Film Forum

12:30   2:40   4:50   7:00   9:10

(1962, J. Lee Thompson) Stiffly upright lawyer Peck’s got it all — a nice life and loving family (wife Polly Bergen and daughter Lori Martin) — but newly released inmate and sexual psychotic Mitchum has returned from an eight-year stint and plans to seek revenge on the man who locked him up. A tour de force for Mitchum, as his cigar-chomping, straw-fedoraed Max Cady drives decent Peck to audience-alienating, extra-legal lengths, until a bare-chested Bob starts going after the family in a watery bayou climax.

Though controversial upon release for its depictions of sexual violence, Cape Fear received positive reviews and was later featured on the American Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Thrills” list, and Mitchum’s Max Cady remains one of the all-time greatest movie villains (as recognized by the AFI and TIME Magazine). Adapted from John D. MacDonald’s The Executioners, with music by Bernard Herrmann. DCP. Approx. 106 min.

A UNIVERSAL PICTURES RELEASE

Reviews

“This thriller, directed by J. Lee Thompson, is a smart package of controlled ambiguity that toys with viewers’ liberal and conservative impulses alike.”
– Michael Sragow, The New Yorker

“A supremely nasty thriller… the relentlessness of the story and Mitchum’s tangibly sordid presence guarantee the viewer’s quivering attention.”
– David Thomson, Time Out (London)

“A forthright exercise in cumulative terror.”
– Variety