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Cape Fear [1991]


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of J. Lee Thompson's 1962 thriller dabbles a bit in some fascinating psychological crosscurrents between its characters, but it finally trades in all that rich material for extensive and gratuitous violence. Robert De Niro plays a serial rapist released from prison after 14 years. Angry because his appalled attorney (Nick Nolte) made it easy for him to be convicted, this monster is out to hurt Nolte's character through his wife (Jessica Lange) and daughter (Juliette Lewis). The themes of interlocking guilt and anger between these people suggests a smart film in the making. But the final act, set on a boat with De Niro's vengeful pervert attacking Nolte and the two women, takes a more unfortunate direction. Stick with the original (which starred Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, each of whom make a cameo appearance in this film). --Tom Keogh


No justice for the crooked lawyer
Review date: 2008-04-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

The very logic of the film is quite common (Stephen King or Richard Bachman among many others have used it in his novel Thinner). A criminal is sentenced to a long term in prison but the sentence is all the longer because the criminal's lawyer decided that since his client was guilty he could forget some important element that would have changed the length of the prison term. The prisoner gets out of prison one day and comes back to haunt the lawyer and get his vengeance. That's when the film gets particularly nasty and the lawyer reveals himself quite ugly when fear grasps his guts, revealing the little trust he has in justice and the police. And sure enough the end will be positive for that ugly character of a lawyer who deserved to really suffer and die. But that's when Scorsese plays with our nerves and makes the lawyer's daughter fall in love with the criminal for all the bad reasons you can imagine but then she will turn nasty with him for all the good reasons you may find. In other words everything is upside down and nothing will ever bring them back upside up because what counts is what we have in our minds and memories and not what the world believes. A great small little film that does hold us in suspense and apprehension.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


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Reviews


A real Thriller
Review date: 2008-02-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

'Cape Fear' came out at around the same time as 'The Silence of the lambs' and 'Misery' and it was one of those really memorable chillers that nothing has touched ever since. The thing that really interested me was the coming together of Martin Scorsese and Amblin Entertainment (Spielberg's company). Totally different ways of film making but it really works in this movie. It is really frightening and disturbing at times but is without a doubt of the the best horror/thrillers ever made.

Remake of a 1962 classic
Review date: 2007-09-30 Rating: 8 out of 10

Here, a very dangerous and evil man named Max Cady (played in one of the best villain roles of the 90's by Robert De Niro) gets out of jail after 14 years of imprisonment, and decides to get vengeance on the lawyer (Nick Nolte) and his family (Jessica Lange the mother and a young and supple Juliette Lewis as the daughter). At times the film is surprisingly slow, but the film is never boring, and suspense is always in the air; the climax/ending contains some of Scorsese and De Niro's finest work. Also, De Niro steals the show as the animal Cady by making the person who is supposed to be the hero into a flawed character, thereby turning the film almost into a Film-noir, which is quite a feat for Scorsese and company. Not perfect, but it shouldn't be.

Spine-tingling
Review date: 2007-09-23 Rating: 8 out of 10

Scorsese cut and pasted the score from J. Lee Thompson's 1962 original as well as offering small roles to Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck (who played the original Max Cady and Sam Bowden respectively), but this brash re-imagination is largely its own beast. And beast is the word: a snarling and visceral creature. It is also an exercise in sustained psychological horror, as Robert De Niro's fearsomely muscular, tattooed rapist is set free with a score to settle with his own defence lawyer (Nick Nolte).

Some have cited Scorsese's dizzying camera movements and Thelma Schoonmaker's zippy editing as crassly manipulative. But that's the point, for "manipulative" is the adjective that describes Cady best. He's a self-destructive psychotic for sure, but he intends to teach family man/adulterer Bowden a lesson about living by a principle before he goes down for good.

Scorsese's ability to wring breathless performances from his cast has rarely served him with such stark success: here we have career-best work from Nolte as well as Juliette Lewis as Bowden's teenage daughter. To coin a cringe-worthy phrase, she's a blossoming flower - the scene in which Cady lures the brace-wearing Danielle onto an eerie school theatre stage, decked out with a Hansel & Gretel set (no one claims the symbolism is subtle!), is a childhood rite of passage as seen in a nightmare; it's also very skilfully paced and played.

For all the fizz and suspense and manoeuvring, the climax, which takes place in the stormy waters off the titular cape, is somewhat disappointing. Where Lee Thompson's movie ended with a nail-biting game of cat-and-mouse in the shadowy reeds, Wesley Strick's screenplay resorts to genre convention, stripping Cady down to a babbling monster. But what an exhilarating ride it is getting there, full of memorable set-pieces interspersed with striking dreamy images.

Fantastic!
Review date: 2006-10-12 Rating: 10 out of 10

The fact that Martin Scorsese (at the time of writing, but fingers crossed for 'The Departed') has not won an oscar is about as obsurd as bob dylan never having a number 1 record, both are geniues's at their perticular medium. Scorsese's long list of films that will go down as all time classics is off the chart, Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, Mean Street and Taxi Driver to name but a few. And all these films he has teamed with the great Robert De Niro. And after watching Cape Fear, it is impossible for me to list my all time favorite films without meantioning it. This film is 1 of the best films of all time!

De Niro is terrifing as Max Cady, an ex-convict who has just serves 14 years in jail after beating and raping a 16 year old girl. Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) buried some important informaion which could of got the then illitrate Cady quite a shortened sentance. Once realised Cady seeks revenge, Has learnt how to read and write and about law and starts to terrorise the Bowdens...

The films is one of De niro's best, he delivers a stunning performance as phychopath Cady. Nick Nolte and Juliette Lewis also star.

In short, there are enough superlatives for me to use about this film. A roller coaster of a ride from start to finish. This should be in everyone's DVD collection, and if it were selling at £100 per copy, you still would get one hell of a bargin buying it!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Illeana Douglas
Nick Nolte
Robert De Niro
Joe Don Baker
Jessica Lange

Creators:
Robert De Niro (Primary Contributor)
Illeana Douglas (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Universal Pictures UK
Manufacturer: Universal Pictures UK
EAN: 5050582039696
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2005-12-05
Audience rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 122 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1991
Language: English (Original Language)

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