Cape Fear (1962)When the laws of civilized society fail to protect a man like Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) and his family from the threat of violence by a man like Max Cady (Robert Mitchum), can a compromise of ethics be far behind? Cape Fear (1962) is a psychological thriller and suspense film about an escalating conflict between the aforementioned men, a deadly game of cat and mouse between an attorney and the man who he helped incarcerate for eight years after testifying against Cady--which has burned like a roaring inferno within the ex-con, since tempered into a cold, calculating rage.
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Robert Mitchum's performance as the sinister Cady has been described as "reptilian". Consider how he stalks the Bowden family, including Sam's wife, Peggy (Polly Bergen), and their fourteen year old daughter, Nancy (Lori Martin); it is usually from a higher vantage point--like a snake lurking in a canopy--waiting to drop down and sink in his fangs. And just before the final confrontation on Cape Fear River, Cady strips down and slinks into the waters like a crocodile. Mitchum's drowsy eyes and drawling accent make him seem relaxed and erroneously non-threatening; but from the first time he strides into the courthouse and starts gaslighting Sam, it's clear that this is just camouflage for a devil posing as a man--one who effortlessly stubs the end of his cigar out with his bare hands, and doesn't even look back to help a woman dropping books on the staircase. Cady approaches women like a predatory beast, bare-chested and dripping from sweat or water, leaving women struck like deer in headlights by the combination of his oppressive masculinity and the threat of sexual violence. Sam briefly shares that the reason Max Cady bears him a grudge is because he interrupted his attack on a woman; Sam claims that he knew that Cady was the one who attacked her. Very little discussion is given to the veracity of Sam's testimony, leaving the lingering possibility for a significant part of Cape Fear that perhaps Sam reached his conclusion hastily about Cady--that he must be a menacing monster and there is a moral imperative to put him away for the good of society. The underlying spirit of the law--which Sam upholds as a part of his profession--is that someone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. But since so little is mentioned about the crime Cady was convicted of eight years prior, it casts the shadow of doubt as to whether he was evil to begin with, if it was prison that made him hateful. Whatever faint sliver of sympathy the audience might have for Cady is quickly dispelled after he reveals himself to be a genuine monster, evidenced in his abuse of a woman named Diane Taylor (Barrie Chase) who he picks up at a bar. There is little to no explicit content in Cape Fear about what horrors Cady inflicts on women like Diane, leaving the details to the audience's imagination. By insinuating these crimes, Max Cady becomes as terrible of a monster as the audience can conceive, as if the film itself were embarrassed by his depravity. The musical score by Bernard Herrmann also adds to the menacing aura of Max Cady, layering tension onto every scene--a coiled serpent ready to strike.
Cape Fear was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and adapted from a novel called "The Executioners" by John D. MacDonald; it was also remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese. Thompson's film has commonalities with the works of Alfred Hitchcock or Jacques Tourneur, like the use of dimly lit passages to underscore that no place is safe from the diabolical Cady--even in normally protected locations like home or school. The intense Max Cady recalls Charles "Uncle Charlie" Oakley from Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, although Mitchum's brutal energy makes Uncle Charlie seem milquetoast by comparison. The tension in Cape Fear ratchets up as Sam slowly descends to Cady's level, losing his faith in the law. It could be argued that Cady's larger game is to make Sam destroy himself in the process of defending his family, and Sam plays right into his hands. After Cady harangues Sam at the bowling alley while leering at Nancy, Sam consults with his friend and the Chief of Police, Mark Dutton (Martin Balsam), who exploits technically legal ways to try to discourage Cady from hanging around town. But Cady allows several of these episodes to occur so that he can build a harassment case for his ambulance chaser of a lawyer named Dave Grafton (Jack Kruschen). Dutton commiserates with Sam, commenting that "either we have too many laws or not enough" while pointing out the absurdity of a bureaucratic legal system that fails to protect its citizens and only manages to punish foolish criminals. Dutton actually suggests that Cady hire a private detective named Charlie Sievers (Telly Savalas) to tail Max Cady in the hopes of catching him in a crime. When this fails to produce meaningful results, Sievers stokes Sam's fury by giving him the contact info for a group of thugs, with the understanding that Sam will hire them to beat up Cady. Sam initially balks at the idea, but Sam's resolve crumbles after Cady terrifies Nancy at school, resulting in her getting struck by a car. Cady tortures Sam even in petty ways, like how he always addresses him as "Counselor", with an air of derision and sarcasm in his voice. He makes it clear to Sam that he cannot be bought off, and compares his desire to revenge himself against Sam as a "death by a thousand cuts". Cajoled by Cady's horrific statements and threats, Sam is pushed past his limits, and compromises his career and the financial welfare of his family by circumventing due process. He feels justified that he can overstep the law because Cady has proven himself to be such a threat that to not do anything would be no better than standing aside while Cady violates his family. Cady has capitalized on his time in the slammer, arming himself with a quick and dirty understanding of the law so that he can exploit it to his ends; but even Sam is willing to take advantage of irrelevant factors to influence his court proceedings, like leveraging the temperature of the courtroom to get the upper hand in a case. Sam ultimately lays a trap of his own for Cady, although there is something unsettling about his use of his family as bait on his houseboat, despite their feeble acquiescence to it. The kernel of the argument behind Max Cady is that despite our attempts to cultivate a society built on civilized behavior and non-aggression, we are a species that has adapted from brutal and primal ancestry, where the only law that governed predator and prey was the law of the jungle.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping suspense film that challenges the value of the law as a means of preventing evil after it has been subverted by an evil man who is both intelligent and wholly reprehensible, like Max Cady. Mitchum's performance in Cape Fear as the malevolent Cady is so intense and imposing that it positively makes your skin crawl.
Cape Fear was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and adapted from a novel called "The Executioners" by John D. MacDonald; it was also remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese. Thompson's film has commonalities with the works of Alfred Hitchcock or Jacques Tourneur, like the use of dimly lit passages to underscore that no place is safe from the diabolical Cady--even in normally protected locations like home or school. The intense Max Cady recalls Charles "Uncle Charlie" Oakley from Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt, although Mitchum's brutal energy makes Uncle Charlie seem milquetoast by comparison. The tension in Cape Fear ratchets up as Sam slowly descends to Cady's level, losing his faith in the law. It could be argued that Cady's larger game is to make Sam destroy himself in the process of defending his family, and Sam plays right into his hands. After Cady harangues Sam at the bowling alley while leering at Nancy, Sam consults with his friend and the Chief of Police, Mark Dutton (Martin Balsam), who exploits technically legal ways to try to discourage Cady from hanging around town. But Cady allows several of these episodes to occur so that he can build a harassment case for his ambulance chaser of a lawyer named Dave Grafton (Jack Kruschen). Dutton commiserates with Sam, commenting that "either we have too many laws or not enough" while pointing out the absurdity of a bureaucratic legal system that fails to protect its citizens and only manages to punish foolish criminals. Dutton actually suggests that Cady hire a private detective named Charlie Sievers (Telly Savalas) to tail Max Cady in the hopes of catching him in a crime. When this fails to produce meaningful results, Sievers stokes Sam's fury by giving him the contact info for a group of thugs, with the understanding that Sam will hire them to beat up Cady. Sam initially balks at the idea, but Sam's resolve crumbles after Cady terrifies Nancy at school, resulting in her getting struck by a car. Cady tortures Sam even in petty ways, like how he always addresses him as "Counselor", with an air of derision and sarcasm in his voice. He makes it clear to Sam that he cannot be bought off, and compares his desire to revenge himself against Sam as a "death by a thousand cuts". Cajoled by Cady's horrific statements and threats, Sam is pushed past his limits, and compromises his career and the financial welfare of his family by circumventing due process. He feels justified that he can overstep the law because Cady has proven himself to be such a threat that to not do anything would be no better than standing aside while Cady violates his family. Cady has capitalized on his time in the slammer, arming himself with a quick and dirty understanding of the law so that he can exploit it to his ends; but even Sam is willing to take advantage of irrelevant factors to influence his court proceedings, like leveraging the temperature of the courtroom to get the upper hand in a case. Sam ultimately lays a trap of his own for Cady, although there is something unsettling about his use of his family as bait on his houseboat, despite their feeble acquiescence to it. The kernel of the argument behind Max Cady is that despite our attempts to cultivate a society built on civilized behavior and non-aggression, we are a species that has adapted from brutal and primal ancestry, where the only law that governed predator and prey was the law of the jungle.
Recommended for: Fans of a gripping suspense film that challenges the value of the law as a means of preventing evil after it has been subverted by an evil man who is both intelligent and wholly reprehensible, like Max Cady. Mitchum's performance in Cape Fear as the malevolent Cady is so intense and imposing that it positively makes your skin crawl.