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Holistic Guidance - Cape Fear (1991)
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $2.23
Your Save: $ 7.75 ( 78% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Starring: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302378641
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6302378648
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: 1993-02-03
Running Time: 128
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1991-11-13
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Editorial Reviews:
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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
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: WHY BOTHER WITH THIS FILM
Comment:
I thought this film was a really bad remake of the great 1962 version. The 1962 film was much more frightening and intense than the remake, especially the death of Kersek. In the 1962 version, Robert Mitchum drowns him in the river, where in the remake, Kersek is strangled with a piano wire, which was too gory for me. I could have done without this.
The only good thing about this movie is that three of the original stars of 1962, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam made cameo appearances in this movie.
I recommend the original 1962 version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Have no fear, this movie delivers beyond expectations...
Comment: First things first; Robert De Niro is a force in `Cape Fear'; a major force that permeates every scene of the film, even the once he doesn't physically inhabit, and proves to be spine chilling to the maximum effect. Everything, from his swagger to his accent to his piercing stare, is utterly perfect in its ability to crawl beneath your skin and fester mercilessly. I was astounded by his ability to conquer the southern accent with believability that never took away from the rest of his performance. Watching `Cape Fear' and then thinking of films like the recent `Hide and Seek' just further impress on me the fact that no one can take talent for granted, because sometimes it just goes away.
De Niro is still talented, but in recent years he's become more a `wasted' talent than anything else.
But this is about recent years, this is about 1991, when De Niro was still racking up Oscar nominations left and right for powerful performances in films like `Awakenings' and this brutal masterpiece right here. Scorsese is known for his gritty gangster films, but `Cape Fear' is further proof that labeling Scorsese a one trick pony (which I have regrettably done in the past myself) is an unfair accusation. `Cape Fear' may on the outset appear to be nothing more than a commercial horror/thriller film, but the deeply rooted performances and dark direction taken by Scorsese help elevate this film to something so much more than expected.
`Cape Fear' revolves around lawyer Sam Bowden and his family; wife Leigh and daughter Danielle (Danni). Sam finds himself at the mercy of his former client Max Cady, recently released from prison and out for revenge against the man who sent him away. Sure, Sam was Max's lawyer and defended him, but Max happens to know for a fact that Sam did not defend him to the best of his ability. Sam begins to worry when Max refuses to just go away, and when Max starts to penetrate Sam's household through his daughter Danni he realizes that he has much to worry about.
Like I mentioned, De Niro is explosive as Max Cady. Every movement he makes further cements his dementia upon the audience. There is a single scene that still haunts me, when he is seducing young Danni in the school auditorium. It's a brilliantly played scene that serves as a good reference point for the underlying menace that is Max Cady. De Niro isn't the only one pulling his weight though; the entire cast really shines here. Juliette Lewis rightfully joined De Niro as an Oscar nominee for this film in `91. Her performance is effortlessly captivating. She really grasps the idea of her character being your typical teenage girl battling normal teenage problems. Her curiosity of Max and her defense of him at the expense of her parents are played beautifully. Jessica Lange is also fantastic as Leigh, coupling her wifely repression with her motherly instincts. Nick Nolte, an actor for whom I have yet to really grow to love (I adore him in `Affliction' and that's really about it) actually acts with needed restraint here. The reason I don't really care for Nolte is because almost everything I've seen him do seems like he's overacting, but here, in a role that could have easily been overacted, he demonstrates this restraint that elevates his performance to a whole new level. That way when bursts of panic rush over him and he lashes out (like he does in that brilliant scene with Lewis; "DID HE TOUCH YOU?") it brings out the needed emotional response in the audience.
But the star of this film is undoubtedly Martin Scorsese, who really should have been nominated for, and possible won, the directing Oscar for this film. He really captures the essence of the film genre without giving over completely to the commercial swing of things. He keeps a visual style that is all his own, and really owns each scene, building the tension with just the swing of the camera. It is a true testament to his direction when you look at the four outstanding performances here, all of which should have been Oscar nominated in my opinion, for without Marty's commanding direction they could have easily been lost in their own skin.
`Cape Fear' may be passed over by some as a standard genre film, in fact I hesitated to watch this for some time for that very reason, but to miss out on this thrill ride would be a grave mistake. The underlying themes about revenge and guilt help create a film that is so much more than it suggests. Max Cady's transformation into a mere demon to an angel of darkness is astounding to watch and alone is worth the time it takes to watch the film; but don't worry, for every part of `Cape Fear' is just as brilliant as the rest.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It scared me to death
Comment: This movie is scary. no joke. I was skeptical when I first picked it up, but it is disturbing and terrifying. It is a great movie, but I don't suggest you watch it by yourself. Robert De Niro gives a stunning and psychotic performance, which I never knew he could deliver.
I highly recommend watching this movie, but be ready to be scared. It scared me to death.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "You were my lawyer!"
Comment: I expected more but I'm happy with what I got. I love seeing DeNiro in those over the top psycho roles. He delivers in the film with a great performance as Max Cady. After spending 14 years in prison for a brutal rape charge. He seeks revenge against the lawyer who failed him.
Sam Bowden(Nick Nolte) is the lawyer who is eventually harassed by Cady. The torment is taken up a notch when Cady begins to target his family. Sam soon finds himself in a position where he has to be as ruthless as his tormentor.
The movie is definitly well written and does a good job with developing its characters. The body count is fairly low but still has an impact. The only thing I didn't care for was the overly dramatic prelude to the end. I just felt the scene was overdone.
The movie can be brutal. There is a scene when a woman is a beaten up bad. I'm sure some may find that hard to digest. Still I found this to be a very good thriller. Someone searching for a good flick to watch might not be disappointed with this.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Scorsese's worst
Comment: Simple question: who is the better director, Martin Scorsese or J. Lee Thompson? The answer might seem glaringly obvious, but Scorsese's often outright embarrassingly overwrought remake of Cape Fear showed that when it came to genre pictures, Scorsese wasn't even a runner up.
Where Thompson delivered a good pulp thriller that knew how to do its job and did it well, Scorsese delivered an hyperactive exercise in over the top camerawork, crude editing, and, in Robert De Niro's laughably comic cuts loon, horribly overindulged performances. But his performance is just indicative of the constant overkill that Scorsese brings to the picture. Why have the villain merely sodomise a woman as he did in the original when he can bite her cheek off as well? Why have him settle for love and hate on his knuckles when you can cover his body in "Look, I'm a psycho who's read the violent bits in the Bible too many times" tattoos? And why not add pinups of Stalin and the odd mass-murderer in his cell just to underline it that bit more? Why kill only one supporting character when you can kill two and cover the floor with their blood? Why save the florid camerawork for the big dramatic scenes where it will have more impact when you can make every minor shot look like a crashing climax to a grand opera? Why not signpost his intentions for the underage daughter in virtual 40-foot high neon letters by having him try to seduce her in grandma's fairytale cottage on the school stage just in case we don't get all the Big Bad Wolf references?
Wesley Strick's screenplay does a good job of updating the tale of Nick Nolte's lawyer and his dysfunctional family being stalked by the former client he did less than his best to keep out of jail for the Fatal Attraction era, and with another, more commercially savvy director this could have worked well as a genre film (it was originally intended as a Spielberg picture) but Scorsese has no idea how to build suspense or atmosphere as he crashes through the material like a bull elephant on speed in a china shop. Yet even his misguided directorial flourishes pale into insignificance next to De Niro's horribly misjudged performance as the vengeful bogeyman, inspired more by Robert Mitchum's character in Night of the Hunter than the one he played in the original film. Where Mitchum merely had to look at Gregory Peck's underage daughter to exude menace in the original, De Niro throws in an absurd Deep Frahyed Sowvan acsunt and a series of ridiculous mannerisms and outrageous facial gurning that even Robert Newton's Long John Silver at his most inebriated might have thought too much, turning his character into more of a cartoon clown than his Fearless Leader in Rocky and Bullwinkle. While with his subsequent semi-comatose performances there's some novelty value in seeing him go all-out, there's no threat or tension from his indestructible killer, no matter how much the film amps up the violence from the original (which had censorship problems of its own back in 1962).
Jessica Lange seems at times to think she's in a school production of a Tennessee Williams play (you almost expect her to say "Ah hayve always relahed on tha psychosis of strayngahs") and delivers much of her dialogue as if it were a breathing exercise, but Nolte and Juliette Lewis fare better, though it's Joe Don Baker who steals what little there is in the film worth stealing by being one of the few in the cast to rein his performance in. The cameos from original stars Robert Mitchum (cashing the check with consummate disinterested professionalism), Gregory Peck (perhaps making his reluctance to appear known through his over-the-top turn as an outraged old school Gentleman of tha Sowth lawyer) and Martin Balsam (wasted in a nothing part as a judge) only serve to remind you how much better the 1962 version was. Neither thrilling nor bad movie fun, this just gets increasingly tiresome. Still, you have to give them marks for having the chutzpah to tip the audience off that De Niro's character is insane by showing him laughing at Problem Child, and, it has to be said, were it not for this movie we'd probably never have had one of the funniest episodes of The Simpsons ever, Cape Feare - or the excellent DVD extras package for the first film.
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