Cape Fear (1991)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: Wesley Strick (based on the book by John D. MacDonald and James R. Webb’s screenplay of the 1962 film
Cast: Robert de Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis
Music:  Elmer Bernstein 
Time: 127 minutes
Bottom-line: Suspenseful and haunting

Counselor! Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Robert De Niro’s menacing voice still echoes in your ears for a long time after you have finished watching Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear. Based on the original 1962 film starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, the 1991 film is the better of the two, in my view, with a far more menacing villain, and with the violence and tension at screaming point.

de Niro as Max Cady

Sam Bowden (Nolte) is a lawyer living with his wife Leigh (Lange) and teenage daughter Danielle (Lewis) in New Essex. Max Cady (de Niro) is a former client of Bowden, who was accused of rape, fourteen years ago. Seeing the brutality of the crime, Bowden himself had buried some critical evidence, which would have eased Cady’s sentence. In his sentence, Cady managed to learn the law on his own and eventually got released. Now he’s in search of the one man who ruined his life. It is Cady’s time to take revenge...

Nolte as Sam (middle), Lewis as Danielle
(right) and Lange as Leigh

The storyline is basically about how Cady repeatedly torments Sam and his family. First, he stalks them in the theatre and then assaults Sam’s friend, and even goes as far as kissing Danielle. The first half introduces the characters and shows how Cady systematically starts to execute his revenge, and the second half is about how Sam tries to protect his family when his “past” tries to haunt them. The highlight of the film is the way Sam and Cady play out each other; just as Sam comes up with better security to protect his loved ones, Cady pulls out an even more cunning trick!

From the beginning, it’s de Niro who has all your attention. With his chilling entry – thanks to the gory images of the tattoos, along with Bernard Herrmann’s original 1962 Max Cady theme – he has his iron grip on you ever since. His seemingly jolly behaviour followed by his merciless barbarity makes him one of the most terrifying villains of all time (of course, credit also goes to the original 1962 villain, played by Mitchum). In my view, I think de Niro deserved the Oscar more than Anthony Hopkins (who won for The Silence of the Lambs). Nick Nolte, Lange and Lewis’ performances are almost completely overshadowed by de Niro, but towards the climax, all of them have done exceptionally well, especially Lewis.

Compared to the 1962 film, as I said earlier, de Niro plays a much more ferocious and violent Max Cady than Robert Mitchum. This film has 25 minutes of additional screen time as well, mainly devoted to the other ways Cady stalks and scares the family, not shown in the original (for example, in the earlier film, Cady never talks directly to Sam's daughter ). Although  Mitchum set the base to portray such a villain, de Niro undoubtedly put on the better show, and Scorsese, the better film.

The original 1962 film poster

Cape Fear isn’t the typical Scorsese, except for the fact that it stars de Niro, in his seventh collaboration with Scorsese. But, in terms of entertainment, the film provides everything, starting from a suspenseful build-up to the thrilling finale at Cape Fear. Look out for the scenes where Cady indirectly accuses Sam of betraying his client, the scene where he stalks Danielle at school and the one where he beats up his own attackers and taunts Sam. The best part is when Cady finally enters Sam’s house and, not to forget, the finale in the houseboat, where Cady truly reveals his power. Remember, “There is nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light. Except fear.” 


My Rating: 3.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 76%