Made in 1962, this black and white thriller starred Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, Lori Martin, Telly Savalas and Martin Balsam. It is the story of a lawyer (Sam Bowden) and his family who are stalked by a psychopath (Max Cady) who is bent on revenge for the years he has spent in prison. In true psychopathic fashion, Cady blames Bowden, a criminal attorney, for his jail sentence, and not the fact that he committed the heinous acts that brought him before the judge in the first place.
Gregory Peck is brilliant and eloquent as always, as he does his best to protect his family from the onslaught of Cady’s rage. The buildup of Cady’s brutality starts with the poisoning of the family dog and reaches a crescendo as the family escapes to a houseboat on the Cape Fear River and hence, the title.
This film was made before the days when stalking was considered a crime. Cady stretched the law to the limit, without overstepping the boundaries of the day. Today, he couldn’t have gotten as far as he did, but the realism of the film is durable and still speaks for itself. Originally, Gregory Peck was approached to play Cady, but he didn’t want to be a bad guy and asked for and got the role of the hero.
Co-star Polly Bergen suffered minor bruises during production in a scene where her character struggles with Robert Mitchum’s character. He was supposed to drag her through a series of doors, but someone in the crew mistakenly left the doors locked. Poor Miss Bergen was actually used as a battering ram, which was probably not in her original contract.
The film was remade in 1991, produced by Martin Scorcese and starring Robert De Niro as Max Cady. The film presents a more modernized couple and despite De Niro’s realistic depiction and Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange’s fine performances, it lacks the luster of the original. Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam all appear in this version in minor roles.
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