- published: 01 Jun 2011
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Cape Fear is a 1991 thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and a remake of the 1962 film of the same name. It stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis and features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam, who all appeared in the 1962 original film. The film tells the story of a convicted rapist who seeks vengeance against a former public defender whom he blames for his 14-year imprisonment due to purposefully faulty defense tactics used during his trial, using mostly his newfound knowledge of the law and its numerous loopholes.
The film marks the seventh of eight collaborations between director Scorsese and De Niro, following Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976), New York, New York (1977), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1983), Goodfellas (1990), and ending with Casino (1995).
The film received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Lewis).
Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) is a lawyer in the quiet town of New Essex, North Carolina. Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is a former client whom Bowden had defended fourteen years previously when he was working as a public defender in Atlanta. Cady, who was being tried for the rape and battery of a young woman, was illiterate at the time and unable to read a report Bowden had kept hidden from the court, which revealed that the victim was promiscuous. The report might have lightened Cady's sentence or even acquitted him had Bowden brought it to light. Bowden had kept it hidden, contrary to his duty as Cady's defense attorney, because he was appalled by the sheer violence in Cady's crime and wanted him to serve a severe sentence.