Cape Fear (1962 film)

Infobox Film | name = Cape Fear


caption = Cape Fear movie poster
director = J. Lee Thompson
producer = Sy Bartlett
writer = John D. MacDonald (novel The Executioners)
James R. Webb
starring =Gregory Peck
Robert Mitchum
Polly Bergen
music =Bernard Herrmann
cinematography = Sam Leavitt
editing = George Tomasini
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = April 12, 1962 (U.S. release)
runtime = 105 min
language = English
budget =
amg_id = 1:8063
imdb_id = 0055824

Unreferenced|date=August 2008

"Cape Fear" is a 1962 film about an attorney whose family is stalked by a criminal whom he helped to send to jail. It stars Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Martin Balsam, Jack Kruschen, Telly Savalas, Paul Comi and Barrie Chase. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel "The Executioners" by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1961.

"Cape Fear" was remade in 1991. Peck, Mitchum and Balsam all appeared in the remake.

Production

Casting

•Peck acquired the rights to Cape Fear, he was originally attached to the project as a producer, not an actor. However, he was sought for the role of antagonist Max Cady by the studios. Peck, who initially did not consider acting in the film, agreed to appear but was so against playing a villain at the time that he steadfastly refused the part. He went on to say that he felt audiences would not accept him playing a ruthless character so he instead sought the role of the hero.

When approached to play the villain, Mitchum turned down the role. Convinced Mitchum would still make the perfect Cady, Thompson and Peck sent him a bottle of bourbon. A couple of days later, Mitchum sent a telegraph to Thompson, which read: "I've had your bourbon. I'm drunk. I'll do it."

The casting of the two leads has led to some of the biggest criticisms of the movie. At 6'3, Peck is clearly the more physically powerfulFact|date=August 2007 of two leads, although he plays the less aggressive of the two characters. Although by no means a scrawny or short man, Mitchum is noticeably smaller in height and frame than Peck. Mitchum later stated that, in the final fight scene of the movie, Peck once accidentally punched him for real. Mitchum went on to say that he felt the impact of the punch for days afterwards.Fact|date=April 2007

Hayley Mills was originally considered to play the daughter, but she was on a contract with Disney and was unable to do so. Barrie Chase, who plays a drifter picked up by Cady, was a popular dancer and TV personality of the 1950s, and was a contemporary dancing companion of Fred Astaire. Lori Martin, who plays Bowdon's daughter, reported having nightmares for weeks after filming the scenes where she is menaced by Cady at school, and when he confronts her in a cabin.

Filming

Thompson had always envisioned the film in black and white prior to production. Being a Hitchcock fan, he wanted to have Hitchcockean elements in the film, such as unusual lighting angles, an eerie musical score, closeups of serious faces, and indicating very little of the violence that Cady has in mind for the family.

The outdoor Savannah scenes were filmed first. The indoor scenes and Cape Fear scenes were done at Universal studios. Robert Mitchum had a real-life aversion to Savannah, where as a teenager he was charged with vagrancy and put on a chain-gang before escaping.

The scene where Mitchum attacks Polly Bergen's character on the houseboat was almost completely improvised. Before the scene was filmed, the director suddenly asked a crew member: "Bring me a dish of eggs!" Mitchum rubbing the eggs on Bergen was not scripted and Bergan's reactions were real. She also suffered back injuries from being knocked around so much. She felt the impact of the 'attack' for days.

Release and legacy

Although the word "rape" was entirely removed from the script before shooting, the film still enraged the censors, who were worried that "there was a continuous threat of sexual assault on a child". In order to be accepted, British censors required extensive editing and deleting of specific scenes. After making 161 cuts, it still nearly garnered an X rating.

In April 2007, "Newsweek" selected Robert Mitchum's character as one of the ten best villains in cinema history. "Cape Fear" was also #36 on Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments" for its famous scene where Max Cady attacks Sam's family.