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Cape Fear (1962)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
1962 (Norway) moreTagline:
The Original Masterpiece Of Revenge, Confrontation And Murder! moreUser Comments:
More than just creepy more (113 total)Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Gregory Peck | ... | Sam Bowden | |
| Robert Mitchum | ... | Max Cady | |
| Polly Bergen | ... | Peggy Bowden | |
| Lori Martin | ... | Nancy Bowden | |
| Martin Balsam | ... | Police Chief Mark Dutton | |
| Jack Kruschen | ... | Attorney Dave Grafton | |
| Telly Savalas | ... | Private Detective Charles Sievers | |
| Barrie Chase | ... | Diane Taylor | |
| Paul Comi | ... | George Garner | |
| John McKee | ... | Officer Marconi | |
| Page Slattery | ... | Deputy Kersek | |
| Ward Ramsey | ... | Officer Brown | |
| Edward Platt | ... | Judge | |
| Will Wright | ... | Dr. Pearsall | |
| Joan Staley | ... | Waitress |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
105 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Certification:
Finland:(Banned) (1962) (uncut) | Finland:K-16 (1969) (cut) | Finland:K-16 (1992) (uncut) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Germany:16 (re-rating) | Brazil:16 | Argentina:16 | Canada:PG (video rating) | Chile:18 | Norway:16 (1962) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Approved (Certificate #20038)Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Director J. Lee Thompson complained at the time that UK censor John Trevelyan had ruined the film by making extensive cuts, and the number of edits suggested ranged from 60 to over 100. Trevelyan later replied that he had made only 15 cuts, totalling around 6 minutes, with edits made to threatening dialogue and assault references, Cady's attack on Peggy, and all shots of him staring longingly at Nancy. All later UK video releases restored the cinema cuts. moreGoofs:
Revealing mistakes: For some strange reason, just after Sam shoots Cady, the shot of Cady from Sam's POV shows the branches of a bush superimposed on the bottom and left side of the frame. The tipoff is that when the camera moves the branches of the "bush" do not - they move along with the camera, as if they're glued onto the frame (which they are). moreQuotes:
Diane Taylor: [after Cady has beaten her, she prepares to leave town] You can't help me.Charles Sievers: But I can. Now you file an assault charge and Cady'll get six months in jail.
Diane Taylor: Six months! And after that... When he walked out of this room he said... he said to consider this only a sample. And from my limited knowledge of human nature, Max Cady isn't a man who makes idle threats.
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For the first time Hitchcock was decisively beaten at his own game. This is one of the tensest films ever made, and also one of the most perfectly crafted. There are so many things right about it I can afford to concentrate on just two:
(1) Sam Bowden is a firm believer in the sanctity of civil liberties until Cady starts to stalk his family - and he remains a believer even then. He is asked if he really wants the police to have the power to arrest citizens on suspicion alone; and, although his family is in danger, he cannot honestly answer yes. `Cape Fear' is clearly the product of a less bloodthirsty age. But it is the better for it: a clash between deeply held principles and deeply held desires isn't at all interesting unless it really IS a clash - unless the principles are strong enough not to give way at the first breath of wind. And damn it, Bowden is right. The police do NOT have the right to arrest Cady. The potential tragedy is genuine: not something that could be cleaned up if only so-and-so would drop a few pointless scruples.
(2) Robert Mitchum really alarms us. I think it's because his motivations are a little, but not entirely, opaque. When we first see him eyeing Bowden's teen-aged daughter, we don't know exactly what he's thinking any more than Sam does. Is he sexually attracted to her? Does he want to kill her? Rape her? Is he indifferent but just trying to get a rise out of Sam? Indeed: what, exactly, does he want to do to Sam himself? We don't know: and this uncertainty is worse than any precise knowledge.
I doubt I've said enough. `Cape Fear' is riveting from first frame to last. It's well shot, the acting is excellent, and Bernard Herrmann gives us his usual fitting score. It appeals to the intellect as much as to the pit of the stomach. Great stuff.