capefear62

Ever wonder where modern thrillers like “Kiss the Girls” and “Sleeping With the Enemy” came from?
I didn’t think so. That’s the kind of stuff I do so you all don’t have to be burdened with such useless
thoughts. Regardless, the contemporary suspense thriller has its origins in a harrowing classic
known as “Cape Fear,” a film so influential that it was remade decades later by famed director
Martin Scorsese and starred Robert De Niro.

However, we’re not talking about the 1991 version here. Better that that, we’re talking about the
original “Cape Fear” from 1962 starring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Peck plays a lawyer
who encounters a thug, Mitchum, whom he helped imprison after testifying as a key witness to an
assault charge. Now out of prison, Mitchum is obsessed with making life miserable for Peck and his
family. Always staying within the margins of the law, Mitchum makes it impossible for Peck to have
him arrested or detained. Soon, Peck finds himself driven to the edge and begins to consider illegal
actions to rid himself and his family of this unpredictable menace bent on getting revenge.

Like modern thrillers, all of which take a cue from this movie, “Cape Fear” establishes characters
and setting rapidly before diving into a second act of nuance, development and a narrative broil
that keeps the audience pining for what is ultimately a predictable but always satisfying conclusion
as Peck and Mitchum square off in a final showdown.

Mitchum, whom some in the film industry said was not a good actor at the time this movie was
produced, comes at his character with a dangerous mix of determination and intelligence. This is
no raving strongman without faculties of reason. No, this is a quick-thinking chess player of a villain
who brings his insidious nature to the surface via a persona rife with false but convincing charm.

“Cape Fear” also boasts a modern-style movie score, thanks to the musical talents of Bernard
Herrmann, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock on many famous soundtracks, including “Psycho.”

Even more “modern” in the grand scheme of the production was the use of location photography,
including the Cape Fear river in North Carolina and the coastal town where Peck and his family live.
The film industry was slowly crawling out of the soundstages in the 1960s and “Cape Fear” is a
prime example of this movement.

Filled with very controversial subplots, including Mitchum’s overt pedophilia and his intention to rape
Peck’s daughter, “Cape Fear” went beyond narrative maturity into the seedier underworld of crime
in America. The psychological underpinnings of Mitchum’s character were virtually unlike any
screen villain before and much of the reason why this film has matured so gracefully.