Cape Fear (1991 film)

Cape Fear is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a remake of the 1962 film of the same name, which was based on the 1957 novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. The film stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, and Juliette Lewis. Robert Mitchum has a small role in the film, while Gregory Peck (in his final theatrical film role) and Martin Balsam make cameo appearances, all three having starred in the original film.

The film tells the story of a convicted violent rapist who, by using his newfound knowledge of the law and its numerous loopholes, seeks vengeance against a former public defender whom he blames for his 14-year imprisonment due to purposefully faulty defense tactics used during his trial.

Cape Fear marks the seventh collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro. The film was a commercial success and received generally positive reviews from critics. It was nominated for several awards, including the Oscars and Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis).

Plot
In 1977, Max Cady was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the rape and battery of a 16-year-old girl. His attorney Sam Bowden was appalled by Cady's crimes and hid evidence of the victim's promiscuity, which might have reduced Cady's sentence or even secured his acquittal. Bowden assumes that Cady, who was illiterate at the time of the trial, is unaware of the shoddy defense he received. However, unbeknownst to Bowden, Cady is an intelligent and single-minded psychopath. While in prison, Cady taught himself to read and discovered the evidence that Bowden had hidden. He studied law and even attempted several unsuccessful appeals of his own case.

After finishing his sentence, Cady tracks down Bowden, who resides in New Essex, North Carolina, with his wife Leigh and 15-year-old daughter Danielle ("Danny").

Cady begins to stalk and terrorize the Bowden family. After the family dog is poisoned, Bowden tries to have Cady arrested, but Police Lieutenant Elgart reminds Bowden that there is no evidence of a crime. Cady crosses paths with Lori Davis, a courthouse clerk who has a crush on Bowden. Cady rapes, disfigures and nearly beats her to death. Davis refuses to press charges out of fear that their ongoing flirtation will become public. Dismissing Elgart's implicit suggestion to use his family as bait and as an excuse for a justifiable homicide, Bowden hires private investigator Claude Kersek to follow Cady.

Impersonating her new drama teacher, Cady approaches Danny and seduces her. When Bowden becomes aware of this, he agrees with Kersek to have Cady beaten up. Bowden gives Cady a final warning, which Cady secretly records.

Kersek's hired thugs ambush Cady; however, Cady overpowers and viciously beats them. Cady uses Bowden's recorded threats and exaggerates his injuries to file for a restraining order against Bowden. Cady's attorney petitions the ABA Ethics Committee for Bowden's disbarment, triggering a two-day emergency meeting in Raleigh.

Anticipating Cady's intention to strike while Bowden is away, Kersek and Bowden fake his departure. They wait in the Bowden house for Cady to break in to shoot him in self-defense. However, Cady sneaks in and kills the housekeeper Graciela. Donning her clothes, he ambushes and kills Kersek. Horrified after discovering the bodies, the Bowdens flee to their houseboat docked upstate along the Cape Fear River, not knowing that Cady has strapped himself to their car's undercarriage and eventually tracks down their houseboat.

On the boat, Cady incapacitates Bowden and prepares to rape Leigh and Danny in front of him. Danny sets Cady on fire by spraying him with lighter fluid while he lights a cigar, causing him to jump off the boat. Cady clings to a rope and pulls himself back on board. As the boat is rocked by a violent thunderstorm, a badly burned Cady puts Bowden on a mock trial at gunpoint. Beating Bowden and eventually getting him to confess that he hid evidence, Cady angrily scolds him for failing to do his duty as an attorney, sentencing him "to the ninth circle of hell".

The storm knocks Cady off his feet, allowing Bowden to gain the upper hand. As the women jump off the boat and swim to shore, Bowden cuffs Cady to the boat with his own handcuffs. When the boat hits a rock and is destroyed, the fight continues on the shore. A tide carries Cady away, and he drowns while speaking in tongues and singing the hymn "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand." Bowden washes the blood from his hands and joins the traumatized Leigh and Danny. In narration, an adult Danny states that, while the family was irreparably changed by the experience, they never spoke about it again.

Production
The film's screenplay was adapted by Wesley Strick from the original screenplay by James R. Webb, which was based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald.

Originally developed by Steven Spielberg, he eventually decided it was too violent and traded it to Martin Scorsese in exchange for Schindler's List, which Scorsese had decided not to make. Scorsese agreed to direct Cape Fear out of gratitude, as Universal had supported Scorsese during the controversy over The Last Temptation of Christ. Although Spielberg stayed on as a producer through his company Amblin Entertainment, he chose not to be credited personally on the finished film.

Although Scorsese had previously worked with Nolte in New York Stories (1989), he originally envisioned Harrison Ford in the role of Sam Bowden. However, Ford was only interested in playing Max Cady. Nick Nolte, who by contrast was more interested in playing Bowden, convinced Scorsese to cast him instead. Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon both auditioned for the part of Danielle Bowden and Spielberg reportedly wanted Bill Murray to play Cady.

Nolte lost weight for the film while Robert De Niro gained muscle; this ensured that De Niro, who was noticeably shorter than Nolte, still came across as physically threatening on screen.

The work of Alfred Hitchcock was a significant influence on the style of Cape Fear. As with the 1962 film, where director J. Lee Thompson specifically acknowledged Hitchcock's influence and employed Bernard Herrmann to write the score, Scorsese also adopted Hitchcock's style, using unusual camera angles, lighting, and editing techniques. The opening credits were designed by Saul Bass, a frequent collaborator of Hitchcock, and the link to Hitchcock was further cemented by the reuse of Herrmann's original score, albeit reworked by Elmer Bernstein. Portions of Bass's title sequences were reused from the unreleased ending to his film Phase IV.

Box office
Cape Fear collected $10.5 million during its opening weekend, ranking in first place at the box office, beating out Curly Sue. It would be overtaken by The Addams Family a week later, but still made another $10 million while staying ahead of Beauty and the Beast. The film was a box-office success, making $182,291,969 worldwide on a $35-million budget.

Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 57 reviews, with an average score of 6.8/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart and stylish, Cape Fear is a gleefully mainstream shocker from Martin Scorsese, with a terrifying Robert De Niro performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, commenting:"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."

In popular culture
The film was parodied in the 1993 Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", with Sideshow Bob in the role of Cady stalking Bart Simpson. The episode parodies several scenes from the 1991 film. This parody was itself the basis for Anne Washburn's play Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, which imagines post-apocalyptic theatre troupes attempting to recreate the episode, and by extension the two films and the novel.

In the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, the Seamus O'Grady prison introduction scene is a direct reference to Max Cady's prison-set intro.

The film was parodied as Cape Munster in the premiere episode of The Ben Stiller Show, with Ben Stiller playing an adult Eddie Munster.

The film was the inspiration for professional wrestler Dan Spivey's character Waylon Mercy in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1995, and subsequently for professional wrestler Bray Wyatt's original The Wyatt Family character in WWE in 2013.

Seinfeld also parodied the film with the 1998 episode "The Bookstore".

Television adaptation
A television adaptation was announced on November 21, 2023, with several networks in a bidding war to air it. Spielberg and Scorsese are signed on as executive producers while the showrunner is Nick Antosca. The series will be released on Apple TV+.