Cape Fear (1991 film)

Maximilian "Max" Cady, a psychopathic rapist, is released from prison after finishing a sentence for the rape and battery of a 16-year-old girl. During his trial in Atlanta, Georgia, 14 years earlier, his public defender Samuel "Sam" Bowden was so appalled by Cady's crimes that he hid a report stating that the victim was promiscuous, which might have lightened Cady's sentence or acquitted him altogether. Bowden assumed that Cady, who was illiterate at the time of the trial, would never become aware of the report. Cady was ultimately convicted and given the maximum sentence. Cady tracks down Bowden, who is now an attorney in a private practice living in fictional New Essex, North Carolina, with his wife Leigh and their teenage daughter Danielle ("Dani"). Cady moves to New Essex and quickly makes his presence known to Bowden. He tells Bowden that he learned to read in prison, studied law and attempted several unsuccessful appeals of his case representing himself, implying that he knows about the hidden report. He soon begins to stalk and terrorize the Bowden family. After their dog, Ben, is mysteriously poisoned, Bowden tries to have Cady arrested, but Police Lieutenant Elgart states that there is no evidence that Cady is the one who poisoned Ben. Cady meets Lori Davis, a courthouse clerk who is attracted to Bowden. Cady brutally attacks and rapes her. Davis refuses to press charges due to fear that her ongoing flirtation with Bowden will become public. Bowden hires private investigator Claude Kersek to follow Cady. Impersonating her drama teacher, Cady approaches Dani and kisses her. When Bowden learns of this, he agrees with Kersek to have Cady beaten up to intimidate him and coerce him into leaving town. Before the beating, Bowden gives Cady a final warning to leave him and his family alone and to leave New Essex, threatening physical harm against Cady if he does not. He is unaware that Cady uses a tape recorder to record the threat. Kersek's hired thugs ambush Cady, but Cady unexpectedly fights back and viciously beats them instead. Cady uses his recording of Bowden and exaggerations of his injuries to file for a restraining order against him, which is granted. Cady's attorney petitions the ABA Ethics Committee for Bowden's disbarment, triggering a two-day emergency meeting in Raleigh. Thinking that Cady may break into the Bowden home while Bowden is away, Kersek and Bowden fake his departure. They wait to see if Cady will break in, at which point they intend to shoot him in self-defense. Cady sneaks in undetected and kills the housekeeper, Graciela. Donning her clothes, he blindsides and kills Kersek before fleeing. After discovering the bodies, the Bowdens flee to their houseboat docked upstate along the Cape Fear River, not knowing that Cady has strapped himself to their car's undercarriage. While Bowden is on deck and Leigh and Dani are in the cabin, Cady attacks Bowden, choking him unconscious before tying him up. He severs the rope anchoring the boat, setting it adrift into a violent thunderstorm. Cady drags Bowden into the cabin and prepares to rape his victims. Dani sets Cady on fire by squirting lighter fluid onto him as he lights a cigar, causing him to jump off the boat. Leigh and Dani untie Bowden, who attempts to steer the boat back to shore. Cady, however, manages to grab a rope attached to the boat and pulls himself back on board. As the boat is rocked by the storm, a badly burned Cady puts Bowden on a mock trial at gunpoint. Beating Bowden into confessing that he hid the report, Cady scolds him for failing to do his duty as an attorney, sentencing him "to the ninth circle of hell." The storm knocks Cady off his feet, allowing Bowden to gain the upper hand. As Leigh and Dani swim to shore, Bowden cuffs Cady to the boat. The boat hits a rock and is destroyed, its pieces washing to shore. Bowden grabs a large rock to bring down on Cady's head. Just as he slams it down, the current carries Cady and the wreckage away from shore. As the boat sinks, Cady speaks madly in tongues and sings the hymn "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand." Cady exchanges a final glare with Bowden before being pulled underwater. Bowden wipes Cady's blood from his hands and joins Leigh and Dani. A voiceover narration from Dani states that the family never spoke about the ordeal, at least not to one another. ==Cast==

The film's screenplay is adapted by Wesley Strick from the original screenplay by James R. Webb, which is based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. Originally developed by Steven Spielberg, he eventually decided that it was too violent and traded it to Martin Scorsese in exchange for ''Schindler's List, which Scorsese had decided not to make. Scorsese agreed to direct Cape Fear out of gratitude, as Universal had supported Scorsese during the controversy over The Last Temptation of Christ.'' Although Spielberg stayed as a producer through his company Amblin Entertainment, he chose not to be credited personally on the finished film. Although Scorsese had previously worked with Nick Nolte in New York Stories (1989), he originally envisioned Harrison Ford in the role of Sam Bowden. However, Ford was interested only in playing Max Cady. Nolte, who, by contrast, was more interested in playing Bowden, convinced Scorsese to cast him instead. Several girls auditioned for the part of Danielle Bowden, including Drew Barrymore and Reese Witherspoon, and Spielberg reportedly wanted Bill Murray to play Cady. Nolte lost weight for the film while Robert De Niro gained muscle; this ensured that De Niro, who was noticeably shorter than Nolte, still came across as physically threatening on screen. The work of Alfred Hitchcock was a significant influence on the style of Cape Fear. As with the 1962 film, in which director J. Lee Thompson specifically acknowledged Hitchcock's influence, and employed Bernard Herrmann to write the score, Scorsese also adopted Hitchcock's style, using unusual camera angles, lighting and editing techniques. The opening credits were designed by Saul Bass, a frequent collaborator of Hitchcock, and the link to Hitchcock was further cemented by the reuse of Herrmann's original score, albeit reworked by Elmer Bernstein. Portions of Bass's title sequences were reused from the unreleased ending to his film Phase IV. ==Release==

Home media For its 10th anniversary, Cape Fear was released on a THX certified two-disc Collector's Edition DVD on September 18, 2001. ==Reception==

Box office Cape Fear collected $10.5 million during its opening weekend, ranking first at the box office, beating Curly Sue. It was overtaken by The Addams Family a week later, but still made another $10 million while staying ahead of Beauty and the Beast. The film was a box-office success, making $182,291,969 worldwide on a $35-million budget. Critical response On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 77%, based on 60 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Smart and stylish, Cape Fear is a gleefully mainstream shocker from Martin Scorsese, with a terrifying Robert De Niro performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, commenting: In 2015, Taste of Cinema ranked the film 13th among the "30 Great Psychopath Movies That Are Worth Your Time", and GamesRadar+ named Cady one of the "50 Creepiest Movie Psychopaths". Awards and honors ==In popular culture==

The film is parodied in the 1993 The Simpsons episode "Cape Feare", with Sideshow Bob in the role of Cady stalking Bart Simpson. The episode parodies several scenes from the 1991 film. The parody was itself the basis for Anne Washburn's play Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, which imagines post-apocalyptic theater troupes attempting to recreate the episode, and by extension, the two films and the novel. In the 2003 film ''Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'', the Seamus O'Grady prison introduction scene is a direct reference to Max Cady's prison-set intro. The film is parodied as Cape Munster in the premiere episode of The Ben Stiller Show, with Ben Stiller playing an adult Eddie Munster stalking the family of a studio executive (played by Bob Odenkirk) out of anger for his show being canceled. The film was the inspiration for professional wrestler Dan Spivey's character Waylon Mercy in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) in 1995, and subsequently, for professional wrestler Bray Wyatt's original The Wyatt Family character in WWE in 2014. Seinfeld also parodied the film with the 1998 episode "The Bookstore". ==Television adaptation==

On November 21, 2023, a television adaptation was announced, with several networks in a bidding war to air it. Spielberg and Scorsese are signed on as executive producers while the showrunner is Nick Antosca. The series will be released on Apple TV+. On November 18, 2024, it was revealed that Javier Bardem was cast as Max Cady. On February 11, 2025, it was revealed that Amy Adams was cast as Amanda Bowden. Both Adams and Bardem executive produce the series, in addition to starring. On February 25, 2025, Patrick Wilson joined the cast in the series. Wilson's role had yet to be officially disclosed. On April 7, 2025, Wilson's role was revealed as Tom Bowden. It was also revealed that CCH Pounder joined the cast, with Morten Tyldum now on board to executive produce and direct the pilot. The series is set to premiere on June 5, 2026. ==See also==