CAPE FEAR (1991)

Cape Fear is a 1991 film, directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a remake of the 1962 film of the same name and tells the story of a family man, a former public defender, whose family is threatened by a ex-con who wants vengeance for having been imprisoned for 14 years because of the lawyer’s purposefully faulty defense tactics, prejudicing the accused. It received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor (Robert De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Juliette Lewis). Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) is a former Atlanta public defender who seeks to start a life in corporate law for him and his family in the quiet resort town of New Essex, North Carolina. Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is a client Sam defended prior to the setting of the movie. Cady, who was being tried for the rape and battery of a 16-year-old girl, was illiterate at the time of the trial and was unable to read a report Sam kept hidden from him and the court that could have lightened his sentence or acquitted him. Now a well-read, recently-released ex-convict, Cady stalks Bowden and plans to seek vengeance for his imprisonment. The movie’s climax has the two men engaging in a showdown during a severe thunderstorm on Cape Fear. Mitchum, Peck, and Balsam all starred in the 1962 original but in different roles for the 1991 version. In the original, Mitchum was Cady and Peck was Bowden. Although a remake of the original Cape Fear, Scorsese’s update is also greatly influenced by another Mitchum film, The Night of the Hunter …