Cape Fear

Year of release : 1991

Run time : 2h8min

Genre : Neo Noir / Psychological Thriller / Crime

Cast : Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Robert Mitchum

Director : Martin Scorsese

The movie is a remake of the 1962 movie of the same name starring Robert Mitchum (who played Cady in the original), both based on the 1957 John D. MacDonald novel, "The Executioners".

Max Cady is released from jail, after being imprisoned for 14 years, for r@ping and beating up a 16 year old girl. Cady used the years in jail to learn how to read and write, and studied law,being on a vengeance path against Sam Bowden, whom he considers responsible for his imprisonment, for not defending him as he should.

Bowden works as a lawyer at a private practice in New Essex (fictional town), North Carolina. He is married and has a 15 year old daughter, Danielle.

Cady starts stalking Bowden, making his first appearance at the movies, sitting in front of them, laughing too loud and smoking, then buying their ice cream at the restaurant they go to, the very same night.

Cady confronts Bowden, on another day, by taking his car keys when he wants to drive off, giving him a piece of his mind.

One night, his wife sees Cady sitting on their fence, looking at their house.

Bowden admits to one of his friends he had evidence the girl Cady beat up was promiscuous and didn't tell anyone, as he thought what Cady did to her was wrong and he should be punished (I don't know what that has to do with anything, he still beat her up to a pulp and r@ped her! How does that make it Ok?! I was on Bowden's side.).

Cady approaches Bowden again by driving close to him, and telling him about his time in jail. When he gets home, his wife tells him their dog was poisoned. Bowden calls the police on him, but they can't do much to him, so they let him go.

Bowden flirts a bit too much with one of his female colleagues, that he plays tennis with. One night, in town, she drinks too much due to Sam telling her they should stop seeing each other, and ends up going home with Cady. Who handcuffs her, bit3s her face (he took a chunk of her ch3ek!), and b3ats her up,putting her in the hospital. She refuses to press charges, and she doesn't want to end up like the girls she represents in court, who have to tell how much they had to drink and what were they wearing (as if that's a good enough reason to be r@ped and b3aten), who get "crucified" in court and laughed about later by her colleagues!

Bowden hires a private investigator that Cady spots right away, who suggests to Bowden, maybe the only way to get rid of him is to b3at him up.

Cady visits Bowden's wife and calls Bowden's daughter, home, pretending to be her drama teacher, and she ends up talking to him alone. Honestly, I was her age too, and didn't let men talk to me the way he did to her, or do to me what he did to her. Also, at her age she doesn't wear a bra, and stays in her underwear in front of her father!

Danielle likes him, and is somehow on his side!

 

Cady is full of tattoos quoting the Bible, and quotes the bible, but he does the opposite the Bible teaches.

It seems Cady is never going to stop, so desperate times calls for desperate measures, Bowden asking his private detective to do his best to get him off his back.

I personally enjoyed the movie,it was unnerving, Cady uses all the law loopholes to mess with this family and get away with it. He k1lls their dog, b3ats a woman up (broke her nose and arm, among other things),stalks these people, and gets a restraining order against them (!) while he stalks them and enters their home, and still gets away with it, thinking he did nothing wrong, and others have to pay for his sins.

Cady was a despicable character, with no redeeming qualities, a true psychopath.

Bowden does his best to protect his family, while his daughter sides with the villain, and his wife finds out about his harmless affair, as apparently that was the reason they moved to New Essex, because he cheated. It just feels the world is caving in on him.

The wife is more likeable than in the original, as in this one, when Cady wants to r@pe her daughter, she offers herself to spare her daughter, while in the original, Cady is asking her to do the sacrifice trading herself for her daughter / her family to be left alone, and she refuses (although with Cady is not worth the risk).

The daughter is way more stupid than in the original, as she stays alone with him; when she finds out who he is, she doesn't run away, and even lets him kiss her and stick his thumb into her mouth a few times (gross!!).When her father asks her about it, she just laughs like she's in love with Cady!! WTF?!

I liked the Bowden house.

The acting was fine. Jessica Lange, Robert de Niro and Nick Nolte are great!

Gregory Peck who played Bowden in the original, makes a cameo appearance as Cady's lawyer (he looks like Christopher Lee).

Martin Balsam who also played in the original, plays the judge when Cady gets a restraining order against Bowden.

The soundtrack was good..eerie. It keeps the same theme from the original which was adapted and re-orchestrated.

The visual effects were good.

The movie grossed 182.3 million dollars against a budget of 35 million, being a box office success, and the director's first movie to make more than 100 million!

The movie received positive reviews, and was nominated for many awards, including the BAFTA (2 nominations), Golden Globes (2 nominations for Robert de Niro and Juliette Lewis ) and the Oscar (2 nominations for Robert de Niro and Juliette Lewis)! Juliette Lewis received many nominations, but I personally didn't find her good,sorry.

Cinema Score audiences graded the movie a B+ on an A+ to F scale.

Martin Scorsese wanted Harrison Ford as Sam Bowden, but Ford wanted to play Cady. Steven Spielberg was originally attached to the project which he considered too violent, and wanted Bill Murray to play Cady! He traded Scorsese the movie in exchange for Schindler's List.

Before the role went to Juliette Lewis, Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon auditioned to play Danielle.

Martin Scorsese was influenced by Alfred Hitchcock in making the movie, using the same unusual camera angles, even lighting and editing effects (it reminded me of Brian de Palma movies).

Cape Fear was the 7th movie actor Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese worked on together!

Rating : Worth a watch !