Cape Fear (2001, DVD)

Master filmmaker Martin Scorcese brings heart-pounding suspense to one of the most acclaimed thrillers of all time!

Okay, actually, I just read that line off the back of the video box. But it IS true, you know. True, the original CAPE FEAR *already* had plenty of heart-pounding suspense, so it would be hard to *bring* heart-pounding suspense to a movie that already *has* it. (Like the asterisks? Nice touch?) In fact, I gotta say, the original CAPE FEAR (1962, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck star, J. Lee Thompson directs. And all that off the top of my head. Boo-yah!) is one of my very favorite movies of all time. Especially Robert Mitchum s performance, because that just freaks me out.

THE PLOT

Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) is a lawyer with a perfect family life--except for a couple things. His daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis) is a pothead and his wife Leigh (Jessica Lange) is a chain-smoker who hates him because he slept with someone else like ten years ago. It doesn t help matters any that a vicious psychopath (Robert De Niro) is out of jail after 14 years and hell-bent on getting revenge on Sam. How you feelin now, Sam?

Except Max (De Niro) isn t your typical psychopath--with the obvious exceptions that he rapes women, is stalking a lawyer, and has a God complex. Thing is, Max stalks within the limits of the law. He hangs around the same places Sam and his family do, he talks to Sam s young daughter while posing as a teacher (and shares a joint with her--okay, he s not TOTALLY inside the law), kills the family dog, that kind of thing. Okay, he s not so much within the limits of the law as he is really good at not getting caught.

But Sam is more outside the boundaries of the law than Max is, because he gets all protective of his family and does all sorts of crazy stuff, like punching Max out in the middle of a Fourth of July parade and directly threatening him in a nightclub. He also buys a gun and fully intends on shooting Cady if he ever sees him again. Soon, however, Sam realizes that he s legally powerless to stop Cady s psychological torture. Hey, when you can t settle for legal, the next best thing is illegal, right? Of course it is, and Sam thinks so too.

And I ll leave the plot summary on that cliffhanger of a note. Now, you re wetting yourselves in anticipation, and I m proud of myself for it. Bwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaa!

END OF PLOT SYNOPSIS

Now, let me re-iterate for the record just how very much I love the original CAPE FEAR movie. I even wrote a review on it that you can read, although it s probably pretty bad because I wrote it awhile ago. I do, however, have an equal amount of affinity for this one, if for slightly different reasons.

First off, getting Marty Scorcese on board for this little shindig was a great idea, since Marty has style galore and chops to boot. He s, like, the king of modern crime pictures, so it s no surprise that he would be the logical choice to remake a classic crime movie. Of course, Marty tends to be one of those directors that only get their respect for their big movies, while their lesser ones get ignored. You ll hear lots of people rave about GOODFELLAS and MEAN STREETS and such, but do they ever take notice of three of his best films, CAPE FEAR, THE KING OF COMEDY, and AFTER HOURS? Of course not.

Fortunately, I have chosen to take notice of CAPE FEAR, and I m so very glad that I did, because Marty s remake is great. It s significantly different than the 1962 original, however. The old Sam Bowden was a happy pappy family man. He had a lovely wife and daughter, and they were so close to each other and so nice to each other one might think they were made of porcelain. This new Sam Bowden has more internal conflict. The new Sam has cheated on his wife. His wife is a working woman (advertising) who blows up at Sam several times and tosses a couple truck-driver obscenities in his direction. His daughter is a troubled teen who finds herself in trouble after being caught smoking weed. She has direct contact with Max Cady, and he gets under her skin. She takes a liking to him, after they, in a rather disturbing scene, share a discussion, a joint, and a kiss. Needless to say, Marty Scorcese s new take on this film is even more sordid than the original. However, despite all the new twists thrown in here, this new CAPE FEAR is more literal and less visceral than the original. Whereas the CAPE FEAR of 1962 gave subtle hints at the possibility of rape, the 1991 version addresses it outright. Max Cady is a psychotic, a rapist, and a hardened criminal, period. And where the original CAPE FEAR had ever-so-subtle off-screen violence, the violent scenes in this one are bloodbaths. This isn t a CAPE FEAR of black eyes and underwater strangulation; this is a CAPE FEAR where people s heads catch fire, people s throats are slit with piano wire, and a man is beaten with baseball bats and chains, and all of it is shown directly. Needless to say, the CAPE FEAR of 1991 earns its R-rating with a few moments of kiddie-banishing violence.

However, although the 90 s updating of CAPE FEAR is different than the original, it s certainly not worse. I d even put them on around the same level, controversy though that may stir up. I mean, what obviously pushes the original up a wee bit higher is Robert Mitchum s amazing tour de force performance, one of the most amazing and brilliant male performances I ve ever seen. Robert De Niro s Max Cady is more of a brute than Mitchum s. He has a more violent way of doing things. He s still frightening, of course. Most accomplished actors could make this character frightening. De Niro s a fine actor, though, and a great choice. The whole cast is great, really. Nick Nolte is an obvious contrast from Gregory Peck. Peck s steely determination and no-nonsense way of going about things is slightly less realistic than Nick Nolte s. Nolte is a tormented man; with more thought of what could happen to his family he further loses his grip on his mind. Cady unravels him. He becomes irrational when faces with extraordinary circumstances--when he finds that Cady has invaded his home and killed his housekeeper and police protection, he storms out the front door and begins blindly shooting, shouting Cady s name. And I find that more realistic than the unshakable everyman. I mean, if you found that someone had broken into your house and killed someone, taking someone s life, and getting blood all over your kitchen floor to boot, wouldn t YOU want to shoot something?

Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis supporting roles are great as well. I mean, Lewis even got an Oscar nom. They re more complex than the roles of wife and daughter in the original film. They re more human. They doubt Sam sometimes, and sometimes rebel against him if they feel he s made a bad decision. They re feistier as well--the wife and daughter in the original were merely victims.

Few people can do what Martin Scorcese did with CAPE FEAR. Few can take such a great, great movie and make it into something just as great (certainly not Gus Van Sant, *cough*PSYCHO!*cough*). Marty Scorcese takes this film and makes it his own. It s a Martin Scorcese Movie, not a Remake Of An Old Gregory Peck Movie. It s different, it s weird, it s sordid, it s disturbing, it s chilling, it s violent, it s incredibly suspenseful, it s everything a modern film noir is supposed to be.

Five stars, baby, and I m sticking with that, too.