Cape Fear (1962)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

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

Release Date:

1962 (Norway)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The Original Masterpiece Of Revenge, Confrontation And Murder!

Plot:

A lawyer's family is stalked by a man he once helped put in jail.

Plot Keywords:

Lawyer | Dog | Father Daughter Relationship | Police Chief | Strip Search

Cast

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

Also Known As:

The Executioners (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound 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) | Argentina:16 | Canada:PG (video rating) | Chile:18 | Norway:16 (1962) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:Approved (Certificate #20038)

Filming Locations:

Savannah, Georgia, USA

Company:

Melville-Talbot Productions

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.

Goofs:

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).

Quotes:

Diane Taylor: [Diane is cuddling with Max as he is driving] Why are we going this way?
Max Cady: Better scenery.
Diane Taylor: What would you know about scenery? Or beauty? Or any of the things that really make life worth living? You're just an animal: coarse, lustful, barbaric.
Max Cady: Keep right on talkin', honey. I like it when you run me down like that.
Diane Taylor: Max Cady, what I like about you is... you're rock bottom. I wouldn't expect you to understand this, but it's a great comfort for a girl to know she could not possibly sink any lower.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in Fatal Instinct (1993)

Mitchum was powerful in Thompson's suspenseful thriller...

Mitchum was, if anything, even more powerful in "Cape Fear," possibly because his antagonist this time was the perfectly contrasting Gregory Peck…

Mitchum played a sex criminal, freed after eight years in prison, who returned to a sleepy little town to terrorize the witness (Gregory Peck) whom he blamed for his conviction…

The ex-con uttered no threats, used no violence, broke no laws – and the police were therefore helpless… But his very presence, the tone of his voice, the look in his eyes as he turned them lazily on Peck's attractive wife and adolescent daughter showed with unmistakable and cumulative menace that he would surely take his revenge…

Peck planted his wife and daughter on a safely moored houseboat to tempt Mitchum into a trap...