Cape Fear (1991)
Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis; d. Martin Scorsese; B+

I always like to think that when a classic film is remade by a skilled director, it will be higher in quality than if it had been remade by an untalented one. Alfred Hitchcock remade his own film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, which turned out to be more ravishing than the original. This time around, Martin Scorsese remakes the 1962 film noir classic Cape Fear, and comes out with something a little different than the original.

This version of Cape Fear follows the story of Southern ex-convict Max Cady (Robert De Niro) and his ex-defense lawyer Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Fourteen years before the start of the film, Cady was convicted of a physical and sexual assult of a 16 year old girl. During that trial, Bowden received information about the girl that could have freed Cady (proof that the girl was promiscuous), but Bowden "burried" it, feeling that regardless of the girl's prior history, Cady had no right to attack the girl. When released from prison, Cady emerges as a well-built, well-read man bent on revenge. He starts stalking Bowden and his family, which at first starts with a seemingly harmless but rather agitating encounter at the cinema. But when Bowden sees Cady sitting across the street, staring at him in a red car, he knows something is up. Soon enough, supicious things start heppening: Bowden's wife (Jessica Lange) spots Cady perched on their fence at night. The family dog is murdered. Bowden's mistress is brutally attacked by Cady. Bowden's daughter (Juliette Lewis) is approached by Cady posing as her summer school drama teacher. Things get so bad that Bowden begins using strong-arm tactics to shove Cady off. He demands a strip-search of Cady and hires a private detective to tail him. But Cady is fully aware of all of Bowden's tactics and always has a leg up on his moves. Cady is obviously not going to give up his mission, his mission to make Bowden "learn about loss." Cady is so angered over the fact that he had lost respect and a family when thrown in prison that he wants Bowden to suffer the concequences. He's got something panned for Bowden and his wife and daughter. Bowden knows exactly what it is, but he has no grounds to convit Cady. Cady is a smart criminal who knows how to get away with what he plans on doing, to the disadvantage of Bowden whose, nerves are pretty shaken up. The only way Bowden can come close to defeating Cady is by sinking down to his level, winding down to one out and out (and rather cinematically flamboyant) fight at the end.

Apon first viewing I was a bit dissapointed. What I was expecting was a film that was as good, or even better, than the original. Plus I was also coming off of a week where I had watched three Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro films (Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, and GoodFellas), and wasn't particularly ready to watch some experimental remake that's more fit in the horror/suspense genre. Watching it again, I get a better appriciation of the film. Scorsese's direction is good, despite the fact that it does seem to me that he was a little more concerned about the camera work (which was very good) than the performances of the actors. The look of the film is rather Hitchcockian than Scorsese, which may or may not be good. What did throw me off were shots in the movie that were saturated and a negative; this especially got me when I first viewed it, even though on the second viewing I didn't mind it as much.

The performances in this film are nothing to write home about, worst of all being the annoying and forced southern accents held by everyone in this film. Robert De Niro does a great job of covering up his pesky Brooklyn accent but his accent is the most annoying of all (besides Julliette Lewis). His performance is also the most dissapointing one. While giving a good performance, he failed to deliever a performance that succeeded Robert Mitchum's in the original Cape Fear. Mitchum's Max Cady was terrifying to the bone, with his keen knowledge and unrelenting persistance and confidence. De Niro's Max Cady is just a hick womanizing lunatic who is only frightening because he's a raving lunatic. Unfortunatley I get the feeling that the intent was to make Max Cady into a villian a-la Freddy Crueger and not the subtle yet terrifying character that was the orginal character. As you guess, they failed, and De Niro fails playing that kind of character. This is the hammiest I've seen him as of yet. The worst performance comes from Juliette Lewis, who gave a performance that's almost as bad as Sofia Coppola in The Godfather Part III.

But the absolute worst thing about this movie is the god awful ending and the extreamly uneccessary religious overtones. The relgious excess ads nothing to the film and only makes it worse and superficial. The ending is no doubt the worst I've ever seen in my life! I can not emphasize how much I loathe the ending. From the flamboyant camera work, to the cheezy mock-moral court scene in the boat, to the boat capsizing, to De Niro speaking in tounges... Shall I go on? Maybe not, hopefully you get the point.

The best thing about this movie, which comes as no surprise for those who knows me very well, is the score. Elmer Bernstien arrange and conducted former collegue Bernard Herrmann's original score for this film, and no matter what good or bad scene it accompanies it always shines. But I think that it was used for a more surreal effect and not the the effect it was written for in the original.

I would reccomend this film. It isn't bad as this review might imply, I enjoyed it. However, do yourself a favor and rent the original before you see this version. An interesting remake but suffers from good-intended, poorly-executed flaws.

© Vert A Go Go Reviews 2001