Rent Cape Fear (1962)

The original - better than the 1991 remake with Robert Di Niro - Cape Fear review by RP

Remade in 1991 starring Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro, this is the original 1962 version with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum.

Max Cady (the baddie, played by Robert Mitchum) is released from prison after serving 8 years for rape [Aside: the words 'rape' or 'rapist' are never mentioned in the film, courtesy of the censor. The words 'attack' and 'attacker' are used instead - but from the context it is always clear what is meant]. Baddie begins to stalk attorney Sam Bowden (the goodie, played by Gregory Peck) and his family. Bowden testified against him in his trial for an 'attack' leading to Cady's conviction.

The law can't protect Bowden's family from the stalker and neither can taking matters into his own hands. The climax comes on a houseboat on the Cape Fear River, North Carolina - or in this version, on the river bank as the two main characters fight. Clearly, it is always going to be the goodie who wins, but nevertheless the tension is maintained until the end.

Of the two versions I much prefer the original. Filmed in black and white, the acting is more restrained, the baddie more realistic - and equally as menacing. In the remake, the Robert De Niro baddie is just too over-the-top - here, while still relentlessly threatening he appears far more menacing when acted by the more restrained Robert Mitchum.

Telly Savalas (with hair!) has a small part as a private eye.

The film was given a X certificate on its release in the UK and the BBFC site lists the film as some 3 minutes shorter than the video version. Quite what was cut is not clear - by today's standards the violence is restrained, even though the subject matter is still disturbing.

Directed by British director J. Lee Thompson and well lit and photographed, this is an excellent film with a score by Bernard Herrmann that adds to the air of menace. 4/5 stars. Highly recommended.

Family Threat. - Cape Fear review by Steve

Violent action thriller set on the bayou of the American south. It is a confrontation between a progressive lawyer (Gregory Peck), and his worst possible nightmare, the vicious Max Cady (Robert Mitchum), who strolls into town straight from prison to destroy the family of the man whose evidence sent him down. Obviously, the lawman prevails but Mitchum walks away with the battle of the stars.

The noirs of the 40s/50s had been liberal films, but Cape Fear is an update of a conservative frontier western. The police won't help. The law is in the pocket of the criminal. The women can't protect themselves. Cady can't be reasoned with. He isn't a psycho because of the failure of urban planning projects. He's just a human devil and a man must defend his family with the means available, which is ultimately a handgun.

This wouldn't be the legendary thriller it is without the domineering, repulsive portrayal by Robert Mitchum, which is almost as career defining as in Night of the Hunter. Mitchum spends the last part of the film bare chested. We believe in his brawny depravity. The men hired to beat him up scatter in horror. But though his menace is muscular, it is also malevolently psychological.

Thompson wanted to make a film of Hitchcockian suspense. He doesn't quite succeed. Its threat leans too heavily on Mitchum's malign charisma, rather than technique. But he does have a score by Bernard Herrmann! In the sixties the dogs of censorship were called off. Threats of rape and paedophilia are fairly explicit. Now, thrillers about a father protecting the domestic bubble from omnipotent malice are everywhere.