Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Crime Thriller
Themes: Criminal's Revenge, Stalkers, Haunted By the Past
Main Cast: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 128 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
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. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
Emphasizing dark brutality and family dysfunction, Martin Scorsese reconceived the early-'60s noir thriller Cape Fear (1991) for the far more jaded '90s. Rather than an attack on familial bliss, rapist Max Cady's vendetta against the Bowdens brings the existing rot to the surface; the diseased justice system provides an assist in the person of not only Nick Nolte's ex-public defender and philandering husband Sam Bowden, but also a slyly recast Gregory Peck as Cady's new attorney, and Robert Mitchum as a sheriff. The latent corruption reaches a peak in the creepy "seduction" scene between Robert De Niro's Cady and Juliette Lewis' Danielle Bowden; rather than a threatened innocent, she is a nubile, willing accomplice in Cady's game. Though Cady's Biblical vengeance, hellfire and brimstone tattoos, and legitimate beef with Sam initially make him a compelling villain, the over-the-top violence and horror movie grossness ultimately undermine the story's chilling elements, turning it into a rote genre piece that pales next to Scorsese's earlier work. Executed with technical aplomb, complete with Bernard Herrmann's original 1962 score recreated by Elmer Bernstein, Cape Fear became Scorsese's biggest box-office success (and fodder for a hilarious parody on TV's The Simpsons). ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Illeana Douglas - Lori Davis; Robert Mitchum - Lieutenant Elgart; Gregory Peck - Lee Heller; Martin Balsam - Judge; Fred Dalton Thompson - Tom Broadbent; Zully Montero - Graciella; Rod Ball - Prisoner; W. Paul Bodie - Prisoner; Parris Buckner - Racquetball Colleague; Forest Burton - Prisoner; Kate Colburn - Waitress; Ken Collins - 3rd Big Man; Paul Froehler - Parade Watcher; Robert L. Gerlach - Arresting Officer; Craig Henne - Prisoner; Bruce E. Holdstein - Arresting Officer; Tamara Jones - Ice Cream Cashier; Will Knickerbocker - Detective; Joel Kolker - Corrections Officer; Billy Lucas - 2nd Big Man; Margot Moreland - Secretary; Elizabeth Moyer - Ticket Agent; Paul Nagle, Jr. - Parade Watcher; Mary Ellen O'Brien - Parade Watcher; Linda Perri - Ticket Agent; Edgar Allan Poe IV - Prisoner; Roger Pretto - Racquetball Colleague; Catherine Scorsese - Fruit Stand Customer; Charles Scorsese - Fruit Stand Customer; Domenica Scorsese - Danny's Girlfriend; Garr Stevens - 1st Big Man; Richard Wasserman - Parade Watcher; Jodie Wilson - Parade Watcher; Antoni Corone - Corrections Officer; Ellen Lewis; Jackie Davis - Jimmy the Dockmaster; Chad Dowdell - Jim (uncredited)
Credit
Jack Gammon Taylor, Jr. - Art Director, Rita Ryack - Costume Designer, Joseph P. Reidy - First Assistant Director, Martin Scorsese - Director, Thelma Schoonmaker - Editor, Kathleen Kennedy - Executive Producer, Frank Marshall - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Musical Direction/Supervision, Elizabeth Lambert - Makeup, Henry Bumstead - Production Designer, Freddie Francis - Cinematographer, Barbara de Fina - Producer, Steven Spielberg - Producer, Alan Hicks - Set Designer, J.B. Jones - Special Effects, Tod A. Maitland - Sound/Sound Designer, Leon Delaney - Stunts, Deborah Lee - Unit Production Manager, Wesley Strick - Screenwriter, William McConnell - First Assistant Camera, Bernard Herrmann - Featured Music, John D. MacDonald - Book Author
