Cape Fear
Here ’s the biggest dispute betweenCape Fear1991 and the original 1962 variant . Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro are one of the all - time neat role player / theatre director collaborationism , which has resulted in several classic . They first worked together onMean Streets , before going on an almost embarrassing run of great films , includingTaxi Driver , Raging Bull , The King Of ComedyandGoodfellas . Their most late film was 2019 gangster epicThe Irishman , which also reunited them with the semi - retired Joe Pesci .
While it might not be as fete as some of their other collaborations , Martin Scorsese ’s 1991 remaking ofCape Fearcertainly map as a nifty thriller . The pic is base on the novelThe Executionersand cast De Niro as vengeful convict Max Cady , who is released from prison house after serving a long judgment of conviction and he seeks revenge on his lawyer Sam Bowden ( Nick Nolte ) . Cady was sent to prison for a intimate assault , and he learns Bowden withheld evidence that could have boil down his sentence . He plans on tormenting Bowden and his wife and girl , before ordain a terrible luck on all three .
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Cape Fearis a remake of a 1962 movie that starred Gregory Peck ( The Omen ) as Bowden and Robert Mitchum as Cady ; Peck and Mitchum later cameoed in the 1991 translation . The blanket strokes of the two movies are similiar - with Cady harassing the Bowdens until a showdown at Cape Fear - but they also play out differently . The best way to highlight the difference is Mitchum ’s turn , which is much more moderate . The 1962 Cady is still a sadist and killer , but he ’s more low - key and cool , whereas the 1991 movie sport De Niro jaw all the scenery as his Cady is a deranged , Bible - quoting sociopath who is downright terrific ; while Mitchum ’s Cady survive to likely spend the rest of his life in jail , De Niro ’s version is kill in the finale .
Cape Fear1962 is more aboveboard in its depicting of Bowden and his family , with Sam being an solid , ethical family gentleman’s gentleman . His married woman Peggy and daughter Nancy are n’t really fleshed out as quality either , though out of desperation Sam does habituate them as sweetener to lure Cady out of hiding in the final number . Nick Nolte ’s Sam is a different level , with the character being virtuously grayish ; he did conquer evidence in Cady ’s test and he ’s shaft on his wife . Peggy is played by Jessica Lange ( American Horror Story ) while Nancy is played by Juliette Lewis , and they ’re both given more attribute than the 1962 picture show . Scorsese , in particular , wanted to make the family moral force more complex in his version , with Peggy feeling unhappy and foiled in her marriage while Nancy is almost pull in to the danger Cady symbolize .
A major leaving between the twoCape Fearsis the depiction of violence . In the original film , Cady still murders hoi polloi and commits a intimate rape , but most of the violence happens offscreen . Scorsese ’s remake is much more roughshod ; the ravishment aim place onscreen and is the movie ’s most distressing scene , while the murder of Kersek is improbably bloody . Cady as a fibre is also much more predatory towards Nancy , and whereas these implications had to be largely cut out in the 1962 photographic film , the remake have them clear . It should be noted both takes onCape Fearare majuscule with the film being tense , fashionable thrillers with some fantastic performances . When it comes to sheer intensity , however , Cape Fear1991 follow out on top .
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