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Nutshell Review: Cape Fear (1962)
Director: J. Lee Thompson Starring: Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Polly Bergan, Martin Balsum, Lori Martin, Telly Savalis Studio: Universal My IBDB Rating: 8 Viewing: Universal Studios Blu-Ray 
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Plot:
Max Cady Mitchum) is a just released convict out for revenge against Sam Bowden (Peck), the man who put him behind bars. When he arrives in a small Georgia town in his pale linen suit and panama hat Cady deliberately marches to the courtroom where Bowden is trying a case, first to confront him & then to threaten him and his family. Bowden reacts by utilizing his contacts in the police department to attempt to intimidate Cady, but that only backfires when Cady hires an attorney to defend against police harassment. The police chief (Balsum) suggests a private eye (Savalis) to help implicate Cady in any wrong doing, but when that results in a young woman getting beaten up, Bowden turns to vigilante justice. Finally, when that too fails, Bowden offers to pay off Cady to have him leave town, which only emboldens him further. In the most chilling scene in the picture, Cady tells Bowden of what he did to his ex-wife after he was released from jail, all the while laughing at Bowden’s gesture of cash. Driven by fear and the inevitability of Cady’s getting to Bowden’s young daughter Nancy (Martin), Bowden decides to set a trap for Cady on a house boat on the Cape Fear River. The climax plays out on land, in the river & on the house boat, before Bowden is given the choice to become more like Cady or maintain his sense of due process and upholding of the law.
Max Cady Mitchum) is a just released convict out for revenge against Sam Bowden (Peck), the man who put him behind bars. When he arrives in a small Georgia town in his pale linen suit and panama hat Cady deliberately marches to the courtroom where Bowden is trying a case, first to confront him & then to threaten him and his family. Bowden reacts by utilizing his contacts in the police department to attempt to intimidate Cady, but that only backfires when Cady hires an attorney to defend against police harassment. The police chief (Balsum) suggests a private eye (Savalis) to help implicate Cady in any wrong doing, but when that results in a young woman getting beaten up, Bowden turns to vigilante justice. Finally, when that too fails, Bowden offers to pay off Cady to have him leave town, which only emboldens him further. In the most chilling scene in the picture, Cady tells Bowden of what he did to his ex-wife after he was released from jail, all the while laughing at Bowden’s gesture of cash. Driven by fear and the inevitability of Cady’s getting to Bowden’s young daughter Nancy (Martin), Bowden decides to set a trap for Cady on a house boat on the Cape Fear River. The climax plays out on land, in the river & on the house boat, before Bowden is given the choice to become more like Cady or maintain his sense of due process and upholding of the law.
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Thoughts:
By his shear physical presence Max Cady creates a sense of danger & foreboding. That Robert Mitchum inhabited Cady so completely makes the character the harbinger of death itself. Mitchum’s typically laconic line delivery & methodical physical movements are exploited in Cape Fear to create ongoing tension, as if menace is marching slowly to an inevitable & violent conclusion. Cady is confident in his plan, having spent his time in jail studying law, so much so that when the police chief tries to intimidate him with a strip search Cady simply takes off his clothes, letting his physical presence fill the room in an air of total nonchalance, keeping his panama hat firmly on his head for good measure. He is an iconic villain, yet he is always dressed in lighter shades, dispelling the classic man in black imagery. He is clearly a lecherous womanizer, telling a random woman at a bar “I’ll give you an hour to get rid of your friends” to which she responds “are you trying to pick me up?” His simple response, uttered as much to the woman’s male companion as to her, is “yes.” Intimidation is his calling card and his physicality is his signature.
His footsteps as he trails after Nancy in the school yard, for instance, are slow and regular, not in hasty pursuit, but in measured rhythm, like the ticking of a clock. Director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone ’61,) also repeatedly sets his camera shooting up at Mitchum from a low angle to increase his ominous presence and shrink those in the frame with him, including Peck (no small task for the 6’ 3” Peck). Finally, Cady is often referred to as “an animal” and shot behind bars & through vertical lines to give the impression he is perpetually in a cage, a caged animal stalking his prey. Altogether, the verbal & visual cues set Cady up as the monster he turns out to be; a relentless force of evil hell bent on destruction & vengeance.
Gregory Peck, as the producer of the movie, wanted to find an actor that was every bit his equal, realizing that Cady’s part propelled the movie. While director Thompson considered Marlon Brando, once Mitchum’s name was considered there could be no one else to play the part. Mitchum, for his part, was looking for a little R&R and at first declined the part. After cajoling by both Peck & Thompson and a quick read of the script, he agreed no one else could play the part better. Thus was created one of the best balances of good versus evil, portrayed by 2 equally strong actors, with a balanced script in film history. It is to Peck’s credit that he had Mitchum play the showier character, such was his desire to make the best picture possible.
It was no accident that J. Lee Thompson came to direct Cape Fear. Gregory Peck’s production company had purchased the rights to John D. MacDonald’s novel The Executioner and was looking for a director. Peck just happened to be working on The Guns of Navarone, that Thompson was directing. Liking what Thompson was doing with both the action scenes in the picture, as well as the more intimate scenes Peck signed him on to direct what was now being called Cape Fear. Thompson had worked with Hitchcock earlier and was a student of the suspense master and was determined to make Cape Fear in the vein of a great Hitchcock classic. Working with production designer Robert Boyle (North by Northwest ‘59, The Birds ‘63, Marnie ’64) & editor George Tomasini (Rear Window ’54, Vertigo ’58, Psycho ’60) allowed Thompson to use Hitchcock insiders to shape the look and feel of the film in Hitch’s image. Utilizing Bernard Herrman (Psycho ’60, North by Northwest ’59, The Wrong Man ’56) to score the film was the last piece to create the illusion of Hitchcock, while making the film uniquely Thompson’s. What the viewer does get is a mise en scene that combines the images, the pacing & the sound to create a steady, but rising degree of tension, elevating Cape Fear to top level suspense films & certainly worthy of the master.
By his shear physical presence Max Cady creates a sense of danger & foreboding. That Robert Mitchum inhabited Cady so completely makes the character the harbinger of death itself. Mitchum’s typically laconic line delivery & methodical physical movements are exploited in Cape Fear to create ongoing tension, as if menace is marching slowly to an inevitable & violent conclusion. Cady is confident in his plan, having spent his time in jail studying law, so much so that when the police chief tries to intimidate him with a strip search Cady simply takes off his clothes, letting his physical presence fill the room in an air of total nonchalance, keeping his panama hat firmly on his head for good measure. He is an iconic villain, yet he is always dressed in lighter shades, dispelling the classic man in black imagery. He is clearly a lecherous womanizer, telling a random woman at a bar “I’ll give you an hour to get rid of your friends” to which she responds “are you trying to pick me up?” His simple response, uttered as much to the woman’s male companion as to her, is “yes.” Intimidation is his calling card and his physicality is his signature.
His footsteps as he trails after Nancy in the school yard, for instance, are slow and regular, not in hasty pursuit, but in measured rhythm, like the ticking of a clock. Director J. Lee Thompson (The Guns of Navarone ’61,) also repeatedly sets his camera shooting up at Mitchum from a low angle to increase his ominous presence and shrink those in the frame with him, including Peck (no small task for the 6’ 3” Peck). Finally, Cady is often referred to as “an animal” and shot behind bars & through vertical lines to give the impression he is perpetually in a cage, a caged animal stalking his prey. Altogether, the verbal & visual cues set Cady up as the monster he turns out to be; a relentless force of evil hell bent on destruction & vengeance.
Gregory Peck, as the producer of the movie, wanted to find an actor that was every bit his equal, realizing that Cady’s part propelled the movie. While director Thompson considered Marlon Brando, once Mitchum’s name was considered there could be no one else to play the part. Mitchum, for his part, was looking for a little R&R and at first declined the part. After cajoling by both Peck & Thompson and a quick read of the script, he agreed no one else could play the part better. Thus was created one of the best balances of good versus evil, portrayed by 2 equally strong actors, with a balanced script in film history. It is to Peck’s credit that he had Mitchum play the showier character, such was his desire to make the best picture possible.
It was no accident that J. Lee Thompson came to direct Cape Fear. Gregory Peck’s production company had purchased the rights to John D. MacDonald’s novel The Executioner and was looking for a director. Peck just happened to be working on The Guns of Navarone, that Thompson was directing. Liking what Thompson was doing with both the action scenes in the picture, as well as the more intimate scenes Peck signed him on to direct what was now being called Cape Fear. Thompson had worked with Hitchcock earlier and was a student of the suspense master and was determined to make Cape Fear in the vein of a great Hitchcock classic. Working with production designer Robert Boyle (North by Northwest ‘59, The Birds ‘63, Marnie ’64) & editor George Tomasini (Rear Window ’54, Vertigo ’58, Psycho ’60) allowed Thompson to use Hitchcock insiders to shape the look and feel of the film in Hitch’s image. Utilizing Bernard Herrman (Psycho ’60, North by Northwest ’59, The Wrong Man ’56) to score the film was the last piece to create the illusion of Hitchcock, while making the film uniquely Thompson’s. What the viewer does get is a mise en scene that combines the images, the pacing & the sound to create a steady, but rising degree of tension, elevating Cape Fear to top level suspense films & certainly worthy of the master.
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Random Notes & Quotes:
*The New York Times wrote in its review: “Mr. Thompson has directed in a steady & starkly sinister style. There is no waste of motion, no fooling. Everything is sharp & direct. Menace quivers in the picture like a sneaky electrical charge.” (Film Noir: 100 All-Time Favorites. Paul Duncan & Jurgen Muller Eds. Tashcen).
*Director J. Lee Thompson originally wanted Hayley Mills to play the part of Nancy, but she was committed to starring In Search of the Castaways (’62) for Disney. Thompson even commented that all the while he was shooting he was expecting Lori Martin to do things the way Mills would have & was unnecessarily tough on her.
*Cape Fear shot for 3 weeks in Savanah, Georgia, although the climax and much of the rest of the film was shot in the Universal Pictures lot in Los Angeles. Mitchum had previously been incarcerated in Savannah and was originally opposed to shooting there.
*Mitchum warned Thompson “you know, I live a character. And this character drinks & rapes” and throughout the shoot the cast & crew were afraid of Mitchum. One scene in particular, with the woman (Berrie Chase) in the hotel room, had to be stopped several times as Mitchum became too physical.
*Censors demanded that the word “rape” could not be uttered. They demanded that the assault scene between Cady & Peggy Bowden be significantly tripped, especially the shot where Mitchum smears egg all over Bergen’s chest.
*Mitchum gave Thompson a strait jacket as an end of production gift, Mitchum having once destroyed part of a set in a drunken rage when Thompson couldn’t get a particularly difficult shot correct.
*The New York Times wrote in its review: “Mr. Thompson has directed in a steady & starkly sinister style. There is no waste of motion, no fooling. Everything is sharp & direct. Menace quivers in the picture like a sneaky electrical charge.” (Film Noir: 100 All-Time Favorites. Paul Duncan & Jurgen Muller Eds. Tashcen).
*Director J. Lee Thompson originally wanted Hayley Mills to play the part of Nancy, but she was committed to starring In Search of the Castaways (’62) for Disney. Thompson even commented that all the while he was shooting he was expecting Lori Martin to do things the way Mills would have & was unnecessarily tough on her.
*Cape Fear shot for 3 weeks in Savanah, Georgia, although the climax and much of the rest of the film was shot in the Universal Pictures lot in Los Angeles. Mitchum had previously been incarcerated in Savannah and was originally opposed to shooting there.
*Mitchum warned Thompson “you know, I live a character. And this character drinks & rapes” and throughout the shoot the cast & crew were afraid of Mitchum. One scene in particular, with the woman (Berrie Chase) in the hotel room, had to be stopped several times as Mitchum became too physical.
*Censors demanded that the word “rape” could not be uttered. They demanded that the assault scene between Cady & Peggy Bowden be significantly tripped, especially the shot where Mitchum smears egg all over Bergen’s chest.
*Mitchum gave Thompson a strait jacket as an end of production gift, Mitchum having once destroyed part of a set in a drunken rage when Thompson couldn’t get a particularly difficult shot correct.