bowden outside the court and has a little chat with him so Bowden can remember who he is and become aware of the fact that it won't be the last time they see each other. Shortly after he starts stalking the lawyer's family, he kills their dog by poisoning it. A few days later, he rapes and beats a young woman (in the 1991 film, she was close friends with Bowden), but she refuses to go to court and press charges against him out of fear and shame. In the 1962 film, he stalks Bowden's daughter at school to give her a scare.

In the 1991 film, he calls her, pretending to be her drama teacher and invites her to the school auditorium. She figures out that he is Max Cady once they meet, however he manages to convince her he didn't kill her dog and that he doesn't mean her any harm-as well as that her parents are holding her back. The two then kiss, and she runs out of the auditorium. Bowden find out about this, and his relationship with his daughter deters for a bit because of it. In both films, Bowden becomes so desperate to be rid of Cady, he hires three men to beat him however Cady overpowers every one of them. In both films, Bowden and his family eventually travel to their houseboat on Cape Fear to escape from Cady. In the 1962 film, they have their private investigato come over, who is unfortunately killed by Cady once he and Bowden get there and stay up all night to watch out for him-in the 1991 film, they leave after Cady kills there maid and there pi at their home. In both films, Cady secretly tracks them to the boat, climbs aboard and attacks them.

In the 1962 film, Cady rapes Bowden's wife on the boat so Bowden will go to her, while he left just in time to try to rape their daughter, Nancy. Bowden is able to get to him before he can rape his daughter and they engage in a fight. Bowden manages to grab his revolver and shoot Cady in the leg. Once he has the upper hand, he decides to have him arrested again instead of killing him, feeling killing him is what he wants and that prison is more painful. In the 1991 film, Cady attacks all three of them on the boat at once. After Bowden's daughter, Dani, sprays him with lighter fluid while he's lighting a cigar and sets him on fire, Cady leaps off the boat into the water to extinguish the flames. However, he manages to pull himself back on board and forces Bowden to engage in a mock trial. A storm causes the boat to rock and catches Cady off guard, allowing Bowden to tackle him and handcuff him to the boat. Bowden's family escapes onto the riverbank and the boat is destroyed when it hits a group of rocks.

Bowden grabs a large rock and prepares to drop it on Cady's head, but the current suddenly pulls Cady back out into river while he is talking rapidly in tongues. As Bowden and Cady lock eyes, the piece of debris Cady is still handcuffed to sinks into the water, taking him with it and causing him to drown. Gallery Cady's Release - Cape Fear (1/10) Movie CLIP (1991) HD - YouTube Cady's Release - Cape Fear (1/10) Movie CLIP (1991) HD Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jun 1, 2011 Cape Fear movie clips: BUY THE MOVIE: Don't miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: CLIP DESCRIPTION: Max Cady (Robert De Niro) leaves prison looking mean and motivated.

FILM DESCRIPTION: Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear provided the director with a box-office success to follow up the critical success of the previous year's Goodfellas. After serving a lengthy prison sentence for a sexual assault, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) comes calling on the man who served as his public defender, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Max begins a campaign of harassment against the man and his family because Bowden buried a report that would have in all likelihood acquitted Cady of the charges against him. Bowden's shaky ethics continue in his personal life as he is considering beginning an extramarital affair with colleague Lori Davis (Illeana Douglas), since he and his wife, Leigh (Jessica Lange) have had a difficult time coming back together since he has admitted to previous indiscretions. Cady infiltrates the family most insidiously by cultivating a relationship with the Bowden's troubled teenage daughte, Danielle (Juliette Lewis), who is all the more susceptible to Cady's advances because of her parents' problems. Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, the stars of the original film, have cameo appearances in this version of Cape Fear.

De Niro and Lewis were both nominated for Academy Awards for their work in the film. CREDITS: Cape Fear (Film) - TV Tropes Cape Fear You need to login to do this. Get Known if you don't have an account Share Robert De Niro Is Staring Into Your Soul. Cape Fear is a 1962 thriller film directed by J. Lee Thompson, based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It tells the story of Sam Bowden ( Gregory Peck ), a lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist. The rapist, Max Cady ( Robert Mitchum ), wants vengeance for having been imprisoned on Bowden's testimony after the latter witnessed him attempting to rape a woman. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his wife (Polly Bergen) and teenaged daughter (Lori Martin) to their houseboat on Cape Fear, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

The film was successfully remade in 1991 by director Martin Scorsese , with Robert De Niro starring as Cady, Nick Nolte as Bowden, and Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis as Bowden's wife and daughter; De Niro and Lewis each received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for their performances. In this version, Cady is out to get Bowden because the latter, while defending Cady on a rape charge, deliberately buried possibly-exculpatory evidence about the victim, leading to Cady's conviction. Both films contain examples of: Adult Fear : Rape in both versions, moral corruption (Cady seducing Danielle and basically trying to get Sam to kill him) in the remake. Ax-Crazy : Max Cady. Bad People Abuse Animals : In both versions, Max Cady kills the Bowdens' pet dog. Bittersweet Ending : The Bowdens are traumatized by the events of the story but survive, while Cady goes back to prison for life (1962 original) or drowns in the river (1991 remake). Buy Them Off : Bowden offers Cady $10,000 in cash to leave him alone. He doesn't take it.

Date Rape : Cady's encounter with Diane Taylor (Lori Davis in the remake) ends up this way. I Don't Like the Sound of That Place : Cape Fear . Menacing Stroll : Cady, even when he's released from prison, even walking into the camera. Police Are Useless : When Bowden suspects that Cady is stalking him, the first thing he does is go to the police, but they can't do anything because they lack any evidence of wrongdoing. The one helpful cop suggests using his family as bait. Bowden doesn't care for the implications. Prisons Are Gymnasiums : Cady leaves prison well-shaped. Private Detective : Charlie Sievers (Telly Savalas) in the original, Claude Kersek (Joe Don Baker) in the remake. Rage Against the Legal System : Cady's vendetta against Bowden is because he was responsible for putting him in jail; he was a key witness in the 1962 version, and in the remake he decided, justifiably to sabotage Max's defence.

Cady, however, harbors no malice towards the prosecutor or the judge as he reasoned they were just doing their jobs, and his wrath is solely targeted at Bowden for screwing him over. Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil : Cady was given a length prison sentence for raping a woman. In the original film it is implied that he also raped Diane Taylor at the hotel. Remake Cameo : Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum both play supporting roles in the remake. Martin Balsam, who played a police chief in the original, also has a small cameo in the remake. Revenge : Cady's lust for revenge against Bowden fuels the plot and hits a lot of Revenge Tropes . Revenge by Proxy : Cady's MO is to brutalize and/or kill people close to Bowden to teach him the meaning of loss. Cady: Rape for Rape . Wife for wife. And child for child. Scarpia Ultimatum : Cady promises to spare the daughter if Bowden's wife would have sex with him. In the remake, the wife offers herself up as soon as Cady goes for the daughter.

Society Marches On : Both: Today, stalking laws would go a long way to hinder someone like Cady. Remake: Viewers can be somewhat mystified by the premise for why antagonist Max Cady felt slighted by protagonist Sam Bowden. At the time of release, the prior sexual history of a rape victim was a valid defense that would have lessened Cady's sentence, or might have even kept him out of jail. Nowadays, prior sexual history is inadmissible in rape cases. Ambulance Chaser : Cady's lawyer. Amoral Attorney : He is actually worse in the original film, as it becomes clear that he has a history of twisting the truth and taking advantage of human rights violation fears to accuse police of brutality at the slightest whim and trying to completely exonerate his scumbag clients. When Bowden asked him how he knew about the police watching his house, he shut up, knowing that this would implicate that his client was stalking them. As You Know : Sam Bowden's plan to deal with Cady is helpfully exposited by his wife.

Black and White Morality : The original film portrayed Robert Mitchum as pure evil, with absolutely no legitimate reason to begrudge his conviction and Gregory Peck as perfectly virtuous, not deserving of any retribution. Cruel Mercy : Sam is in a position where he could easily kill Cady and get away with it, justifying it as being in fear for his life and that of his family. He instead lets him live, explaining in great detail how much Cady will enjoy his inevitable life sentence, being forced to wait for death in the prison he hated so much. Defensive Failure : The daughter threatens Cady with a iron bar but he easily takes it out of her hands without any resistance. Deliberately Monochrome : Though most films were color in 1962, the film was shot in black and white probably to add to the menace of the film. Disproportionate Retribution : Unlike in the remake, Cady has no legitimate reason to begrudge his conviction in the original. His Rage Against the Legal System comes out of left field. Getting Crap Past the Radar : Despite the overwhelming theme of sexual violence, the word "rape" is never used, nor does the dialogue get explicit.

The closest the script comes is "attacked". This last case is fully justified, as the parents are discussing the possibility of Cady going after their daughter, and their tone makes it clear that they are consciously using a euphemism because they are trying to avoid thinking about their daughter getting raped. Good Smoking, Evil Smoking : Cady smokes Evil Cigars. Gory Discretion Shot : When Cady attacks the girl at the hotel, her frantic grab at the door just pulls it shut, leaving only a narrow crack for the camera to see through. Hand Gagging : Cady handgags the daughter when taking her out of the house in the final act. Ironic Echo : Cady mentions that when he "visited" his ex-wife, she tried to hit him with a poker. Nancy later attempts to hold Cady off with a poker the same way. Jungles Sound Like Kookaburras : A kookaburra sound appears during the third act of the film, along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, USA. Given that a kookaburra sound is usually assumed to be a monkey, note that there are neither kookaburras nor monkeys native to the American South.

Man in White : Cady. Never My Fault : Cady wants revenge because Bowden got him convicted, and seems completely oblivious to the fact that he fully deserved it. No-Holds-Barred Beatdown : Savalas' character hires three thugs to deal one out to Cady. It turns out to be a case of Mugging the Monster . "The Reason You Suck" Speech : Bowden gives one to Cady after finally catching him at gunpoint. Cady: Go ahead. I just don't give a damn. Bowden: No. No! That would be letting you off too easy, too fast. Your words - do you remember? Well I do. No, we're gonna take good care of you. We're gonna nurse you back to health. And you're strong, Cady. You're gonna live a long life... in a cage! That's where you belong and that's where you're going. And this time for life! Bang your head against the walls. Count the years - the months - the hours... until the day you rot! Rules Lawyer : As in To Kill a Mockingbird , Gregory Peck plays one of these. He still manages to be the good guy.

Shirtless Scene : Cady has several, all played for the same kind of menace as a Full-Frontal Assault . Smug Snake : Mitchum, to a T. That relaxed drawl of his is terrifying. Thou Shalt Not Kill : Bowden decides life in prison is better than death for Cady. Tranquil Fury : Mitchum has this quiet but insistent animal terror underlying everything he does. The 1991 remake contains examples of: Adaptation Name Change : Bowden's wife and daughter's names are changed from Peggy & Nancy to Leigh & Danielle. Amoral Attorney : Gregory Peck's cameo as Cady's lawyer. Bowden intentionally sabotaging Cady's defence, on the other hand was actually done out of morality. As the Good Book Says : Cady is a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian and often quotes the Bible with wide-eyed furor. Better Manhandle the Murder Weapon : When Sam sees the bodies of Kersek and the maid, he loses it and totally messes up the crime scene including touching the murder weapon (gun). Bizarre Taste in Food : Kersek's favourite drink is Jim Beam mixed with Pepto Bismol.

Black and Gray Morality : Black vs a very, very light shade of grey. Generally what happens when an overall good man with anger issues and who partook in an affair is up against a rapist. Despite his other transgressions, sabotaging the latter's defense to punish him and prevent further crimes was a clear altruistic action. Cady: I am like God, and God like me. I am as large as God, He is as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath Him be . Bookends : The movie begins with chilling music and a blood-red negative shot of a on the daughter's eyes zooming out into a positive shot of her giving a speech. The final scene inverts this, starting with a positive shot of her monologing An Aesop and zooming in on her eyes, turning the shot into a b/w and then red negative. Chekhov's Gun : The piano wire, the gun, and the lighter fuel. Also, Cady's handcuffs. Composite Character : Robert De Niro's Cady combines the original with another famous villain played by Robert Mitchum; Sinister Minister Harry Powell.

Deputy Kersek and PI Charlie Sievers from the original are combined into a single character in the remake. Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are : Cady says this word for word when looking for Bowden who hides behind a dumpster. Exiled to the Couch : Presented as a Gilligan Cut . After a quarrel with his wife about his infidelity, Sam invokes their team work. Zoom upon his wife's face. Cut. Sam with a blanket on the couch. Feet-First Introduction : Used for the introduction of the Latin maid. Forced to Watch : Cady disables Bowden at the boat and then the latter has to watch helplessly as Cady goes for his wife and daughter. From Nobody to Nightmare : From an illiterate rube rapist to a buff, law-degree-holding homicidal bastard with a liking for teenage girls. The Fundamentalist : Cady and Heller (Cady's attorney). Genius Bruiser : Cady is both in exceptionally good shape and terrifyingly smart. He studied law in prison, becoming a lawyer, even acting as his own defense during his appeals, so he knew when and how to harass the Bowdens.

Gray and Black Morality : In contrast to the Black and White Morality of the original. This version of Bowden had an affair (the consequences of it were still being felt by the family, including having been forced to move away) and performed an illegal (even disbarring-worthy) act by holding back Cady's victim's sexual history, but he still is a good guy next to the brutal monster that is Cady. Hellhole Prison : Cady doesn't stop telling Sam all about it. He even alludes to have been subjected to Prison Rape . He Who Fights Monsters : Cady attempted and failed to invoke this with Sam. The worst he got out of him was violent aggression, which was a result of his natural instinct to protect his family. Human Notepad : Cady has lines from the bible tattooed all over his body. Ironic Echo : In a meta-sense; where Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum played the upstanding lawyer and the sadistic rapist in the original, their cameo roles in the remake essentially place them on the opposite sides, with Mitchum playing a police detective sympathetic to Bowden's plight and Peck playing Cady's attorney.

Peck stated in an interview that he was offered a few different roles to make a cameo as, and immediately asked for the least sympathetic one. Jump Scare : One of them happens when the phone rings during dinner. Actually, the ringer was loud... Large Ham : De Niro, in fine form. It's taken Up to Eleven after Cady is set on fire. Made of Iron : Max gets beaten on for quite a while by some thugs, but as soon as he gets a weapon away from one of them, he takes them all down with ease. Later, Danielle throws some boiling water in his face, and he doesn't even blink. Grasping a lit roman candle didn't faze him, either. Man on Fire : Danielle sprays Cady with lighter fluid while he lights a cigar, engulfing him in flames and causing him to jump off the boat to extinguish the fire. Mood Whiplash : One minute, Lori (Bowden's friend, may have been an ex-lover) is giddy and flirtatious, she's screaming in terror the next. Noodle Incident : Both Bowdens' past infidelities , requiring therapy and forcing them to move.

Leigh suspected Lori and Sam were having an affair, thus explaining some phone conversation in hushed tones (actually, he was checking on her after Cady attacked her). Obfuscating Disability : When the judge granted the restraining order against Bowden, Cady hobbled right out of court in crutches. Office Golf : Kersek is shortly seen golfing in his office. Prison Rape : Cady's quip about "being a woman" and getting in touch with his own "soft, nurturing side, his feminine side" when Sam Bowden tried to buy him off. Professional Wrestling : There wasn't any of it in the movie, but WWE based the short lived Waylon Mercy character on De Niro's portrayal of Cady, and over a decade later Bray Wyatt. Remake Cameo : The remake featured cameos by Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, the hero and antagonist (respectively) of the original. Also, Martin Balsam, who played the sympathetic cop role in the original, plays a judge in the remake. Revenge Through Corruption : Cady gets his hooks in Bowden's daughter, almost seducing her, but she eventually sees him for the monster he is.

Likewise, he never got what he truly wanted out of Sam, as he was killed in self-defense. Brought up by Cady in discussion with Sam about how his Prison Rape past could be properly retaliated. Max Cady - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki More info on Max Cady Wikis Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear Robert DeNiro as Max Cady in the 1991 remake . Max Cady is a fictional character in the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners . The character was portrayed by Robert Mitchum in the 1962 film adaptation Cape Fear and by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese 's 1991 remake of the same name.

Character overview In both film versions of MacDonald's novel, Cady is a career criminal with an obsessive grudge against an attorney named Sam Bowden (played by Gregory Peck in the first film and by Nick Nolte in the remake) who sent him to prison for rape . While in prison, Cady teaches himself to read as he nurtures his hatred of Bowden, made especially intense when his wife divorces him and takes their child. Upon his release, he terrorizes Bowden and his family, stalking his wife at their house, picking up an 18-year-old drifter at a bar whom he has consensual sex with and later rapes, and attempting to seduce Bowden's teenage daughter. After Bowden's failed attempts to get rid of Cady with bribery and a restraining order , he hires street thugs to rough Cady up, which only succeeds in making him angrier and more determined to make sure Bowden "learns all about loss." Cady tracks the family to its summer home in the titular North Carolina beach town of Cape Fear and nearly kills them all.

In the climax of the first film, Bowden puts Cady under citizen's arrest ; in the second, Cady apparently drowns after a fight with Bowden. There are significant differences between the way in which Cady is portrayed in the first and second film; while Mitchum's characterization is that of a sleazy, degenerate con artist , De Niro's is of a Cockney/Southerner homicidal sociopath who viciously attacks everything and everyone Bowden holds dear (he even beats and rapes one of Bowden's colleagues). The remake also sheds some light on Cady's background in a rural Pentecostal family who exposed themselves to poisonous snakebites and drinking Strychnine in order to achieve religious ecstasy . There are also many differences in the films' portrayal of Cady and Bowden's relationship. In the first film, Bowden merely testified against Cady in court. In the remake, Bowden was shown to be morally corrupt and lacking some of the same scruples as Cady. He was Cady's attorney who deliberately suppressed evidence that, possibly, would have gotten Cady an acquittal .

Initially in the remake, Bowden reveals that he didn't believe Cady deserved to be acquitted because he beat his victim so brutally. Later, as Cady holds Bowden and his family hostage on the houseboat, Bowden reveals that he also suppressed the evidence because of Cady's brags that he had beaten two prior rape charges and that he considered Cady to be a menace. In the 1962 version, moreover, Bowden eventually takes the moral high ground and refuses to kill Cady. In the remake, Bowden is able to handcuff Cady's ankle to a railing in the houseboat before it crashes into some rocks. The two exchange blows, with Cady laughingly taunting Bowden even more about shirking his duties as a lawyer. Bowden picks up a large rock and plans to slam it down onto Cady's head. As he does so, Cady is washed out into the river still cuffed to part of the houseboat as the rock misses him by inches. Bowden then watches as Cady, unable to free himself, begins singing hymns before he is submerged beneath the water.

Cultural impact Max Cady ranks number 28 on the American Film Institute 's list of the top 50 movie villains of all time. Max Cady was parodied in a 1993 episode of The Simpsons entitled " Cape Feare ," in which Sideshow Bob stalks the Simpson family to a Florida beach town in order to get revenge on Bart . Robert De Niro's portrayal of Max Cady was the inspiration for wrestler Dan Spivey 's "Waylon Mercy" gimmick.[citation needed] External links Cape Fear (1991) Cape Fear (1991) ** I didnï¿½t expect a whole lot of the original Cape Fear . Sure, I knew what I wanted it to be, and it turned out to be all that and more, but my expectations had been tempered by the disappointment of Night of the Hunter . In contrast, my expectations of Martin Scorseseï¿½s Cape Fear were relatively high, for a combination of reasons.

First of all, when it comes to suspense movies on the ï¿½horror for people who think theyï¿½re too good for horrorï¿½ model, the style of the early 90ï¿½s generally accords more closely with my tastes than that of the early 60ï¿½s. Secondly, there was the Taxi Driver connection. Although I have extremely mixed feelings about both Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, the last time the latter played a psychopath under the direction of the former, the results were very, very good, and assuming the remake stayed more or less true to the earlier iteration, the basic Cape Fear storyline obviously held the potential for something similarly impressive. And finally, Scorseseï¿½s Cape Fear had developed a reputation as one of the few do-overs to equal if not surpass their predecessors, and it held that reputation among precisely the sort of people who most disdained the staunchly mediocre 90ï¿½s version of Diabolique. While I certainly didnï¿½t find it likely that Scorsese had improved on J.

Lee Thompsonï¿½s masterpiece, I did figure that the newer Cape Fear had to be something pretty special if it could overcome the nearly impregnable critical prejudice against remakes. Alas, however, thereï¿½s nothing special at all about Cape Fear. In fact, to return to the subject of expectations, it is exactly the movie one ought to expect when two of the most overrated talents in Hollywood today team up to modernize a film that had almost literally nothing wrong with it. Mistake number one occurs immediately. The opening credits are followed by voiceover narration from the teenaged Danielle Bowden (Juliette Lewis, of Strange Days and From Dusk Till Dawn ), dreamily musing that she was always puzzled by the name, ï¿½Cape Fear,ï¿½ which struck her as completely inappropriate for such a beautiful river. Between the clunky prose and the stilted delivery, it sounds like somebody reading a composition aloud in a high school English class; a similar narrated passage at the end of the film suggests that itï¿½s supposed to be exactly that, but we wonï¿½t be getting that hint for more than two hours.

In the meantime, itï¿½s nothing but a terrible voiceover, of a sort that was already becoming obsolete when the first film version of this story arrived in theaters. Next, weï¿½re in the prison cell where Max Cady (De Niro, whose other rare forays into our usual territory include Angel Heart and Brazil) has spent the last fourteen years. The camera pans across a rather incongruous assemblage of law books (later dialogue will imply that Cady owns them, which becomes ridiculous if you know how much a volume of Corpus Juris Secundum or the Federal Supplement cost even in 1991) and photographs of famous villains of world history, finally coming to rest on Cadyï¿½s heavily tattooed back as he finishes up his morning exercise routine. This is the day of Cadyï¿½s release. When he leaves the prison, heï¿½s naively framed against a sky full of approaching thunderclouds, and he marches right into the camera like Lina Romay in The Bare-Breasted Countess .

Scorsese has the good sense to end the shot a split-second before the actual collision, but thatï¿½s an inauspicious parallel if ever I saw one. So who exactly is Danielle Bowden, and what does she have to do with this man getting out of prison in Georgia, two states away? Danielle is the daughter of attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) and graphic designer Leigh Bowden (Jessica Lange, who fortunately has come a long way since King Kong ). Sam used to be a public defender down in Atlanta before he decided that his conscience couldnï¿½t take it anymore, and Max Cady was the man whose heinous crimes led Sam to that decision. In fact, Bowden found Cadyï¿½s misdeeds so horrifying that he could not bring himself to do the job he had sworn to, and defend his client to the best of his abilities. He deliberately failed to introduce evidence that the woman Cady was accused of raping and beating had a history of promiscuity, evidence that might have muddied the consent issues in the case sufficiently to win an acquittal.

Consequently, when the ex-convict accosts Sam outside his office and makes it clear that he holds him responsible for all those years in prison, he kind of has a point, no matter how much the modern mind revolts at the sleazy tactics that were considered normal and proper in rape trials during the bad old days. Scorsese and screenwriter Wesley Strick hit most of the same story beats as J. Lee Thompson and James R. Webb had throughout the first and second acts. Cady still shadows the Bowden family all over town, still gets hassled by the cops whenever an excuse arises, still makes ribald comments about Samï¿½s wife and daughter. There are updated versions of the dog-poisoning incident, the brutal sexual assault on a girl Cady picks up at a bar, the visit Cady pays to the school attended by Bowdenï¿½s daughter. Bowden enlists the aid of first the cops, then a private detective, and finally a trio of dock-district thugs before finally being forced to go it alone against his tormentor. This Cape Fear shuffles the order of events considerably, however, and puts drastically different spins on a few key scenes.

Cadyï¿½s bar pickup is now Lori Davis (Illeana Douglas, from Stir of Echoes ), a legal assistant at Bowdenï¿½s firm who has a crush on Sam, and with whom heï¿½s maybe a little friendlier than is good for his marriage. The ex-conï¿½s attack on her is thus indirectly an attack on Sam, in a way that the old Cadyï¿½s mauling of Diane Taylor was not. Scorsese makes first contact between Max and Danielle not a stalking but a seduction, playing upon the universal assumption of post-60ï¿½s teenagers that they know better than their elders. Bowden now watches from hiding as his hired goons work Cady over, meaning that he nearly comes in for his own piece of the retaliation pie when the immensely strong and nearly pain-proof psycho proves more than a match for the whole squad. Thereï¿½s also a completely new subplot about friction within the Bowden household. Danielle smokes pot, and spent most of the last semester on suspension for doing so on school property.

Sam had an affair back in Atlanta, and all those old wounds are reopened when the maiming of Lori Davis brings her friendship with Sam to light on the home front. Leighï¿½s whole psyche is one seething tangle of resentments, ranging from the amply justified to the nearly delusional. Banding together to face the threat of Max Cady, in other words, is not this familyï¿½s instinctive first response. Oddly, though, itï¿½s the simple reordering of the various plot points that most alters the mood and meaning of the film as compared to its predecessor. The Max Cady played by Robert Mitchum and the Sam Bowden played by Gregory Peck were very evenly matched opponents, and I donï¿½t mean that just in the sense that Peck, like Mitchum, was a big, able-bodied man who looked like he could handle himself in a fist fight. Both antagonists were cool, collected, careful individuals, and each time one of them pushed, the other pushed back with greater but precisely calibrated force.

If Bowden spent most of the movie playing right into Cadyï¿½s hands, it was because Cady had devoted eight years to thinking about what such a rational, orderly-minded man would do when provoked in various ways. Mitchumï¿½s Cady held the upper hand exactly as long as Bowden continued to do the rational, logical, sensible thingï¿½ because ï¿½rational,ï¿½ ï¿½logical,ï¿½ and ï¿½sensibleï¿½ are all synonyms, in practice, for ï¿½predictable.ï¿½ Sam started winning as soon as he stopped doing what ï¿½good senseï¿½ would dictate. Here, though, Bowden isnï¿½t predictable to begin with. Thereï¿½s no methodical escalation to the conflictï¿½ just Cady provoking and Bowden flailing desperately from one half-cocked reaction to the next. Crucially, the Bowden of the 90ï¿½s does not wait until all of his legal options are exhausted before he begins seriously considering extralegal alternatives.

Nolte-Bowden resorts much earlier than Peck-Bowden to offering Cady a payoff, for example. When he raises the subject (tellingly, he raises it in terms of the same figures mentioned in 1962, which had lost a lot of their buying power over the intervening decades), Lieutenant Elgart (Mitchum himself, in one of three callbacks to the original Cape Fear cast) is still investigating pretexts on which the stalker might legally be run out of town. The current Bowden also has a peculiar relationship with private detective Claude Kersek (Joe Don Baker, from Joysticks and Mars Attacks! ), whose recommendations he is forever second-guessing and whose actions on his behalf he is forever undermining. Bowden thinks before he acts only when planning and analysis are counterproductive to his cause, and the villain scarcely needs his vast physical superiority to ensure that heï¿½s holding all the cards from the word go. That imbalance between the primary antagonists is part of what makes Scorseseï¿½s Cape Fear so unsatisfying.

His version of Bowden might as well be a counselor at Camp Crystal Lake even before the harried family retreats to their river-borne vacation houseboat, and Cady begins exhibiting a tiresome imperviousness to death. The more serious miscalculation, though, is the weakness of character that underlies Samï¿½s persistent dithering. The old Bowden was a man of principle, and the old Cape Fear more than anything was about how he faced a situation in which principle and expediency alike carried prices too high to pay. The new Bowden is a moral weakling whose principles turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble, whose conscience yammers incessantly, but can never compel. And furthermore, this movie begins with Sam already in the wrong. He violated his professional oath, he cheated on his wife, and he wonï¿½t even man up and admit that heï¿½s got a female friend at the office. Thereï¿½s no drama in forcing a man to compromise his ethics in order to protect his loved ones, when his ethics have never been anything but compromised in the first place. Cape Fear is also way too heavy-handed not to annoy.

An atmospheric night among the mangroves isnï¿½t enough anymore; now the houseboat showdown has to take place in the midst of a thunderstorm-fueled cataract, with the fragile vessel careening out of control between half-submerged stumps and rocks like the focus of a pocket-sized 70ï¿½s disaster flick. It isnï¿½t enough for Max Cady to be smart, tough, and ruthless; now he has to have dedicated his time in prison to becoming some sort of pseudo-Nietzschean superman, and he needs Harry Powell ï¿½s twisted religiosity and fondness for menacing tattoos (six times as many of them, too!) into the bargain. It isnï¿½t enough for the ordeal a rape victim faces on the witness stand to be grimly invoked as a factor keeping Cady beyond the reach of the law; now it has to be the centerpiece of a soapbox moment that would do any Lifetime Channel original proud. And so on, and so forth, until Danielleï¿½s lumpishly intoned ï¿½Theï¿½ Endï¿½ on the soundtrack right before the closing credits. What the fuck, Mr. Scorsese?

Seriouslyï¿½ what the fuck? Cape Fear Cape Fear Based upon: novel - The Executioners - John D. MacDonald IMDb page: Other movies in this series: None Rish Outfield's reviews I watched Martin Scorsese's remake of the 1962 thriller as a double feature with the original. It both helped and hindered this review. DeNiro gets top billing as the enormously built, tattooed, Bible-quoting madman Max Cady. He was scary as hell as this unbelievably brutal, intimidating man. Nick Nolte plays Sam Bowden, but isn't as decent as was Gregory Peck. Jessica Lange plays the not-always-supportive wife. Juliette Lewis plays Danielle, Nolte's dirty little girl, who thinks her father's concern for her is funny. Frankly, she's really hard to like. In an interesting turn, the three male leads of original appear in the remake--Robert Mitchum shows up in the Martin Balsam role, Martin Balsam plays a judge, and Gregory Peck plays a smooth-talking lawyer.

The film is filled with good performances, especially by DeNiro (of course), who is so menacing as Cady that I sat up and cheered the first time he got his. The story is the same as the original film's, with a few deviations. Cady served fourteen years instead of eight, and Nolte was his defense attorney instead of the prosecutor. This time, the hero is not 100% innocent. In fact, it's a dishonourable thing he did that got Cady after him in the first place, as opposed to simple unmotivated revenge. The music, reused Bernard Herrmann score from the original, is jarring and somewhat intrusive out-of-place in this version. This was intense from the very beginning, recreating a lot of the same incidents as the original, but faster, intensified, and not dwelt on for long. Much more clearly and obviously a horror film than was the original (which I had to stretch slightly to fit the HFC peg-holes). DeNiro's Max Cady is unstoppable--omnipresent as well as omnipotent--as completely impervious to pain as any android or reanimated corpse.

Probably, though, the most interesting new aspect of the film is Danielle (the daughter)'s relationship/fascination with Max Cady. Even though we know Cady is evil, there's something poetic, something strangely attractive about his talk, his mannerisms. He draws in the girl, who is at the point in her life that comes for everyone, angry at what she perceives to be hypocrisies and shortcomings of her parents and attracted to temptation, to vice, to all that isn't like her folks. In the original, the daughter was becoming a woman physically, but was still a child inside, making Peck (and us) instantly protective of her. In this version, we are torn since she's a rebellious troublemaker, but still a girl who doesn't know the fire she's playing with burns as well as makes a pretty light. The scenes with Cady and Danielle are difficult to watch at times--the "do you mind if I put my arm around you" scene is horribly uncomfortable. Every father's nightmare, but also representative of how a parent feels about their child's sexuality.

See, we know he is bad news, but when she talks to him, she takes what he says at face value, like a child would. She's afraid of him, but tries to overcome her childhood fear (which is the correct impulse in this case) and give in to her sexual and rebellious inclinations. There was a very intense scene involving a teddy bear and Joe Don Baker. Even more intense was the Illeana Douglas ouch scene. The final over-the-top storm sequence was so stylized, violent, and exaggerated that I think it may have lost a little in the way of believability and audience impact. Still, I was watching this from a pretty critical eye, and normal folk would probably be riveted. Though it's very well done, very intense (there's that word again), it's perhaps not as satisfying as the original, because it goes so above and beyond. It may be that there's just too much going on, that they took a simple, straightforward story, and threw everything they could into it, made it too complex, tried too hard. It's a fine film, but not a better one. I'd Recommend It To: Scorsese/DeNiro/Suspense fans.

You might want to watch them both back to back, like I did. Total Skulls: 16 Cape Fear Movie Review & Film Summary (1991) | Roger Ebert Tweet The way he sees the character of Sam Bowden is the key to why Martin Scorsese wanted to remake the 1962 thriller “Cape Fear.” Bowden, played by Nick Nolte , is a defense attorney who is threatened by a man from his past - a rapist who has finished a 14-year prison sentence and wants revenge for what he believes (correctly) was a lousy defense. Advertisement In the original film, Sam Bowden was a good man trying to defend his family from a madman. In the Scorsese version, Bowden is flawed and guilty, and indeed everyone in this film is weak in one way or another, and there are no heroes. That's the Scorsese touch. The movie, filmed near Fort Lauderdale, shows Nolte at the head of a troubled family. He and his wife ( Jessica Lange ) have been through counseling because of his infidelities, and now he seems to be in the opening stages of a new affair.

They live in a rambling house on a lot of land, but there isn't space enough for their daughter ( Juliette Lewis ), who hates it when they fight and locks herself in her bedroom to brood and watch MTV. This is a family with a lot of problems even before Max Cady arrives on the scene. Cady is played by Robert De Niro , in a role filled by Robert Mitchum in 1962. Covered with tattoos spelling out dire biblical warnings, Cady is an iron-pumping redneck who learned to read in prison (“I started with Dick, Jane and Spot and went on to lawbooks”). He drives into town in a Mustang convertible and offers to teach Bowden something about the law. Advertisement And soon, everywhere Bowden looks, he sees the ominous, threatening presence of Max Cady: outside a restaurant, in a movie theater, on the wall bordering his property. But Cady is clever and stays just this side of the law; he doesn't actually trespass, and he doesn't do physical harm to Bowden. It's almost a game with Cady to taunt Bowden to the breaking point.

Advertisement Bowden goes to the cops, to a lawyer, to a private investigator, and as he seeks help we begin to realize that no one in this universe is untainted. Among the corrupt are Mitchum, as a cop who hints that the lawyer should take the law into his own hands, and Gregory Peck , as a lawyer who represents Bowden. What we are looking at here is a film noir version of the classic Scorsese hero, who in film after film is a man tortured by guilt and the weakness of the flesh, seeking forgiveness and redemption. And with this new version of Max Cady, Scorsese gives us not simply a bad man, but an evil one - whose whole purpose is to show Sam Bowden he's a criminal, too. Advertisement A stratum of evil underlies the whole film and is dramatized in the character of Danielle, the Bowdens' daughter, who is going on 16 and is attracted to the menace and implied sexuality of Max Cady. It's as if she likes anybody who can bug her parents.

In a tense, disturbing scene, Cady poses as a drama teacher, and Danielle goes along even after she knows who he really is - allowing herself to be verbally seduced because evil and danger are attractive to her. Nolte's character is more complex. He is not a bad man, but not a very good one, and he finally agrees with his private eye (Joe Don Baker ) that maybe three guys should be hired to pound some sense into Max Cady. When Cady thrashes the three goons and comes looking for the Nolte character, we realize the complexity of this movie. Unlike the simplistic version of this scene we have seen in a hundred thrillers, what Scorsese gives us is a villain who has been wronged, seeking to harm a hero who has sinned. “Cape Fear” is impressive moviemaking, showing Scorsese as a master of a traditional Hollywood genre who is able to mold it to his own themes and obsessions. But as I look at this $35 million movie with big stars, special effects and production values, I wonder whether it represents a good omen from the finest director now at work.

Advertisement This is the first film in a production deal Scorsese has with Universal Studios and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and it represents his access to budgets much larger than those he has worked with in the past. The result seems to be a certain impersonality in a film by this most personal of directors - the Scorsese touch on a genre piece, rather than a film torn out of the director's soul. Most directors would distinguish themselves by making a film this good. From the man who made “ Taxi Driver ,” “ Raging Bull ,” “ After Hours ” and “ GoodFellas ,” this is not an advance. Popular Blog Posts Examining Hollywood Remakes: Cape Fear Examining Hollywood Remakes: Cape Fear April 18, 2016 Published in Movie Buffs Our series on remakes continues with a graphic reimagining of a moody suspense thriller from the 1960s. This week, Cinelinx looks at Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear (1991). Both versions of this film have very similar plots—based on the novel “The Executioners” by John D. MacDonald—but the approach of the respective directors are so different that the two films become very distinct.

The original 1962 version of Cape Fear is a Hitchcockian suspense drama, while the 1991 remake is more of a slasher film. Both films tell the story of an obsessed ex-con/rapist who manipulates the loopholes of the law in order to stalk a man he hates. It’s interesting to see the same story interpreted so differently. The 1962 version starred Gregory Peck, one of the greatest actors of his—or any other—generation, along with Robert Mitchum, who is wonderfully menacing as the villain. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, who helmed the excellent Guns of Navarone (Which got him a Best Director Nomination at the Oscars) as well as Conquest of the Planet of the Apes and Battle for the Planet of the Apes, among others. The Plot of the 1962 version: Honest lawyer Sam Bowden (Peck) was the witness who sent attempted rapist Max Cady (Mitchum) to jail for 8 years. Now Cady is out and he wants revenge. He begins to stalk and threaten Bowden’s family but is careful to never be seen doing anything illegal.

Bowden’s pretty wife Peggy (Polly Bergen) and daughter Nancy (Lori Martin) are endangered repeatedly but can prove nothing. Bowden calls on his friend the police chief (Martin Balsam) to run Cady out of town, but again, no evidence can be found to justify this. Cady gets his own attorney who sues the police for harassment. Bowden hires private detective Sievers (Telly Savalas) to dig up some dirt on Cady. When Cady rapes a woman named Diane he’d been having a fling with, Sievers tries to get her to testify but she leaves town out of fear. Desperate, Bowden hires a group of thugs to beat some fear into Cady but Cady is tougher than expected and wins the fight. Bowden takes his family to their houseboat in Cape Fear, hoping to trick Cady into attacking them in front of a deputy. Bowden makes it seem as though he has gone to a completely different location but he and the deputy hide nearby. Cady realizes the deputy is there and kills him. Eluding Bowden, Cady attacks Peggy on the boat. Bowden comes to her rescue, so Cady swims back to shore to attack Nancy.

Bowden realizes what has happened and also swims ashore. The two men have a final violent fight on the riverbank. Bowden manages to defeat Cady but decides not to kill him, preferring to let him spend the rest of his life in jail. Although there is a constant implied threat of rape in the film, the censors of the time made 6 minutes of cuts, eliminating the word or any scenes that clearly indicated Cady was planning such a thing. Cady repeatedly ogles 15-year-old Nancy and makes solicitous remakes. At one point, she sees him approaching outside her school and runs in a panic but he never actually harms her, although she does get hit by a car while trying to flee. Cady was originally arrested for attacking a woman but it’s not clear what his intentions were. He beats up Diane but we’re not sure if he sexually assaulted her or not. Despite the editing the film was well received and has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The remake of the film not only takes some inspiration from the original but also from another excellent Robert Mitchum thriller Night of the Hunter, in which a religiously fanatic killer has tattoos on his hands reading "Love” and “Hate".

In the 1991 Cape Fear, Cady's body is tattooed with various biblical verses such as "vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord". Nick Nolte stars as Bowden and Robert De Niro portrays Cady, who is more psychotically vicious in the newer movie. The 1991 movie is directed by legendary film maker Martin Scorsese, whose long string of great movies includes Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, the King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Gangs of NY, the Aviator, Hugo and the Departed, among others. The remake is at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Plot of the Remake: Sam Bowden (Nolte) was once the defending lawyer for insane rapist Max Cady (De Niro) but is so appalled by Cady’s crimes that he withholds evidence and deliberately loses the case so that Cady went to jail for 14 years. As the years go by, Bowden is having an affair and almost loses his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) but he ends the tryst and promises to be faithful from now on, yet he is tempted by his co-worker Lori (Illeana Douglas).

Bowden also have a pretty 16-year-old daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis) who is discontented with her life. Meanwhile, Max Cady studied law in prison and assumed his own defense, unsuccessfully appealing his conviction several times. Cady has learned about Bowden burying the evidence. Now he’s out and he wants revenge. Most of the rest of the plot is the same, with a few differences. One of the most famous scenes in the film is when Cady goes to the same movie theater as the family and makes a spectacle of himself laughing loudly at a serious film. Another scene, which is very well done, is when Cady approaches Danielle at school, pretending to be an acting teacher before revealing his true identity. Instead of running the daughter is initially fascinated by Cady, who seduces her. Also, it’s Bowden’s co-worker Lori who gets beaten and raped, rather than a random woman he met. The characters are altered in the remake just enough to create a whole new interpretation of the tale. Bowden, as played by Peck in the original, is a stalwart man of honor who is pushed to desperation by this menace who is threatening his family.

He is a man of principle who must give up those principles to protect those he loves. The Nolte version, on the other hand, is a very flawed, fallible man who basically brought this chaos upon himself by deliberately losing the case and causing Cady to spend years in jail. He is an adulterer and he even seems cowardly in some scenes, such as when he witnesses Cady winning the fight against the hired thugs and cowers behind some garbage cans to avoid being seen. This interpretation probably makes Nolte’s version more interesting, although less sympathetic. Peck’s version is just a little too composed throughout the story. The daughter characters—Nancy and Danielle—are also very different. The 15-year-old daughter in the original seems more like an innocent little girl, whereas the 16-year-old version played by Lewis is aware of her dawning sexuality and finds Bad Boy Max initially attractive until he goes too far. The biggest difference between the two films is the depiction of the villain Cady. In the original, Cady is menacing but in a more laid-back, less obvious way.

He makes veiled threats and leers at young women, but he always maintains the façade of being an amiable southern gentleman, which helps in his attempts to trick the police and evade any blame. In the remake, Cady is more deliberately strange, such as in the movie theater scene where he purposely attracts attention to himself. He is more of a wild man in the remake, not trying to hide the fact that he’s unhinged. De Niro got an academy award nomination for his performance. So which is better? They’re both good but in this case, the edge has to go to the original. Thompson, director of the original, tries to downplay the horror aspects of the story and make it a psychological drama about the effect that Cady’s human chess game is having on his victims. He was inspired by Hitchcock to create a drama about a good man confronted by an evil man and is caught in a situation that he had no part in creating. Scorsese, probably the better director of the two, goes the more traditional horror route, inspired by the popular slasher films of the 80s, such as Halloween and Friday the 13th.

Like a good slasher villain, he keeps returning from certain death, such as when he gets set on fire, jumps off the boat to extinguish the flames and then climbs back on board to continue his mayhem. At one point, he is mercilessly beaten by a group of guys with metal bats, but he somehow shrugs off the beating and retaliates, pummeling all his attackers. He often seems to have super human power, and at certain points lifts and manhandles the younger, larger Bowden with ease. Making Cady seem too inhuman takes the realism out of the movie and makes it seem more of a clichéd slasher flick. The restraint of the original makes it superior, although both are quite good. So that’s all for this week’s look at a remade Hollywood movie. We’ll be back next week to dissect another film and until then, feel free to look up our previous articles Examining Hollywood Remakes.

Question: Who starred as the villain Max Cady in the 1991 remake of the film 'Cape Fear'?
Answer: Robert de Niro