''Cape Fear'' is a 1962 American

psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre freque ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by J. Lee Thompson, from a screenplay by James R. Webb, adapting the 1957 novel '' The Executioners'' by John D. MacDonald. It stars

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...

as Sam Bowden, an attorney and family man who is stalked by a violent psychopath and ex-con named Max Cady (played by Robert Mitchum), who is bent on revenge for Bowden's role in his conviction eight years prior. The film co-stars

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer, and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan (singer), Helen ...

and features Lori Martin,

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...

, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, and Barrie Chase in supporting roles. Produced by Peck's company Melville Productions and distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, the film includes several key cast and crew who had previously worked with director

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

, including editor George Tomasini and composer

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in film scoring. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely regarde ...

. J. Lee Thompson's direction was also strongly influenced by Hitchcock. The film was released on June 15, 1962. It received positive reviews from critics, who highlighted Peck and Mitchum's performances. A remake of the same name was released in 1991, directed by

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

and starring Nick Nolte and

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director, and film producer. He is considered to be one of the greatest and most influential actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of List of awards and ...

in the lead roles. Peck, Mitchum, and Balsam all appeared as different characters in the remake.Kirsten Thompson, ''Cape Fear'' and Trembling: Familial Dread; In ''Literature and Film: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Film Adaptation'', Edited by Robert Stam, Alessandra Raengo, Blackwell Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0631230556 (pp.126-147)

Plot

In Southeast Georgia, Max Cady is released from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

. He promptly tracks down Sam Bowden, an attorney whom he holds personally responsible for his conviction because Bowden interrupted his attack and testified against him. Cady begins to stalk and subtly threaten Bowden’s family, including his wife, Peggy, and 14-year-old daughter, Nancy. He kills the family dog, though Bowden cannot prove that Cady did it. A friend of Bowden, Police Chief Mark Dutton, attempts to intervene on Bowden's behalf, but he cannot prove Cady guilty of any crime. Bowden hires private detective Charlie Sievers. Cady brutally rapes a young woman, Diane Taylor, when he brings her home, but neither the private detective nor Bowden can persuade her to testify. While Nancy is waiting in a car one day, Cady begins to walk near her, causing her to run and end up almost getting hit by a car. Bowden takes matters into his own hands by hiring three thugs to attack Cady and coerce him to leave town, but the plan backfires when Cady manages to fight back and get the better of all three. Cady's attorney vows to have Bowden disbarred. Fearing for Peggy's and Nancy's safety, Bowden takes them to their houseboat in the Cape Fear region of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. In an attempt to trick Cady, Bowden makes it seem as though he has gone to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He fully expects Cady to follow his wife and daughter, and he plans to kill Cady to end the battle. On a dark night, Bowden and local deputy Kersek hide in the swamp nearby, but Cady realizes that Kersek is there and drowns him, leaving no evidence of a struggle. Eluding Bowden and setting the houseboat adrift down the current, Cady first attacks Peggy on the boat, causing Bowden to go to her rescue. Meanwhile, Cady swims back to shore to attack Nancy. Bowden realizes what has happened, and also swims ashore. The two men engage in a final fight on the riverbank. Bowden manages to grab his gun, which he had dropped, and shoots Cady, wounding and incapacitating him. Cady tells Bowden, "Finish the job", but Bowden decides to do the thing that Cady earlier told him would be unbearableput him in prison for the rest of his life, to "count the years, the months, the hours until the day you rot". In the morning light, the Bowden family are together on a boat, traveling with police back to port.

Cast

In addition, Edward Platt, the future " Chief" on the television series ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the Spy fiction, secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Bu ...

'', and November 1958 ''Playboy'' Playmate centerfold Joan Staley make brief appearances as a judge and a waitress, respectively.

Production

Development

Cornel Wilde Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited ap ...

acquired the rights to John D. MacDonald's novel ''The Executioners'' for $30,000 in 1958. Gregory Peck had his own production company, Melville Productions, in partnership with Sy Bartlett, which had made ''

The Big Country ''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, and starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Charles Bickford. The supporting cast features Burl Ives and Chuck Connors. F ...

'' and '' Pork Chop Hill'' and they later purchased the rights. They planned to make it after '' The Guns of Navarone''. Peck was impressed by J. Lee Thompson's work on that film and hired him for ''Cape Fear''. Peck said his goal was to make "first class professional entertainment intelligently done." He was responsible for the title of the film, as he found the novel title "kind of a turn-off" and happened to find the Cape Fear region when looking for Atlantic coast locations.

Casting

Telly Savalas was screen tested for the role, but later played private eye Charlie Sievers. Robert Mitchum refused to play Max Cady when he was first offered the part, but eventually accepted it after Peck and Thompson delivered him flowers and a case of bourbon. Thompson wanted Hayley Mills, whom he had cast in '' Tiger Bay'', to play the daughter, but Mills was unavailable. Polly Bergen signed in December 1960. It was her first film in eight years.

Filming

Principal photography of ''Cape Fear'' began on April 6 and ended in June 1961. Thompson envisioned the film in black and white, believing that shooting the film in color would lessen the atmosphere. As an

fan, he wanted to have Hitchcockian elements in the film, such as unusual lighting angles, an eerie musical score, closeups, and subtle hints rather than graphic depictions of the violence Cady has in mind for the family. Hitchcock collaborators Robert F. Boyle and George Tomasini served as production designer and editor, and his regular composer

wrote the score. The outdoor scenes were filmed on location in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Brita ...

;

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

; and the Universal Studios backlot at

Universal City, California Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley. Approximately within and immediately outside the area is the property of Universal Pictures NBCUniversal's film studio, one of the five major film studios in the United ...

. The indoor scenes were done at Universal Studios Soundstage. Mitchum had a real-life aversion to Savannah, where as a teenager, he had been charged with vagrancy and put on a chain gang. This resulted in a number of the outdoor scenes being shot at Ladd's Marina in Stockton, including the culminating conflict on the houseboat at the end of the movie. The scene in which Mitchum attacks Polly Bergen's character on the houseboat was almost completely improvised. Before the scene was filmed, Thompson suddenly told a crew member: "Bring me a dish of eggs!" Mitchum's rubbing the eggs on Bergen was not scripted and Bergen's reactions were real. She also suffered back injuries from being knocked around so much. She felt the impact of the "attack" for days. While filming the scene, Mitchum cut open his hand, leading Bergen to recall: "his hand was covered in blood, my back was covered in blood. We just kept going, caught up in the scene. They came over and physically stopped us." In the source novel '' The Executioners'', by John D. MacDonald, Cady was a soldier

court-martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the arme ...

ed and convicted on then Lieutenant Bowden's testimony for the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl. The censors stepped in, banned the use of the word "rape", and stated that depicting Cady as a soldier reflected adversely on U.S. military personnel.

Music

, as often in his scores, uses a reduced version of the symphony orchestra. Here, other than a 46-piece string section (slightly larger than usual for film scores), he adds four

flutes The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

(doubling on two piccolos, two

alto flute The alto flute is an instrument in the Western concert flute family, pitched below the standard C flute and the uncommon flûte d'amour. It is the third most common member of its family after the standard C flute and the piccolo. It is chara ...

s in G, and two bass flutes in C) and eight

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

s. No use is made of further wind instruments or percussion. In his 2002 book ''A Heart at Fire's Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann'', Stephen C. Smith writes:

"Yet Herrmann was perfect for ''Cape Fear'' ... Herrmann's score reinforces ''Cape Fear's'' savagery. Mainly a synthesis of past devices, its power comes from their imaginative application and another ingenious orchestration ... a rehearsal for his similar orchestration on Hitchcock's '' Torn Curtain'' in 1966. Like similar 'psychological' Herrmann scores, dissonant string combinations suggest the workings of a killer's mind (most startlingly in a queasy device for
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
and bass viols as Cadey prepares to attack the prostitute). Hermann's prelude searingly establishes the dramatic conflict: descending and ascending chromatic voices move slowly towards each other from their opposite registers, finally crossing–just as Boden and Cadey's game of cat-and-mouse will end in deadly confrontation."

Release

Censorship

Although the word "rape" was entirely removed from the script before shooting, the film still enraged the censors, who worried that "there was a continuous threat of sexual assault on a child." To accept the film, British censors required extensive editing and deleting of specific scenes. After making around 6 minutes of cuts, the film still nearly garnered a British X rating (meaning at the time, "Suitable for those aged 18 and older", not necessarily meaning there was sexually explicit or violent content). Thompson said he had to make 161 cuts; the censor argued it was fifteen main cuts but admitted they took 5 minutes. The censor said this was primarily because the film involved threat of sexual assault against a child.

Critical response

Upon its release, the film received positive but cautious feedback from critics due to the film's content.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' praised the "tough, tight script", as well as the film's "steady and starkly sinister style." He went on to conclude his review by saying, "this is really one of those shockers that provokes disgust and regret." The entertainment-

trade magazine A trade magazine, also called a trade journal or trade paper (colloquially or disparagingly a trade rag), is a magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who work in a particular tradesman, trade or industry. The collective term ...

'' Variety'' reviewed the film as "competent and visually polished", while commenting on Mitchum's performance as a "menacing omnipresence."

Home media

''Cape Fear'' was first made available on VHS on March 1, 1992. On May 14, 1992, it was released on laserdisc. It was later re-released on VHS, as well as DVD, on September 18, 2001. The film was released onto

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

on January 8, 2013. It contains production photos and a "making-of" featurette.

Remake

A remake of the same name was released in 1991, attributing both MacDonald's novel and Webb's 1962 screenplay as source material. Directed by

and written by Wesley Strick, the film stars Nick Nolte as Bowden,

as Cady,

Jessica Lange Jessica Phyllis Lange (; born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. With a career spanning over five decades, she is known for her roles Jessica Lange on screen and stage, on stage and screen. She has received List of awards and nominati ...

as Bowden's wife (renamed 'Leigh') and

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress, singer and musician. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark plots, themes and settings. Lewis gained prominence in American cinema during t ...

as his daughter (renamed 'Danielle'). Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Balsam all make

cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

s, and

's original score was adapted and re-orchestrated by

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

. The film makes several notable changes to the story, namely by changing Sam Bowden to Cady's former defense attorney, who secretly and deliberately sabotaged his client's case to ensure a conviction. Cady dies during the film's climax, after the houseboat sinks. The remake also combines Charlie Sievers and Deputy Kersek into a single character - Claude Kersek (played by Joe Don Baker).

Legacy

Although it makes no acknowledgement of ''Cape Fear'', the episode "The Force of Evil" from the 1977 NBC television series ''

Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected ''Quinn Martins Tales of the Unexpected'' is an American Horror film, horror and Science fiction film, science fiction Anthology series#Television, anthology television series produced by Quinn Martin, and hosted and narrated by William Conrad. ...

'' uses virtually the same plot, merely introducing an additional supernatural element to the released prisoner.John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Cult Movies and Classic TV: CULT TV FLASHBACK # 54: Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (1977)
/ref>Muir, John Kenneth, ''Terror Television: American Series 1970-1999'', Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001.
. Not paginated. The film and its remake serve as the basis for the 1993 ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'' episode " Cape Feare" in which

Sideshow Bob Robert Underdunk "Bob" Terwilliger Jr., Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, better known as Sideshow Bob, is a recurring antagonist in the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Kelsey Grammer and first appeared in the episode "The ...

, recently released from prison, stalks the Simpson family in an attempt to kill Bart. The episode, and both films, serve as inspiration for Anne Washburn's play '' Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play''. In April 2007, ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' selected Cady as one of the 10 best villains in cinema history. Specifically, the scene where Cady attacks Sam's family was ranked number 36 on Bravo's '' 100 Scariest Movie Moments'' in 2004. A consumer poll on the

Internet Movie Database IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

rates ''Cape Fear'' as the 65th-best trial film, although the trial scenes are merely incidental to the plot. The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in these lists: * 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #61 * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains: ** Max Cady – #28 Villain

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control 1960s American films 1960s English-language films 1960s legal films 1962 horror films 1960s psychological thriller films 1962 films American black-and-white films American films about revenge American legal films American legal thriller films American horror thriller films American psychological thriller films Film censorship in the United Kingdom Films about families Films about home invasion Films about rape in the United States Films about stalking Films based on American novels Films based on thriller novels Films based on works by John D. MacDonald Films directed by J. Lee Thompson Films produced by Gregory Peck Films scored by Bernard Herrmann Films set in Georgia (U.S. state) Films set in North Carolina Films set on boats Films shot in California Films shot in Georgia (U.S. state) Films shot in Savannah, Georgia Films with screenplays by James R. Webb Melville Productions films Southern Gothic films Universal Pictures films English-language horror films English-language thriller films Southern noir films