Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4233 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-12-05
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 122 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake of J. Lee Thompson's 1962 thriller dabbles a bit in some fascinating psychological crosscurrents between its characters, but it finally trades in all that rich material for extensive and gratuitous violence. Robert De Niro plays a serial rapist released from prison after 14 years. Angry because his appalled attorney (Nick Nolte) made it easy for him to be convicted, this monster is out to hurt Nolte's character through his wife (Jessica Lange) and daughter (Juliette Lewis). The themes of interlocking guilt and anger between these people suggests a smart film in the making. But the final act, set on a boat with De Niro's vengeful pervert attacking Nolte and the two women, takes a more unfortunate direction. Stick with the original (which starred Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, each of whom make a cameo appearance in this film). --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
Martin Scorsese's remake of J. Lee Thompson's 1962 film is a stylish, taut thriller. Public defender Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) served as the attorney for brutal rapist Max Cady (Robert De Niro) at his arraignment. Shocked by the violence of Cady's crime, Sam duplicitously withheld information regarding the sexually promiscuous activities of Cady's rape victim information that might have won Max's acquittal. After serving a hellish 14-year sentence in a barbaric state penitentiary, the once-illiterate Cady, who has taught himself to read and studied up on the law during his incarceration, seeks vengeance against the prosperous small-town lawyer. Max makes good on his satanic threats to terrorize Sam, stalking the vulnerable family, poisoning their dog, brutally assaulting Sam's close friend, and sexually harassing Sam's daughter, Danielle (Juliette Lewis). To rid themselves of this raging force of retribution, Sam; his wife, Leigh (Jessica Lange); and Danielle join together against Max in a final struggle for their very existence. Scorsese pays debts to Thompson's earlier version by using Bernard Herrmann's original score, as well as casting Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and Martin Balsam in supporting roles. Lewis delivers a stirring performance that earned her a well-deserved Oscar nomination, as did De Niro, whose tattooed vengeance seeker is one of cinema's most terrifying, notorious presences.

Customer Reviews

No justice for the crooked lawyer
The very logic of the film is quite common (Stephen King or Richard Bachman among many others have used it in his novel Thinner). A criminal is sentenced to a long term in prison but the sentence is all the longer because the criminal's lawyer decided that since his client was guilty he could forget some important element that would have changed the length of the prison term. The prisoner gets out of prison one day and comes back to haunt the lawyer and get his vengeance. That's when the film gets particularly nasty and the lawyer reveals himself quite ugly when fear grasps his guts, revealing the little trust he has in justice and the police. And sure enough the end will be positive for that ugly character of a lawyer who deserved to really suffer and die. But that's when Scorsese plays with our nerves and makes the lawyer's daughter fall in love with the criminal for all the bad reasons you can imagine but then she will turn nasty with him for all the good reasons you may find. In other words everything is upside down and nothing will ever bring them back upside up because what counts is what we have in our minds and memories and not what the world believes. A great small little film that does hold us in suspense and apprehension.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines

A real Thriller
'Cape Fear' came out at around the same time as 'The Silence of the lambs' and 'Misery' and it was one of those really memorable chillers that nothing has touched ever since. The thing that really interested me was the coming together of Martin Scorsese and Amblin Entertainment (Spielberg's company). Totally different ways of film making but it really works in this movie. It is really frightening and disturbing at times but is without a doubt of the the best horror/thrillers ever made.

Remake of a 1962 classic
Here, a very dangerous and evil man named Max Cady (played in one of the best villain roles of the 90's by Robert De Niro) gets out of jail after 14 years of imprisonment, and decides to get vengeance on the lawyer (Nick Nolte) and his family (Jessica Lange the mother and a young and supple Juliette Lewis as the daughter). At times the film is surprisingly slow, but the film is never boring, and suspense is always in the air; the climax/ending contains some of Scorsese and De Niro's finest work. Also, De Niro steals the show as the animal Cady by making the person who is supposed to be the hero into a flawed character, thereby turning the film almost into a Film-noir, which is quite a feat for Scorsese and company. Not perfect, but it shouldn't be.