Scott LeBrun Robert Mitchum is at his creepy best here, playing a villain than can easily rival his antagonist in "The Night of the Hunter". Mitchum is memorable as Max Cady, an ex-con who has never forgiven lawyer Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) for helping to put him behind bars for eight years. Now the ex-con is back, and is determined to constantly harass Sam & his family (Polly Bergen as wife Peggy, Lori Martin as daughter Nancy). Cady has something especially insidious planned for the females. It isn't long before Sam believes that his nemesis is capable of anything, and is resorting to desperate measures to remove this threat from his life."Cape Fear" is one of the all-time great black & white thrillers to come out of Hollywood, boasting a sharp script by James R. Webb, that is based on the novel "The Executioners" by John D. MacDonald. It may indeed lack the explicitness of later Hollywood films, but that actually adds to its power. What it suggests is already pretty powerful.Overall, it has a very Hitchcockian feel, and in fact was scored by frequent Hitch collaborator Bernard Herrmann (one of the composers' most haunting and unforgettable soundtracks) and cut by George Tomasini, who'd edited "Psycho". It marks one of the absolute best efforts for the director J. Lee Thompson ("The Guns of Navarone").It's clear early on that Cady is the more interesting role. As vile as he is, he has an unpleasantly sly, savvy quality about him, only enhanced by the fact that he's spent his time in stir studying up on the law. Now he knows just how much he can get away with in the name of making Sams' life a living Hell. And he has a man in his corner, a grandstanding attorney played by the great character actor Jack Kruschen.In comparison, Sam is an ideal role for Peck, what with his All-American, model of decency type of character. And he becomes more intriguing as he relents and starts taking those desperate measures, like hiring some local toughs to try to gang up on Cady.Not much is done with the wife and daughter roles; they're mostly just required to be stand around and be scared. But Bergen and Martin are appealing in their performances.In addition to Kruschen, other notable cast members include Balsam (who, of course, played Arbogast in "Psycho"), Telly Savalas, Barrie Chase, Paul Comi, Page Slattery, and Edward Platt. But Mitchum towers over everybody with a performance of pure smarm and menace.The finale is genuinely gripping stuff: it's quite tense and very atmospheric.Famously remade by Martin Scorsese in 1991, with interesting new layers to the story, but an ultimately more over the top nature, with Robert De Niro's version of Cady coming off like a cartoon bogeyman.Eight out of 10.

HotToastyRag Cape Fear would have been the perfect film to release after To Kill a Mockingbird. In this one, Gregory Peck plays a successful and honorable lawyer, but one of the men he prosecuted and helped put in jail seeks revenge after his release. As it was, Cape Fear was released in April 1962, and the film that won Greg his Oscar was released Christmas of that year. You might want to rent both of them for a Peck-fest weekend, but depending on your point of view, either one could be watched first.If you liked Robert Mitchum's frightening performance in Night of the Hunter, you'll love him in this. And if you like Gregory Peck in roles with lots of integrity, you'll find no obstacle in rooting for him and his family in Cape Fear. If you like both those actors, it's a shoe-in that you'll enjoy this scary flick, even if you end up watching it from behind a pillow.This is a pretty spooky flick, especially because Mitchum is so charming. The charming bad guys are the worst, because part of you really wants to root for them—until they do something really bad, that is. And if you watch Robert Mitchum movies, you know he can be very bad when he wants to be! Cape Fear is a very dark thriller, even by today's standards, but it's far less gruesome than the 1991 remake. If you prefer your scary movies to be a little on the tamer side, I suggest you stick with 1962's Cape Fear and leave the remake to the pros.Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, it's pretty scary and a little creepy, so I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

alexanderdavies-99382 This version of "Cape Fear" is vastly superior to the repellent 1991 film. The latter had to resort to displaying violence of the more horrendous kind in order to be noticed. This 1962 classic has opted for a more subtle, incisive approach and the film succeeds brilliantly. The dialogue, the suggestion of the evil things that Max Cady threatens to do, the direction and the acting all combine to make "Cape Fear" a disturbing and hard-hitting film. Robert Mitchum makes for a superb Max Cady - the way he watches every move of the lawyer he blames for having Cady serve 8 years in prison, the way Cady uses the law to his own advantage so as not to incriminate himself, enjoying all the misery and intimidation he unleashes upon his victims. Gregory Peck is well cast as the lawyer in question, eventually having to resort to dirty means in order to protect himself and his family. One of the most shocking scenes in "Cape Fear," is when the police find the young lady in her bedroom after Robert Mitchum has assaulted her. The very moment her face is turned in the direction of the viewers, Bernard Herrman's highly effective music score is suddenly used to heighten the scene's suspense. The rest of the scene is left to ones imagination as she recalls in part, what that evil man said to her....... J. Lee Thompson did a great job of directing the film by using low lighting and arched camera angles. Quite a daring film to make back in the early 1960s when Conservatism was rife in the United States. The sort of content to be found in "Cape Fear" would have caused some concern for the American Film Censors I would wager.

merrywater Was this the last film noir type of picture made in B/W? Surely movies have been made in B/W after 1962, but I can't think of anyone in particular this famous. Psycho, for instance, was released in 1960.Anyhow, this is a true gem, and there's nothing that I'd like to add to it, or remove.Robert Mitchum was magnificent in Cape Fear: indeed, he gave life to the odd, inscrutable character of Max Cady. Compare his Max Cady to Lee Marvin's Walker in Point Blank, another impeccable hard boiled 60s thriller (although in color). Marvin's protagonist doesn't really seem to possess any feelings other than Vengeance. Cady shows all kinds of emotion: anger, amusement, hate, self-pity, desire, perhaps even love (though I doubt that). The remake of 1991 is not my favorite, and I suspect that Scorsese simply wanted to cast DeNiro in yet a powerful role. In my opinion, DeNiro didn't make it as Mitchum had already been there. (I also tend to think of DeNiro fans as admirers of greasy Mafiosi clichés: in one scene in the 1991 version, DeNiro's Cady even tuned in some Italian opera while driving his automobile. Not exactly what Mitchum's Cady would have thought of doing...) Cape Fear of 1962 had a sub motive dealing with apparent shortcomings of the law, that even the ex convicts have rights, and so on. The same motive appears later in the Dirty Harry series. Cape Fear of 1991 blurred all this with religion, and much of the point with the setting, copied from the original, was lost. While Mitchum's Cady is believable as the shrewd legal book reading bum, DeNiro's Cady barely appears to be literate.Other reviewers on IMDb have commented on the Hitchcockian style of this thriller. Well, you can see that this was not directed by Hitchcock. No offense intended here, though.