On This Day
Cape Fear released
November 15th 1991
08:56 15 November 2023
'Cape Fear' opened in theaters in the US on this day in 1991. By the early 1990’s, Martin Scorsese was firmly established, alongside Coppola and De Palma, as one of the leading figures of the new wave of modern American cinema.
Before the success of his 1990 gangster epic ‘Goodfellas’, already a contender for film of the decade, Scorsese had agreed to direct ‘Schindler’s List’ but was now apprehensive about the films subject matter, having already courted controversy with ‘Goodfellas’ and even more so with 1988’s ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’.
Steven Spielberg, meanwhile, had a change of heart about directing a remake of the 1962 psychological thriller ‘Cape Fear’ and felt he had matured enough as a filmmaker to direct ‘Schindler’s List’ having turned it down 10 years earlier. Spielberg said at the time of ‘Cape Fear’ “I just couldn’t find it inside me to make a scary movie about a family being preyed on by a maniac”.
The two directors traded scripts and Scorsese embarked on what would be, certainly in terms of it's budget and star names, his most ambitious project to date. ‘Cape Fear’ is a gripping and suspenseful thriller in the style of classic period Hitchcock.
For the role of vicious psychopath Max Cady, Spielberg had intended to cast Bill Murray but Scorsese chose instead to reunite with long term collaborator Robert De Niro, who turns in one of the best performances of his illustrious career.
Having served a 14 year sentence, convicted sex offender Cady is released from prison and immediately starts a campaign of terror against the man he holds responsible for his incarceration, his defending attorney, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Cady has spent his time behind bars learning to read and studying law and when he discovers Bowden had withheld crucial evidence, that could have seen him acquitted, is hellbent on revenge. Arriving in the town of New Essex, North Carolina, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) and teenage daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis).
Unlike the earlier film where the Bowdens are portrayed as a wholesome American family, Wesley Stricks’ screenplay presents them as flawed and dysfunctional, a marriage in crisis and both parents struggling to communicate with their daughter.
At first, Cady stays just on the right side of the law, rendering the authorities powerless to stop him, but his intimidation soon escalates into something far darker and sinister.
De Niro cuts a terrifying figure as Cady, lean and muscular, his body heavily tattooed with words of vengeance and quoting damnation from the bible. Nick Nolte played against type as Bowden, losing weight to play a role he was desperate to secure, a mess of insecurities and increasingly unable to protect his family.
In many ways ‘Cape Fear’ is a scarily effective horror film, from Cady as the monster, always lurking with evil intent, to the climactic finale as the family attempt to escape him aboard their storm ravaged houseboat.
The 1962 film is acknowledged with the casting of its stars, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam in cameo roles and also Elmer Bernsteins’ reworking of Bernard Hermanns’ original musical score.
De Niro and Lewis both received Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for their roles in what might be Scorseses’ most conventional film to date but nevertheless remains an impressive and accomplished thriller with some excellent performances from its leading players.