Cape Fear [Blu-ray]

Director: Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese

Overview

Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear provided the director with a box-office success to follow up the critical success of the previous year's Goodfellas. After serving a lengthy prison sentence for a sexual assault, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) comes calling on the man who served as his public defender, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Max begins a campaign of harassment against the man and his family because Bowden buried a report that would have in all likelihood acquitted Cady of the charges against him. Bowden's shaky ethics continue in his personal life as he is considering beginning an extramarital affair with colleague Lori Davis (Illeana Douglas), since he and his wife, Leigh (Jessica Lange) have had a difficult time coming back together since he has admitted to previous indiscretions. Cady infiltrates the family most insidiously by cultivating a relationship with the Bowden's troubled teenage daughte, Danielle (Juliette Lewis), who is all the more susceptible to Cady's advances because of her parents' problems. Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck, the stars of the original film, have cameo appearances in this version of Cape Fear. De Niro and Lewis were both nominated for Academy Awards for their work in the film.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/18/2011
UPC:	0025192072888
Original Release:	1991
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	2:08:00
Sales rank:	17,184

Special Features

The making of Cape Fear ; Deleted scenes; Behind the scenes of the fourth of July parade ; On the set of the houseboat; Photo montage

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert De Niro	Max Cady
Nick Nolte	Sam Bowden
Jessica Lange	Leigh Bowden
Juliette Lewis	Danielle Bowden,Actor
Joe Don Baker	Claude Kersek
Robert Mitchum	Lt. Elgart
Gregory Peck	Lee Heller
Martin Balsam	Judge
Illeana Douglas	Lori Davis
Fred Dalton Thompson	Tom Broadbent
Zully Montero	Graciella
Craig Henne	Prisoner
Forest Burton	Prisoner
Paul Nagle, Jr.	Parade Watcher
Edgar Allan Poe IV	Prisoner
Rod Ball	Prisoner
W. Paul Bodie	Prisoner
Joel Kolker	Corrections Officer
Antoni Corone	Corrections Officer
Tamara Jones	Ice Cream Cashier
Roger Pretto	Racquetball Colleague
Parris Buckner	Racquetball Colleague
Margot Moreland	Secretary
Will Knickerbocker	Detective
Robert L Gerlach	Arresting Officer
Bruce E. Holdstein	Arresting Officer
Richard Wasserman	Parade Watcher
Paul Nagle Jr.	Parade Watcher
Paul Froehler	Parade Watcher
Mary Ellen O'Brien	Parade Watcher
Jodie Wilson	Parade Watcher,Parade Watcher
Kate Colburn	Waitress
Garr Stevens	1st Big Man
Billy Lucas	2nd Big Man
Ken Collins	3rd Big Man
Linda Perri	Ticket Agent
Elizabeth Moyer	Ticket Agent
Catherine Scorsese	Fruit Stand Customer,Fruit Stand Customer
C.C. Costigan	Waitress
Chad Dowdell	Jim (uncredited)
Domenica Cameron-Scorsese	Danny's Girlfriend
Jackie Davis	Jimmy the Dockmaster
Elmer Bernstein	Composer

Technical Credits

Wesley Strick

John C. MacDonald

James R. Webb

Martin Scorsese	Director
Barbara De Fina	Producer
Leon Delaney	Stunts
Stephan Dupuis	Special Effects
J.B. Jones	Special Effects
Kathleen Kennedy	Executive Producer
Frank Marshall	Executive Producer
Neal Martz	Special Effects
Derek Meddings	Special Effects
Wesley Strick	Screenwriter
John C. MacDonald	Screenwriter
James R. Webb	Screenwriter
Steven Spielberg	Executive Producer,Producer
Robert De Niro	Producer

Editorial Reviews

A smart and stylish remake of J. Lee Thompson's suspenseful 1962 thriller, the 1991 Cape Fear owes its effectiveness to Martin Scorsese's dynamic direction and the squirm-inducing performance of his longtime collaborator Robert De Niro. De Niro portrays the sadistic ex-con, a role Robert Mitchum essayed in the original, who terrorizes not only the small-town lawyer (Nick Nolte) whom he blames for his lengthy incarceration but the lawyer's wife (Jessica Lange) and daughter (Juliette Lewis) as well. Scorsese's bravura handling of the material reflects contemporary cinema's permissiveness; the sadism is explicit, and there's a pronounced element of sexual menace -- especially in De Niro's befriending of the unsuspecting Lewis -- that's only suggested in the original. The final, graphically violent confrontation between Nolte and De Niro, too, goes way beyond Thompson's climax and steers Scorsese's version into horror-movie territory. Undeniably brutal, this Cape Fear is primarily noteworthy for its felicitous reteaming of Scorsese and De Niro, the most creatively rewarding director-star combination in modern movie history. The DVD Special Edition includes interviews with both men (along with other cast members), along with a "making of" documentary, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, production notes, reproductions of matte paintings, and DVD-ROM content.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Emphasizing dark brutality and family dysfunction, Martin Scorsese reconceived the early-'60s noir thriller Cape Fear (1991) for the far more jaded '90s. Rather than an attack on familial bliss, rapist Max Cady's vendetta against the Bowdens brings the existing rot to the surface; the diseased justice system provides an assist in the person of not only Nick Nolte's ex-public defender and philandering husband Sam Bowden, but also a slyly recast Gregory Peck as Cady's new attorney, and Robert Mitchum as a sheriff. The latent corruption reaches a peak in the creepy "seduction" scene between Robert De Niro's Cady and Juliette Lewis' Danielle Bowden; rather than a threatened innocent, she is a nubile, willing accomplice in Cady's game. Though Cady's Biblical vengeance, hellfire and brimstone tattoos, and legitimate beef with Sam initially make him a compelling villain, the over-the-top violence and horror movie grossness ultimately undermine the story's chilling elements, turning it into a rote genre piece that pales next to Scorsese's earlier work. Executed with technical aplomb, complete with Bernard Herrmann's original 1962 score recreated by Elmer Bernstein, Cape Fear became Scorsese's biggest box-office success (and fodder for a hilarious parody on TV's The Simpsons). Lucia Bozzola

All Movie Guide

Emphasizing dark brutality and family dysfunction, Martin Scorsese reconceived the early-'60s noir thriller Cape Fear (1991) for the far more jaded '90s. Rather than an attack on familial bliss, rapist Max Cady's vendetta against the Bowdens brings the existing rot to the surface; the diseased justice system provides an assist in the person of not only Nick Nolte's ex-public defender and philandering husband Sam Bowden, but also a slyly recast Gregory Peck as Cady's new attorney, and Robert Mitchum as a sheriff. The latent corruption reaches a peak in the creepy "seduction" scene between Robert De Niro's Cady and Juliette Lewis' Danielle Bowden; rather than a threatened innocent, she is a nubile, willing accomplice in Cady's game. Though Cady's Biblical vengeance, hellfire and brimstone tattoos, and legitimate beef with Sam initially make him a compelling villain, the over-the-top violence and horror movie grossness ultimately undermine the story's chilling elements, turning it into a rote genre piece that pales next to Scorsese's earlier work. Executed with technical aplomb, complete with Bernard Herrmann's original 1962 score recreated by Elmer Bernstein, Cape Fear became Scorsese's biggest box-office success (and fodder for a hilarious parody on TV's The Simpsons).

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola

Cape Fear is impressive moviemaking, showing Scorsese as a master of a traditional Hollywood genre who is able to mold it to his own themes and obsessions.

Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert