Robert de Niro is exciting in the remake of Martin Scorsese, but the original villain of “Cape Fear” is even more terrifying

In 1991, Martin Scorsese And Robert de Niro Securized for one of their many emblematic collaborations and one of the only Scorsese thrillers: Fear cape. The film features Niro in the role of Max Cady, a violent criminal recently released from prison and made calculation with his former lawyer, who, according to him, threw the case. Nick Nolte depicts Samuel Bowden, the lawyer who finds himself face to face with Cady and his family life in chaos by this vengeful silhouette of his past. De Niro offers a terrifying and animal performance as a Cady, And he highlights one of the greatest forces in this film: he is a remake with his own distinctive sense of tone and style.

The original Fear cape was released in 1962, produced by J. Lee Thompsonwith Gregory Peck Like Bowden and Robert Mitchum Like Cady. The film was an adaptation of a novel, The executionersby John D. Macdonald. The book and the original film all follow the same loose story, but each has enough variations for the experience to feel fresh in the two adaptations. One of the most notable differences is the characterization and the ultimate spell of Max Cady, as Mitchum is much more reserved but just as effective As Niro.

Robert Mitchum is a calmer and more calculated evil in the “fear of the original course”

De Niro’s Cady is a pure and simple homicide maniac, and the role is in contrast with the way Mitchum has slipped into the character. Mitchum plays CADY with a much more quality of the snakelike – it is not frightening or unusual in appearance, and it is incredibly charming in a specific and sufficient way that only reveals his ulterior motives to those he knows can do nothing about it. Mitchum depicts Cady similar to the way he portrays the preacher Harry Powell, the disarming and smooth antagonist of Charles Laughton‘s Hunter’s night. The two characters are crooks who can make fun of their path of responsibility and in places where they can cause more harm.

Mitchum’s approach makes Cady seem much smarter and more calculated compared to the aggressive quality of Niro’s performance. The original film feels more credible in terms of tracks insofar as Cady can go into mocking Bowden without drawing suspicionsBecause it seems much more normal, naive and innocent. You buy that the public or the court was going to rally to him because he plays a level of forgetting that feels more accomplice than in the 1991 film.

Although Mitchum’s performances offer a completely different characterization of Max Cady, that is not that that of Niro is bad. De Niro’s physics and aggressive behavior are terrifying in context, and its range plays this type of character better. Cady de de Niro is a stranger, abrasive and strange in this way that attracts a lot of attention and arouses less sympathy. He always plays soft in the right way when he needs to draw public support after putting Bowden from Nolte to attack him, simulate wounds and play things well enough to appear helpless next to Nolte for a moment and extremely dangerous in the next.

The success of the two films “Cape Fear” proves that remakes have merit when they are done

The two take the character’s work, and the two films generally work. The 1962 Fear cape is strong and effective until the end, But the resolution is not as satisfactory as the adaptation of Scorsese. It is similar in this regard Nightmare alleyAnother classic who has a little a little end in the original cinematic adaptation, while Guillermo del ToroThe later version has faithfully adapted the much darker end of the original novel. The end of Scorsese is larger, more spectacular, And more exciting than even the book. Both Fear cape The films being as good as they are is proof of the fact that remakes can have a lot of merit when they are well done.

The version of Scorsese feels up to date appropriately for the moment when it was made and allows a more exciting conclusion, leaving no doubt if “should have” been redone to start. Fear cape East The type of luscious thriller that could bear a new interpretation every 30 to 40 years; A meager and nasty embarrassment with two great actors doing what they do best. The next television adaptation would see Javier Bardem like Cady and Patrick Wilson As Bowden, two large castings which would be better served by a solid film from 90 minutes to two hours than a mini-series which could stretch this story beyond its limits. But nevertheless, he talks about the timeless quality of the material as The executioners This can be updated over the decades for new audiences, and I hope that the deployment will see more people looking for past versions.

Fear cape

Release date

April 12, 1962

Execution time

105 minutes

Director

J. Lee Thompson

Writers

James R. Webb

Producers

Sy Bartlett