Cape Fear (1962 film): Difference between revisions

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* [[Tattooed Crook]]: Max Cady.
* [[Tattooed Crook]]: Max Cady.
* [[Underside Ride]]: Max Cady ties himself to the bottom Sam Bowden's car, causing the Bowden family to take him directly to the houseboat. This probably the most parodied element of the film.
* [[Underside Ride]]: Max Cady ties himself to the bottom Sam Bowden's car, causing the Bowden family to take him directly to the houseboat. This probably the most parodied element of the film.
* [[Well Intentioned Extremist]]: While it was highly unprofessional for Bowden to withhold evidence from the trial, it didn't excuse the fact that Cady had actually performed a brutal rape so Bowden felt Cady needed to serve the maximum sentence. Bowden defiantly points this out to Cady during the final confrontation. The nature of the evidence--the rape victim's sexual history--also helps with this, "shaming the victim" in such a sense being a particularly controversial defence in rape trials.
* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: While it was highly unprofessional for Bowden to withhold evidence from the trial, it didn't excuse the fact that Cady had actually performed a brutal rape so Bowden felt Cady needed to serve the maximum sentence. Bowden defiantly points this out to Cady during the final confrontation. The nature of the evidence--the rape victim's sexual history--also helps with this, "shaming the victim" in such a sense being a particularly controversial defence in rape trials.
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=== The 1962 film contains examples of: ===
=== The 1962 film contains examples of: ===
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* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: Inadvertently done, possibly. Disappointed because he couldn't get Hayley Mills for the role of Nancy, the director gave Lori Martin a hard time during filming, which probably resulted in her nailing every scene as the terrified, vulnerable girl.
* [[Enforced Method Acting]]: Inadvertently done, possibly. Disappointed because he couldn't get Hayley Mills for the role of Nancy, the director gave Lori Martin a hard time during filming, which probably resulted in her nailing every scene as the terrified, vulnerable girl.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Despite the overwhelming theme of sexual violence, the word "rape" is never used, nor does the dialogue get explicit. The closest the script comes is "attacked".
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Despite the overwhelming theme of sexual violence, the word "rape" is never used, nor does the dialogue get explicit. The closest the script comes is "attacked".
* [[Good Smoking Evil Smoking]]: Cady smokes Evil Cigars.
* [[Good Smoking, Evil Smoking]]: Cady smokes Evil Cigars.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]] / [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: When Cady attacks the girl at the hotel, her frantic grab at the door just pulls it shut, leaving only a narrow crack for the camera to see through.
* [[Gory Discretion Shot]] / [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: When Cady attacks the girl at the hotel, her frantic grab at the door just pulls it shut, leaving only a narrow crack for the camera to see through.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: Cady mentions that when he "visited" his ex-wife, she tried to hit him with a poker. Nancy later attempts to hold Cady off with a poker the same way.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: Cady mentions that when he "visited" his ex-wife, she tried to hit him with a poker. Nancy later attempts to hold Cady off with a poker the same way.
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* [[Private Detective]]: Telly Savalas.
* [[Private Detective]]: Telly Savalas.
* [[Rules Lawyer]]: As in ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', Gregory Peck plays one of these. He still manages to be the good guy.
* [[Rules Lawyer]]: As in ''[[To Kill a Mockingbird]]'', Gregory Peck plays one of these. He still manages to be the good guy.
* [[Screw This I'm Outta Here]]: Diane Taylor.
* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: Diane Taylor.
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Cady has several, all played for the same kind of menace as a [[Full Frontal Assault]].
* [[Shirtless Scene]]: Cady has several, all played for the same kind of menace as a [[Full Frontal Assault]].
* [[Smug Snake]]: Mitchum, to a T. That relaxed drawl of his is terrifying.
* [[Smug Snake]]: Mitchum, to a T. That relaxed drawl of his is terrifying.

Revision as of 02:56, 9 January 2014

Robert De Niro Is Staring Into Your Soul.


Cape Fear is a 1962 film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It tells the story of Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), a lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist. The rapist, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum), wants vengeance for having been imprisoned on Bowden's testimony after the latter witnessed him attempting to rape a woman. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his family to their houseboat on Cape Fear, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

The film was remade in 1991 by director Martin Scorsese, with Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro portraying Bowden and Cady. De Niro and Juliette Lewis received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for their performances. In this version, Cady is out to get Bowden because the latter, while defending Cady on a rape charge, allowed possibly-exculpatory evidence about the victim to remain secret, leading to Cady's conviction.

Both films contains examples of:

The 1991 remake contains examples of:

  • Amoral Attorney: Gregory Peck's cameo as Cady's lawyer.
  • As the Good Book Says: Cady is a fundamentalist Pentecostal Christian and often quotes the Bible with wide-eyed furor.
  • Ax Crazy
  • Chekhov's Gun: The piano wire, the gun, and the lighter fuel.
  • Composite Character: Robert De Niro's Cady combines the original with another famous villain played by Robert Mitchum; Sinister Minister Harry Powell.
  • Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are
  • Dyeing for Your Art: De Niro paid a dentist $20,000 to mess up his teeth to play long-term prison inmate Cady. Afterwards, it cost him $25,000 to have the damage fixed.
    • De Niro also had Cady's tattoos done for real (with vegetable dye, which would have faded after shooting was complete) and bulked up until he looked more physically imposing than Nick Nolte.
  • Forgotten Trope: Viewers can be somewhat mystified by the premise for why antagonist Max Cady (Robert De Niro) felt slighted by protagonist Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). At the time of release, the prior sexual history of a rape victim was a valid defense that would have lessened Cady's sentence, or might have even kept him out of jail. Nowadays, prior sexual history is inadmissable in rape cases.
  • Genius Bruiser: Cady is both in exceptionally good shape and terrifyingly smart.
  • Ironic Echo: In a meta-sense; where Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum played the upstanding lawyer and the sadistic rapist in the original, their cameo roles in the remake essentially place them on the opposite sides, with Mitchum playing a police detective sympathetic to Bowden's plight and Peck playing Cady's attorney.
  • Large Ham: De Niro, in fine form.
  • Made of Iron: Max gets beaten on for quite a while by some thugs, but as soon as he gets a weapon away from one of them, he takes them all down with ease. Later, Danielle throws some boiling water in his face, and he doesn't even blink.
  • Police Are Useless: When Bowden suspects that Cady is stalking him, the first thing he does is go to the police, but they can't do anything because they lack any evidence of wrongdoing.
  • Professional Wrestling: There wasn't any of it in the movie, but WWE based the short lived Waylon Mercy character on De Niro's portrayal of Cady.
  • Remake Cameo: The remake featured cameos by Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum, the hero and antagonist (respectively) of the original.
  • Revenge: Cady's lust for revenge against Bowden fuels the plot and hits a lot of Revenge Tropes.
  • Tattooed Crook: Max Cady.
  • Underside Ride: Max Cady ties himself to the bottom Sam Bowden's car, causing the Bowden family to take him directly to the houseboat. This probably the most parodied element of the film.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: While it was highly unprofessional for Bowden to withhold evidence from the trial, it didn't excuse the fact that Cady had actually performed a brutal rape so Bowden felt Cady needed to serve the maximum sentence. Bowden defiantly points this out to Cady during the final confrontation. The nature of the evidence--the rape victim's sexual history--also helps with this, "shaming the victim" in such a sense being a particularly controversial defence in rape trials.

The 1962 film contains examples of:

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