Cape Fear (1991)

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writers (WGA):

John D. MacDonald (novel)
James R. Webb (earlier screenplay)

Release Date:

13 noviembre 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller

Frase comercial:

There is nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light. Except fear.

Plot:

A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a 14 year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.

Plot Keywords:

Mind Game | String | Psychological Thriller | Middle Class | Family In Danger

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 8 nominations

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Mortal Sins

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Aug. 1

3:00 AM

MAX

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Max Cady
Nick Nolte	...	Sam Bowden
Jessica Lange	...	Leigh Bowden
Juliette Lewis	...	Danielle Bowden
Joe Don Baker	...	Claude Kersek
Robert Mitchum	...	Lieutenant Elgart
Gregory Peck	...	Lee Heller
Martin Balsam	...	Judge
Illeana Douglas	...	Lori Davis
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	Tom Broadbent
Zully Montero	...	Graciella
Craig Henne	...	Prisoner
Forest Burton	...	Prisoner
Edgar Allan Poe IV	...	Prisoner
Rod Ball	...	Prisoner

También conocida como:

Cabo de miedo (Argentina) (dubbed version) [es]
Cabo del miedo, El (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, and for language.

Duración:

128 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sonido:

Dolby SR

Clasificación:

Finland:K-15 (video rating) (2001) | Finland:K-16 (1992) (cut) (video rating) | Brazil:16 | Finland:K-18 (1992) (uncut) | Canada:R | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Chile:18 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Israel:16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Netherlands:16

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivialidades:

Director Trademark: [Martin Scorsese] [mother]fruit stand customer.

Goofs:

Continuity: Dani removes her retainer while on the phone with Cady, but it reappears and disappears again between shots before she finally puts it back in when she hangs up.

Quotes:

Max Cady: Granddaddy used to handle snakes in church, Granny drank strychnine. I guess you could say I had a leg up, genetically speaking.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Treis harites, Oi: Evdomi tehni: Part 2" (????)

Mortal Sins

The climaxes are emblematic of the differences between Scorcese's version and the original. In 1962, Mitchum was ordinary, ironic, sneaky. Peck was Peck. And the climax was quiet. Crickets chirped. There was no wind. Bodies crept around in black shadows or splashed together in shallow water. In this one, Nolte is a lawyer who has broken the code and DeNiro is his nemesis, tatooed, obscene, half his face burned off, a raving maniac. Not sinister, just absolutely loco. And the confrontation is situated in a howling gale, earsplitting noise, rushing rapids, the groan of fiberglass hull splitting on rocks, blood all over the place.

I don't know that one version is in any objective sense better than the other, although I vastly prefer the earlier version. I liked Mitchum's character better. He was quite ordinary in an extraordinary way. But from the beginning DeNiro seems to overplay the role. His accent, redolent of grits and red-eye gravy, seems to sit uncomfortably on him (maybe he's played in too many New York movies), whereas Mitchum's sly Southern drawl comes out oh so naturally. And that sinister grin of Mitchum's is worth a dozen lessons at the Actor's Studio.

But there is one scene in which DeNiro outdoes Mitchum in terms of sheer impact. It's when the wrecked houseboat is being swept out into the raging river with DeNiro shackled to a stanchion about to be drowned. DeNiro launches into this fit of screaming nonsense and singing gibberish hymns, insane in a way you'll never be. It's an explosive performance.

Juliette Lewis is remarkable too. Her "umms" and "ahhs" and other hesitations fit her barely nubile personality exactly. Her scene with DeNiro in the mock Schwarzwald of the high school auditorium is impossible not to admire. Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange turn in professional performances, as do the other principal actors.

I'm not sure why I like the earlier version better. Maybe because it was so awesomely simple a story compared to this one. There was good and there was evil. We all know the world doesn't work that way, but it's fascinating to watch a simple-minded tale being spun out like a well-told fairy story. This one invites us to think about things. Unlike Lori Martin in 1962, Juliette Lewis gets a temporary case of the hots for the well-read and manipulative ex-con. And unlike Peck in 1962, Nolte has committed sins. He held back information that might have helped his client, DeNiro, because he was convinced that DeNiro was guilty and should be put away. I can't figure out what Jessica Lange or the dog did, but everybody has to be redeemed anyway because of original sin. Scorcese's Catholicism may be showing.

Overall, this is flashier in every respect than the original -- more guns, more blood, more "force majeur" -- and maybe that's part of the problem. At times it looks as much like pandering to an audience of kids raised on MTV's quick cuts and sexy bodies and on Sly Stallone's action movies. I mean that at times it felt like the movie was talking down to the audience.

Still, it's an interesting movie in its own right. Not badly done. But I wish they'd stop pushing out remakes of classics. Leave well enough alone because otherwise you're liable to find yourself in Dante's Purgatorio.