Podcast 53: Cape Fear (1991)

March 17, 2022 Jon S Movies, Podcasting 01:18:1274MB 0 Comments
Cape Fear

The 3 Guys Podcast

Recorded on 2/24/2022

Counselor! Come out, come out, wherever you are! In this episode we review the new movie, Cape Fear (released 1991) starring Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum and Gregory…WARNING: There will be SPOILERS!

The 3 Guys Rating

1.8/5
Cape Fear Blu-ray

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Cape Fear (Book) by John D. MacDonald

A dark, psychological thriller, first published in 1957 as The Executioners and filmed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro.

‘The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller’ – Stephen King

Cape Fear (book) by John D. MacDonald
Cape Fear the Book

Notes From The Show

  • Quick Synopsis

  • Released: November 15, 1991

    Directed By: Martin Scorsese

    Screenplay By: Wesley Strick

    Remake of: Cape Fear (1962)

    Based on the Book: “The Executioners” by John D. MacDonald

    Stars: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck

    Plot: A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.

    How did this movie do:
    Budget: $35 Million
    Box office: $182 Million

  • Casting

    • The film cast includes four Oscar winners: Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Martin Balsam, and Gregory Peck; and three Oscar nominees: Nick Nolte, Robert Mitchum, and Juliette Lewis.

    • Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast as Danielle.

    • Martin Scorsese had also wanted Telly Savalas to return from the original cast.

    • Diane Keaton met with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro to discuss playing the role of Leigh Bowden, but didn’t win the part.

    • Nicole Kidman lobbied for the role of Danielle, but Martin Scorsese wanted a younger actress.

    • When Steven Spielberg was attached to direct, he had plans on casting Bill Murray as Max Cady.

    • Reese Witherspoon auditioned for the role of Danielle Bowden.

    • Drew Barrymore screen-tested for the role of Danielle Bowden, but failed the audition. She later said she had “acted all over the place, and it was just the biggest disaster of my life.”

    • Director Martin Scorsese’s first choice for the role of Bowden was Harrison Ford. He had Robert De Niro call Ford to try convincing him to take the part; after some consideration, he ultimately turned down the offer.

  • Book vs Movie

    • Book & 1962 Version: The basic plot of the novel concerns an attorney named Sam Bowden, who caught Max Cady, an illiterate, brutal rapist, in the act. Bowden later testifies against him. This is the same as the 1962 movie.

    • Book: Cady targets the family more viciously early on. Cady attempts to kill Bowden’s son by shooting him with a high power rifle from far away but fails due to the wind velocity sending the bullet into his son’s arm instead. As Bowden’s wife is leaving the hospital, she nearly dies in a car crash after Cady removes the lug nuts from one of her wheels.

    • Book: During House trap scene, Cady killed a cop, so the police begin their search for Cady. As daylight begins, they find a trail of blood in Bowden’s backyard. They follow it and find Cady’s corpse. It turns out Bowden’s frantic shots after Cady fled the house, hit Cady and severed an artery and he bled to death.

    • 1962 Movie: The Trap is set at the Houseboat, not the house.

    • Cady’s ending is different in each iteration.  In the book, he dies from a gun shot wound.  In the 1962 version he goes to prison for life.  In the 1991 version he drowned.

  • Trivia

    • Robert De Niro was tattooed with vegetable dyes, which faded after a few months.

    • The thick accent Robert De Niro used to play Max Cady reportedly gave Martin Scorsese the creeps. As a joke, De Niro would call Scorsese’s house, leaving voicemails as Cady.

    • Robert De Niro’s Cady accent came from an earlier role, where he played a southerner. To prepare for the role, De Niro took excerpts of the script and a tape recorder into southern towns and would ask locals to read the lines into the tape.

    • Martin Scorsese read the original script three times while making Goodfellas (1990) and hated it each time, because of the Bowdens were a happy family and he wanted them to be miserable.

    • The scene in the high school auditorium was completely ad-libbed by Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis, and done on the first take.

    • Originally, in the scene where Cady puts handcuffs on Lori, she was supposed to start freaking out, Illeana Douglas was the one who came up with the idea of having her character laughing and trying to play along instead.

    • The auditorium scene was originally scripted as a chase scene, but Martin Scorsese wanted it to be a seduction.

    • Robert De Niro paid a dentist $5,000 to make his teeth look suitably bad for the role of Max Cady. After filming, he paid $20,000 to have them fixed.

    • Robert De Niro researched sexual predator crimes for the part, and suggested the scene where his character bites the victim.

    • The climax was filmed inside a ninety-foot water tank on a soundstage. It took four weeks to shoot.

    • Gregory Peck, who starred in Cape Fear (1962), appears as Cady’s lawyer. Robert Mitchum played Max Cady in the 1962 version, and appears as Lieutenant Elgart. Martin Balsam played Mark Dutton in the 1962 version, and the judge in this version.

    • The scene between Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis in the school was shot in three takes, but the first one was used in final productions.

    • Robert De Niro did a lot of working out several months before the movie and during the shoot to make him the muscular Max Cady, reportedly taking his body fat down to only three percent.

    • The climactic scene out in the swamp was filmed in John U. Lloyd State Park, in the middle of a mangrove swamp. A tropical depression set over the set for four days, so the film crew had to wait for the storm to stop so that they could make their own rain.

    • Robert De Niro and Illeana Douglas’ scenes were improvised.

    • Features Juliette Lewis’s only Oscar-nominated performance.

    • Juliette Lewis developed a crush on Robert De Niro during the scene in the drama class.

    • Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte had to alter their physiques for the film, because the 6’0″, bulky, Nolte is clearly larger than the 5’9″, slimmer De Niro. Nolte slimmed down, losing a good deal of weight while shooting the film, and De Niro bulked up his muscles considerably until De Niro could be seen as Nolte’s physical superior. Interestingly, the original Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck 6’3″) was also slightly taller than the original Max Cady (Robert Mitchum 6’1″).

    • During the opening sequence, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is seen working out in his cell and the camera pans over his jail time reading material. One of the books featured is “The Cell Within” by Jake Manning. This is not a published work, and only exists as part of a Miami Vice (1984) storyline. In Miami Vice: The Cell Within (1989), Tubbs is tormented and imprisoned by the author Jake Manning, an ex-con he helped convict years before.

    • There is an iconic shooting star shot, a nod to Steven Spielberg.

    • George C. Scott was originally supposed to play Lieutenant Elgart, but because of health problems, he dropped out a few days before filming, and Robert Mitchum was brought in.

    • This was the first film in which Martin Scorsese used visual effects.

    • The music video that Danielle watches to avoid her parents’ argument is Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing”.

    • Filmed in seventeen weeks in South Florida.

    • The scene where Robert De Niro sits on the brick wall, he actually sits in front of a bluescreen, where the fireworks were added later in production.

    • The script went through twenty-four drafts.

    • The opening of the movie is very similar to the opening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), both visually (the red and black fade of female face) and musically (Elmer Bernstein emulating Bernard Hermann’s original score).

    • The ice cream parlor scene was shot in the first week of production where the owners complained for the first three days that they were losing business.

    • Illeana Douglas based her performance as Lori Davis on Jennifer Levin, who was murdered in 1986 in Central Park by Robert Chambers (whom the press dubbed the “Preppy Murderer”).

    • Robert De Niro helped costume designer Rita Ryack choose Cady’s clothing.

    • Fangoria Magazine was barred from covering the film, because Universal, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese saw the film as a thriller, not a horror film. They were also barred from covering The Silence of the Lambs (1991) for similar reasons.

    • Sole collaboration between longtime friends and New Hollywood trailblazers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg oversaw development of the project via Amblin Entertainment, although he is uncredited on the film itself.

    • For this movie, Scorsese heavily imitated Alfred Hitchcock’s style, homaging the British director in several shots, some of which are direct nods to many famous Hitchcock films, such as “Strangers on a Train” (the parade) or “Marnie” (the nightmare).

    • Sam Bowden and Max Cady are the only characters to retain the same names from Cape Fear (1962).

    • Lori Davis (Illeana Douglas) was named after Lori Martin, who played Nancy Bowden in Cape Fear (1962).

    • The 1962 and 1991 film adaptations of Cape Fear, formerly titled “The Executioners”, omit Sam Bowden’s two young sons Jamie and Bucky.

    • Steven Spielberg was originally attached to direct with Martin Scorsese set to direct Schindler’s List (1993). They both realized the other was better suited to direct their films and switched. A good move for Spielberg as he went on to win his first Oscars for Best Directing and Best Picture.

    • The name of Bowden’s houseboat is Moana, which means “ocean” in Hawaiian.

    • In the 1962 film “To Kill a Mockingbird”, actor Gregory Peck portrayed an attorney in a rape trial. The novel on which it was based was written by Harper Lee. In this film, Peck portrays an attorney for a man formerly sentenced to prison for rape. His name in the story is Lee Heller.

    • The film was released two days before Martin Scorsese’s forty-ninth birthday.

    • Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange appeared in Night and the City (1992), which was also an updated version of an older movie.

    • Robert De Niro and Illeana Douglas were both in “Goodfellas”, also directed by Martin Scorsese, the previous year.

    • Gregory Peck: Peck, who starred in Cape Fear (1962), completed filming his cameo scenes in one day.

    • Cameo: Martin Scorsese’s mother was the fruit stand customer.

    • When Cady strangles Kersek (Joe Don Baker) with the piano wire, Steven Spielberg suggested he be dressed up as the housekeeper while doing it.

    • Robert De Niro would only get under the Bowdens’ car if a stuntman could prove it could be done.

    • In the auditorium scene between Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis, it was De Niro’s idea to put his thumb in her mouth.

    • During Cady’s death scene, he seems to be talking gibberish. He’s actually speaking in tongues, elated at the fact that he thinks he’s ascending to Heaven.

    • Body count: five (including the dog).

    • The drama of the end scene is broken by cutaways to “exteriors” of the obvious use of a smaller minature model of the houseboat in a special effects water tank, portraying the fast flowing river.

Released: November 15, 1991

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Screenplay By: Wesley Strick

Remake of: Cape Fear (1962)

Based on the Book: “The Executioners” by John D. MacDonald

Stars: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum and Gregory Peck

Plot: A convicted rapist, released from prison after serving a fourteen-year sentence, stalks the family of the lawyer who originally defended him.

How did this movie do:
Budget: $35 Million
Box office: $182 Million

  • The film cast includes four Oscar winners: Robert De Niro, Jessica Lange, Martin Balsam, and Gregory Peck; and three Oscar nominees: Nick Nolte, Robert Mitchum, and Juliette Lewis.

  • Sarah Jessica Parker was originally cast as Danielle.

  • Martin Scorsese had also wanted Telly Savalas to return from the original cast.

  • Diane Keaton met with Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro to discuss playing the role of Leigh Bowden, but didn’t win the part.

  • Nicole Kidman lobbied for the role of Danielle, but Martin Scorsese wanted a younger actress.

  • When Steven Spielberg was attached to direct, he had plans on casting Bill Murray as Max Cady.

  • Reese Witherspoon auditioned for the role of Danielle Bowden.

  • Drew Barrymore screen-tested for the role of Danielle Bowden, but failed the audition. She later said she had “acted all over the place, and it was just the biggest disaster of my life.”

  • Director Martin Scorsese’s first choice for the role of Bowden was Harrison Ford. He had Robert De Niro call Ford to try convincing him to take the part; after some consideration, he ultimately turned down the offer.
  • Book & 1962 Version: The basic plot of the novel concerns an attorney named Sam Bowden, who caught Max Cady, an illiterate, brutal rapist, in the act. Bowden later testifies against him. This is the same as the 1962 movie.

  • Book: Cady targets the family more viciously early on. Cady attempts to kill Bowden’s son by shooting him with a high power rifle from far away but fails due to the wind velocity sending the bullet into his son’s arm instead. As Bowden’s wife is leaving the hospital, she nearly dies in a car crash after Cady removes the lug nuts from one of her wheels.

  • Book: During House trap scene, Cady killed a cop, so the police begin their search for Cady. As daylight begins, they find a trail of blood in Bowden’s backyard. They follow it and find Cady’s corpse. It turns out Bowden’s frantic shots after Cady fled the house, hit Cady and severed an artery and he bled to death.

  • 1962 Movie: The Trap is set at the Houseboat, not the house.

  • Cady’s ending is different in each iteration.  In the book, he dies from a gun shot wound.  In the 1962 version he goes to prison for life.  In the 1991 version he drowned.
  • Robert De Niro was tattooed with vegetable dyes, which faded after a few months.

  • The thick accent Robert De Niro used to play Max Cady reportedly gave Martin Scorsese the creeps. As a joke, De Niro would call Scorsese’s house, leaving voicemails as Cady.

  • Robert De Niro’s Cady accent came from an earlier role, where he played a southerner. To prepare for the role, De Niro took excerpts of the script and a tape recorder into southern towns and would ask locals to read the lines into the tape.

  • Martin Scorsese read the original script three times while making Goodfellas (1990) and hated it each time, because of the Bowdens were a happy family and he wanted them to be miserable.

  • The scene in the high school auditorium was completely ad-libbed by Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis, and done on the first take.

  • Originally, in the scene where Cady puts handcuffs on Lori, she was supposed to start freaking out, Illeana Douglas was the one who came up with the idea of having her character laughing and trying to play along instead.

  • The auditorium scene was originally scripted as a chase scene, but Martin Scorsese wanted it to be a seduction.

  • Robert De Niro paid a dentist $5,000 to make his teeth look suitably bad for the role of Max Cady. After filming, he paid $20,000 to have them fixed.

  • Robert De Niro researched sexual predator crimes for the part, and suggested the scene where his character bites the victim.

  • The climax was filmed inside a ninety-foot water tank on a soundstage. It took four weeks to shoot.

  • Gregory Peck, who starred in Cape Fear (1962), appears as Cady’s lawyer. Robert Mitchum played Max Cady in the 1962 version, and appears as Lieutenant Elgart. Martin Balsam played Mark Dutton in the 1962 version, and the judge in this version.

  • The scene between Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis in the school was shot in three takes, but the first one was used in final productions.

  • Robert De Niro did a lot of working out several months before the movie and during the shoot to make him the muscular Max Cady, reportedly taking his body fat down to only three percent.

  • The climactic scene out in the swamp was filmed in John U. Lloyd State Park, in the middle of a mangrove swamp. A tropical depression set over the set for four days, so the film crew had to wait for the storm to stop so that they could make their own rain.

  • Robert De Niro and Illeana Douglas’ scenes were improvised.

  • Features Juliette Lewis’s only Oscar-nominated performance.

  • Juliette Lewis developed a crush on Robert De Niro during the scene in the drama class.

  • Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte had to alter their physiques for the film, because the 6’0″, bulky, Nolte is clearly larger than the 5’9″, slimmer De Niro. Nolte slimmed down, losing a good deal of weight while shooting the film, and De Niro bulked up his muscles considerably until De Niro could be seen as Nolte’s physical superior. Interestingly, the original Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck 6’3″) was also slightly taller than the original Max Cady (Robert Mitchum 6’1″).

  • During the opening sequence, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) is seen working out in his cell and the camera pans over his jail time reading material. One of the books featured is “The Cell Within” by Jake Manning. This is not a published work, and only exists as part of a Miami Vice (1984) storyline. In Miami Vice: The Cell Within (1989), Tubbs is tormented and imprisoned by the author Jake Manning, an ex-con he helped convict years before.

  • There is an iconic shooting star shot, a nod to Steven Spielberg.

  • George C. Scott was originally supposed to play Lieutenant Elgart, but because of health problems, he dropped out a few days before filming, and Robert Mitchum was brought in.

  • This was the first film in which Martin Scorsese used visual effects.

  • The music video that Danielle watches to avoid her parents’ argument is Jane’s Addiction’s “Been Caught Stealing”.

  • Filmed in seventeen weeks in South Florida.

  • The scene where Robert De Niro sits on the brick wall, he actually sits in front of a bluescreen, where the fireworks were added later in production.

  • The script went through twenty-four drafts.

  • The opening of the movie is very similar to the opening of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), both visually (the red and black fade of female face) and musically (Elmer Bernstein emulating Bernard Hermann’s original score).

  • The ice cream parlor scene was shot in the first week of production where the owners complained for the first three days that they were losing business.

  • Illeana Douglas based her performance as Lori Davis on Jennifer Levin, who was murdered in 1986 in Central Park by Robert Chambers (whom the press dubbed the “Preppy Murderer”).

  • Robert De Niro helped costume designer Rita Ryack choose Cady’s clothing.

  • Fangoria Magazine was barred from covering the film, because Universal, Steven Spielberg, and Martin Scorsese saw the film as a thriller, not a horror film. They were also barred from covering The Silence of the Lambs (1991) for similar reasons.

  • Sole collaboration between longtime friends and New Hollywood trailblazers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg oversaw development of the project via Amblin Entertainment, although he is uncredited on the film itself.

  • For this movie, Scorsese heavily imitated Alfred Hitchcock’s style, homaging the British director in several shots, some of which are direct nods to many famous Hitchcock films, such as “Strangers on a Train” (the parade) or “Marnie” (the nightmare).

  • Sam Bowden and Max Cady are the only characters to retain the same names from Cape Fear (1962).

  • Lori Davis (Illeana Douglas) was named after Lori Martin, who played Nancy Bowden in Cape Fear (1962).

  • The 1962 and 1991 film adaptations of Cape Fear, formerly titled “The Executioners”, omit Sam Bowden’s two young sons Jamie and Bucky.

  • Steven Spielberg was originally attached to direct with Martin Scorsese set to direct Schindler’s List (1993). They both realized the other was better suited to direct their films and switched. A good move for Spielberg as he went on to win his first Oscars for Best Directing and Best Picture.

  • The name of Bowden’s houseboat is Moana, which means “ocean” in Hawaiian.

  • In the 1962 film “To Kill a Mockingbird”, actor Gregory Peck portrayed an attorney in a rape trial. The novel on which it was based was written by Harper Lee. In this film, Peck portrays an attorney for a man formerly sentenced to prison for rape. His name in the story is Lee Heller.

  • The film was released two days before Martin Scorsese’s forty-ninth birthday.

  • Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange appeared in Night and the City (1992), which was also an updated version of an older movie.

  • Robert De Niro and Illeana Douglas were both in “Goodfellas”, also directed by Martin Scorsese, the previous year.

  • Gregory Peck: Peck, who starred in Cape Fear (1962), completed filming his cameo scenes in one day.

  • Cameo: Martin Scorsese’s mother was the fruit stand customer.

  • When Cady strangles Kersek (Joe Don Baker) with the piano wire, Steven Spielberg suggested he be dressed up as the housekeeper while doing it.

  • Robert De Niro would only get under the Bowdens’ car if a stuntman could prove it could be done.

  • In the auditorium scene between Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis, it was De Niro’s idea to put his thumb in her mouth.

  • During Cady’s death scene, he seems to be talking gibberish. He’s actually speaking in tongues, elated at the fact that he thinks he’s ascending to Heaven.

  • Body count: five (including the dog).

  • The drama of the end scene is broken by cutaways to “exteriors” of the obvious use of a smaller minature model of the houseboat in a special effects water tank, portraying the fast flowing river.

About The Movie From IMDB

cape-fear crime, thriller | november-15-1991-united-states 7.3
Director: Martin ScorseseWriter: John D. MacDonald, James R. Webb, Wesley StrickStars: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica LangeSummary: Imprisoned for brutally assaulting a young girl, Max Cady spends his time in jail wisely - reading literature, sculpting his body to perfection and planning his violent revenge on the defence lawyer who put him behind bars. After serving his fourteen year sentence, Cady is released from prison and his rampage begins. ?BecksyKane

Photos


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Videos


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Cast

Robert De Niro
...
Max Cady
Nick Nolte
...
Sam Bowden
Jessica Lange
...
Leigh Bowden
Juliette Lewis
...
Danielle Bowden
Joe Don Baker
...
Claude Kersek
Robert Mitchum
...
Lieutenant Elgart
Gregory Peck
...
Lee Heller
Martin Balsam
...
Judge
Illeana Douglas
...
Lori Davis
Fred Thompson
...
Tom Broadbent
Zully Montero
...
Graciella
Craig Henne
...
Prisoner
Forest Burton
...
Prisoner
Edgar Allan Poe IV
...
Prisoner
Rod Ball
...
Prisoner
W. Paul Bodie
...
Prisoner
Joel Kolker
...
Corrections Officer
Antoni Corone
...
Corrections Officer

See full cast >>
Countries: United StatesLanguages: EnglishBudget: 35000000-estimated
Source: imdb.com
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7.3
cape-fear crime, thriller | november-15-1991-united-states
Director: Martin ScorseseWriter: John D. MacDonald, James R. Webb, Wesley StrickStars: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange
Summary: a-convicted-rapist-released-from-prison-after-serving-a-fourteen-year-sentence-stalks-the-family-of-the-lawyer-who-originally-defended-him
Countries: United StatesLanguages: English
Source: imdb.comDisclaimer: This plugin has been coded to automatically quote data from imdb.com. Not available for any other purpose. All showing data have a link to imdb.com. The user is responsible for any other use or change codes.

Quotes

Max Cady: I ain't no white trash piece of shit. I'm better than you all! I can out-learn you. I can out-read you. I can out-think you. And I can out-philosophize you. And I'm gonna outlast you. You think a couple whacks to my guts is gonna get me down? It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that, Counselor, to prove you're better than me!

Danielle: If you hold on to the past, you die a little each day...

[last lines]

Danielle: [voiceover] We never spoke about what happened, at least not to each other. Fear, I suppose, that to remember his name and what he did would mean letting him into our dreams. And me, I hardly dream about him anymore. Still, things won't ever be the way they were before he came. But that's alright because if you hang onto the past you die a little every day. And for myself, I know I'd rather live.

[whispers]

Danielle: The end.

Max Cady: Counselor! Come out, come out, wherever you are!

Max Cady: "I am like God, and God like me. I am as large as God, He is as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath Him be." Silesius, 17th Century.

Claude Kersek: No, you're scared. But that's okay. I want you to savor that fear. The South evolved in fear; fear of the Indian, fear of the slave, fear of the damn Union. The South has a fine tradition of savoring fear.

Max Cady: It's not necessary to lay a foul tongue on me my friend. I could get upset. Things could get out of hand. Then in self defense, I could do something to you that you would not like, right here.

Max Cady: I'm Virgil and I'm guidin' you through the gates of Hell. We are now in the Ninth Circle, the Circle of Traitors. Traitors to country! Traitors to fellow man! Traitors to GOD! You, sir, are charged with betrayin' the principles of all three! Quote for me the American Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct, Canon Seven.

Sam Bowden: "A lawyer should represent his client... "

Max Cady: "Should ZEALOUSLY represent his client within the bounds of the law." I find you guilty, counselor! Guilty of betrayin' your fellow man! Guilty of betrayin' your country and abrogatin' your oath! Guilty of judgin' me and sellin' me out! With the power vested in me by the kingdom of God, I sentence you to the Ninth Circle of Hell! Now you will learn about loss! Loss of freedom! Loss of humanity! Now you and I will truly be the same...

Max Cady: Every man... every man has to go through hell to reach paradise.

Max Cady: Are you my friend? Are you my friend?

Claude Kersek: No I'm not your friend.

Max Cady: Well, see, I like to plan my comings and goings with friends, so if you're planning my comings and goings I'd call that presumptuous, in fact I'd call it downright rude.

[first lines]

Danielle: My reminiscence. I always thought that for such a lovely river the name is mystifying: "Cape Fear". When the only thing to fear on those enchanted summer nights was that the magic would end and real life would come crashing in.

[Max Cady bares his heavily tattooed body]

Lieutenant Elgart: I don't know whether to look at him or read him.

Claude Kersek: Well, gee golly gosh. I sure am sorry I offended you, you white trash piece of shit.

Max Cady: I understand, I'm not your type, too many tattoos. Thing is, there isn't much to do in prison except desecrate your flesh.

Max Cady: You learn about loss.

Prison Guard: What about your books?

Max Cady: Already read 'em.

Lieutenant Elgart: Well, pardon me all over the place.

Sam Bowden: He says we're fugitives!

Danielle: What does that mean?

Sam Bowden: That means we're doing something right!

Max Cady: So, here we are, two lawyers for all practical purposes talking shop.

Sam Bowden: How much do you want, Mr. Cady?

Max Cady: How much do I want what?

Sam Bowden: How much money do you want?

Max Cady: Money? Counselor, do I look destitute to you?

Sam Bowden: Well I'm open to discussion within reasonable limits.

Max Cady: You ever been a woman?

Sam Bowden: What?

Max Cady: A woman... some fat, hairy hillbilly's wet dream.

[Max Cady stares at Mrs. Bowden]

Max Cady: Mmm-mmm, hot as a firecracker on the fourth of July.

Max Cady: [Approaching a dumpster Sam is hiding behind] Counselor... could you be there? Could you be there?

Max Cady: Are you a cop? Or were you a cop? Or were you not good enough to remain on the force? Cause you know what? That's the feeling I'm getting here.

Sam Bowden: Because I knew he brutally beat and raped her!

Max Cady: Talk... TO ME! I'm Right HERE!

[hits Sam in the face]

Sam Bowden: Just because she was promiscuous... didn't give YOU THE RIGHT TO RAPE HER! But YOU BRAGGED about how you beat TWO prior rapes... you were a menace!

Max Cady: [Screams] YOU WERE MY LAWYER... you were my lawyer! That report could've saved me FOURTEEN YEARS!

Sam Bowden: [begrudgingly] You're probably right.

Max Cady: [Disgusted] YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS FUCK!

Max Cady: [singing hysterically to the heavens] I'm bound for the promised land, I am, I'm bound for the promised land.

Max Cady: This is my night, Counselor. Don't you step on my lines!

Sam Bowden: [they first meet - Sam is about to start his car when suddenly a hand reaches in and snatches the keys. It's Max Cady!]

Max Cady: [smiling] Free as a bird. You go wherever you want with whomever.

Sam Bowden: I'd like my keys back, please.

Max Cady: Could it be you don't remember me?

Sam Bowden: I remember you. You were at the movies the other night.

Max Cady: I'm disappointed. I'm hurt.

Sam Bowden: I would like my keys.

Max Cady: Max Cady. You look the same. Maybe 15 pounds heavier. But they say the average man gains a pound a year till he's about... Come on. Gains a pound a year till he's about 60. Me? I dropped a pound every year in my sentence.

Sam Bowden: Atlanta. July 1977?

Max Cady: You got it.

[looks at keys and adds]

Max Cady: Fourteen years since I held a set of keys.

Max Cady: [Danielle throws scalding grease over Max] Danielle, were you about to offer me something hot?

[Lights a flare and holds it aloft]

Max Cady: Let's get something straight... I spent fourteen years in an eight by nine foot cell surrounded by people who were less than human. My mission in that time was to become more than human

[lets boiling wax drip on his skin]

Max Cady: ... so you see! Granddaddy used to handle snakes in church, Granny drank strychnine. I guess you could say I had a leg up, genetically speaking.

Max Cady: Your mommy's not happy... your daddy's not happy, and you know what? You're not happy.

Max Cady: I am going to teach you the meaning of commitment. Fourteen years ago I was forced to make a commitment to an eight by nine cell, now you are going to be forced to make a commitment. You could say I'm here to save you.

Leigh Bowden: Stop! Stop!

Max Cady: Yes, Leigh?

Leigh Bowden: Listen to me, Max, listen to me. You know, Max, since all this started, I've thought about you all the time. I've tried to imagine what it must have been like for you, all those years locked up in jail... I've tried to imagine you and even your crimes, and how you must have felt in those moments that you did them... See, I know about loss, Max. I know about losing time, even losing years. And I know it doesn't compare to jail, but I can understand. And I can share this with you. Because of that, whatever it is you've got planned, I want you to do it just with me... not with her... because... we have this connection.

Claude Kersek: [Cady's realised Kersek's tailing him] Hey, Cady! Come here. Wait up a second. You know, I've been in a real bad mood lately. Shame, innit? You know what you can do to brighten my mood?

Max Cady: [takes the time to smoke some of his cigar before answering] No.

Claude Kersek: Get the hell out of here.

[Cady laughs that off]

Claude Kersek: I don't just mean this whole town. I mean the whole goddam state. I don't want to see you. I don't want to hear you. And I don't want to smell you... now leave.

Max Cady: Now, I like... are you my friend?

Claude Kersek: No, I'm not your friend.

Max Cady: Oh, cause' I thought maybe you were my friend, cause' I like to plan my comings and goings with friends. But if you're not my friend, you're plannin' my comings and goings, I'd call that presumptuous. In fact, I'd call it downright rude, cause' I ain't your porch-baby, buddy.

Claude Kersek: Well, gee-golly-gosh. I sure am sorry I offended you you white-trash piece of shit.

Max Cady: Ooh, I got the all-over fidgets on that one! And you're really shaken' me up! I'm shiveren' all over! Whew! It's not necessary to lay a foul tongue on me, my friend. I could get upset. Things could get out of hand. And then in self-defence, I could do something to you that you would not like... right here.

Claude Kersek: Anytime you feel squirrely, you just jump.

Max Cady: You threatenin' me? You threatenin' me?

Claude Kersek: You catch on fast.

Max Cady: [the jokey look on Cady's face is dangerous now] Cause' I'm well within my rights to be here, and you know it. And if I stay here what you gonna do?

Claude Kersek: I don't give a rat's ass about your rights. You just watch your step. And you know what I'm talkin' about.

Max Cady: What you gonna' do? Arrest me? What are you a cop? Or were you a cop? Or were you not good enough to remain on the force? Cause' you know what? That's the feelin' I'm gettin' here.

[Kersek gives nothing away]

Max Cady: Hope you enjoyed your breakfast.

[Cady saunters off]

Max Cady: You ready to be born again, Miss Bowden?

Max Cady: [to Lori] Maybe I could chop you into 40 pieces.

Sam Bowden: I know how the dog died.

Leigh Bowden: Sam, are you dreaming?

Sam Bowden: No, no, I just had the weirdest feeling that he

[Cady]

Sam Bowden: was already in the house.

Max Cady: [hanging upside down, on the phone with Danielle] ... well, you can trust in me 'cause I'm the "Do-Right Man".

Claude Kersek: Anytime you feel squirrelly, you just jump.

[Cady has just killed Kersek]

Max Cady: I learned that in prison... You white-trash piece of shit!

Leigh Bowden: You don't know Danny. If she finds a palmetto bug in her bedroom, she takes it outside. She could never kill anything.

Claude Kersek: Even a six-foot palmetto bug?

Leigh Bowden: I'd like to know just how strong we are. Or how weak. But I guess the only way we're gonna find that out is just by going through this.

Max Cady: [hit in the head with a rock] Forget about that restraining order, Counselor? You're well within 500 yards!

[repeated phrase]

Max Cady: Counselor.

Leigh Bowden: [about Cady] I'd still like to kill him.

Sam Bowden: My wife found some marijuana in one of Danni's schoolbooks, we don't know if Cady gave it to her, but she's scared and won't talk to us, now this has gone far enough.

Claude Kersek: Did you call the police?

Sam Bowden: No I didn't call the police, what did you call them? Slow, slobbery, skeptical...

Max Cady: You will now have an opportunity. "What is that opportunity?", you ask. Why, here and now, we have an opportunity to depict and dramatize...

Leigh Bowden: Oh, no!

Max Cady: ...both the heights and the depths of a mama's true love for her daughter, if y'all get my meaning. C'mon out, baby, let's go. C'mon darling. Get out.

[shoves Danielle up on the table]

Max Cady: Get up here.

Lieutenant Elgart: So what happened, your wife let the dog out and Cady abducted him and...

Sam Bowden: No, my wife didn't let the dog out.

Lieutenant Elgart: So he came into the house? Now that's illegal entry...

Sam Bowden: No, he didn't come into the house either. Now look, I'm not a cop, I don't know how he did it, all I know is that he DID it.

Max Cady: [to a snarling Sam] You already sacrificed me, counselor.

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