History Film / CapeFear

* RageAgainstTheLegalSystem: Cady's vendetta against Bowden is because he was responsible for putting him in jail; he was a key witness in the 1962 version, and in the remake he decided, [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil justifiably]] to sabotage Max's defence. Cady, however, harbors no malice towards the prosecutor or the judge as he reasoned they were just doing their jobs, and his wrath is solely targeted at Bowden for screwing him over.

* NeverMyFault: Cady wants revenge because Bowden got him convicted, and seems completely oblivious to the fact that he fully deserved it. Also had this reaction when his wife left him; not only was it cruel and unfair to him, but she only left him because Sam testified and got him in prison, not because he was caught raping someone.

* [[Ubermensch Ubermensch]]: In-universe, Cady seems to fancy himself as one. Early in the film, he's caught reading AlsoSprachZarathustra, which at first seems like an aside, but near the end he claims he wants to become "more than human", implying he took the book to heart.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Though most films were colour in 1962, the film was shot in black and white probably to add to the menace of the film.

* ComeOutComeOutWhereverYouAre

[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cape_fear_91_9159.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Robert De Niro Is Staring Into Your Soul.]]]]

* FromNobodyToNightmare: From an illiterate rube rapist to a buff, law-degree-holding, DangerouslyGenreSavvy homicidal bastard with a liking for teenage girls.

* ScarpiaUltimatum:
* Cady promises to spare the daughter if Bowden's wife would have sex with him. In the remake, the wife offers herself up as soon as Cady goes for the daughter.
* SocietyMarchesOn: Today, stalking laws would go a long way to hinder someone like Cady. Rape laws now ban the use of the victims' sexual history in court.

* BuyThemOff: Bowden offers Cady $10,000 in cash to leave him alone. He doesn't take it.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Cady.
* FeetFirstIntroduction: Used for the introduction of the latin maid.

* ForgottenTrope: Viewers can be somewhat mystified by the premise for why antagonist Max Cady (RobertDeNiro) felt slighted by protagonist Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). At the time of release, the prior sexual history of a rape victim was a valid defense that would have lessened Cady's sentence, or might have even kept him out of jail. Nowadays, prior sexual history is inadmissible in rape cases.

* TheFundamentalist: Cady and Heller (Cady's attorney)

* HellholePrison: Cady doesn't stop telling Sam all about it.

* {{Improv}}: Robert De Niro and Creator/IlleanaDouglas's (Sam's collegue) scenes were improvised.

* MenacingStroll: Cady, even when he's released from prison, even walking into the camera.

* PoliceAreUseless: When Bowden suspects that Cady is stalking him, the first thing he does is go to the police, but they can't do anything because they lack any evidence of wrongdoing. The one helpful cop (played by Robert Mitchum) suggests using his family as bait. Bowden doesn't care for the implications.
* PrisonsAreGymnasiums: Cady leaves prison well-shaped.

* {{Revenge}}: Cady's lust for revenge against Bowden fuels the plot and hits a lot of RevengeTropes.
* RevengeByProxy: Cady's MO is to brutalize and/or kill people close to Bowden to teach him the meaning of loss.

* ForcedToMatch: Cady disables Bowden at the boat and then the latter has to watch helplessly as Cady goes for his wife and daughter.

* ScarpiaUltimatum

----
!! The 1962 film contains examples of:
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Diane Taylor, who pays for it heavily.
* AmbulanceChaser: Cady's lawyer.
** AmoralAttorney: He is actually worse in the original film, as it becomes clear that he has a history of twisting the truth and taking advantage of human rights violation fears to accuse police of brutality at the slightest whim and trying to completely exonerate his scumbag clients. When Bowden asked him how he knew about the police watching his house, he shut up, knowing that this would implicate that his client was stalking them.
* AsYouKnow: Sam Bowden's plan to deal with Cady is helpfully exposited by his wife.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: The original film portrayed Robert Mitchum as pure evil, with absolutely no legitimate reason to begrudge his conviction and Gregory Peck as perfectly virtuous, not deserving of any retribution.
* CruelMercy: [[spoiler: Sam is in a position where he could easily kill Cady and get away with it, justifying it as being in fear for his life and that of his family. He instead lets him live, explaining in great detail how much Cady will enjoy his inevitable life sentence, being forced to wait for death in the prison he hated so much.]]
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Though most films were colour in 1962, the film was shot in black and white probably to add to the menace of the film.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Unlike in the remake, Cady has no legitimate reason to begrudge his conviction in the original. His RageAgainstTheLegalSystem comes out of left field.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Despite the overwhelming theme of sexual violence, the word "rape" is never used, nor does the dialogue get explicit. The closest the script comes is "attacked". This last case is fully justified, as the parents are discussing the possibility of Cady going after their daughter, and their tone makes it clear that they are consciously using a euphemism because they are trying to avoid thinking about their daughter getting raped.
* GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Cady smokes Evil Cigars.
* GoryDiscretionShot: When Cady attacks the girl at the hotel, her frantic grab at the door just pulls it shut, leaving only a narrow crack for the camera to see through.
* IronicEcho: Cady mentions that when he "visited" his ex-wife, she tried to hit him with a poker. Nancy later attempts to hold Cady off with a poker the same way.
* JunglesSoundLikeKookaburras: A kookaburra sound appears during the third act of the film, along the Cape Fear River in North Carolina, USA. Given that a kookaburra sound is usually assumed to be a monkey, note that there are neither kookaburras nor monkeys native to the American South.
* ManInWhite: Cady.
* NeverMyFault: Cady wants revenge because Bowden got him convicted, and seems completely oblivious to the fact that he fully deserved it. Also had this reaction when his wife left him; not only was it cruel and unfair to him, but she only left him because Sam testified and got him in prison, not because he was caught raping someone.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Savalas' character hires three thugs to deal one out to Cady. It turns out to be a case of MuggingTheMonster.
* PrivateDetective: Telly Savalas.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler: Bowden gives one to Cady after finally catching him at gunpoint.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Cady:''' Go ahead. I just don't give a damn.]]
--> [[spoiler: '''Bowden:''' No. No! That would be letting you off too easy, too fast. Your words - do you remember? Well I do. No, we're gonna take good care of you. We're gonna nurse you back to health. And you're strong, Cady. You're gonna live a long life... in a cage! That's where you belong and that's where you're going. And this time for life! Bang your head against the walls. Count the years - the months - the hours... until the day you rot! ]]
* RulesLawyer: As in ''Film/ToKillAMockingbird'', Gregory Peck plays one of these. He still manages to be the good guy.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Diane Taylor.
* ShirtlessScene: Cady has several, all played for the same kind of menace as a FullFrontalAssault.
* SmugSnake: Mitchum, to a T. That relaxed drawl of his is terrifying.
* ThouShaltNotKill: [[spoiler:Bowden decides life in prison is better than death for Cady.]]
* TranquilFury: Mitchum has this quiet but insistent animal terror underlying everything he does.

* DateRape: Cady's encounter with Lori ends up this way.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome
* DisproportionateRetribution

John D. MacDonald. It tells the story of Sam Bowden (GregoryPeck), a lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist. The rapist, Max Cady (Creator/RobertMitchum), wants vengeance for having been imprisoned on Bowden's testimony after the latter witnessed him attempting to rape a woman. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his family to their houseboat on Cape Fear, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

''Cape Fear'' is a 1962 film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It tells the story of Sam Bowden (GregoryPeck), a lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist. The rapist, Max Cady (Creator/RobertMitchum), wants vengeance for having been imprisoned on Bowden's testimony after the latter witnessed him attempting to rape a woman. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his family to their houseboat on Cape Fear, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Cady was given a length prison sentence for raping a woman.

* BloodFromTheMouth

''Cape Fear'' is a 1962 film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It tells the story of Sam Bowden (GregoryPeck), a lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist. The rapist, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum), wants vengeance for having been imprisoned on Bowden's testimony after the latter witnessed him attempting to rape a woman. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his family to their houseboat on Cape Fear, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

* ForgottenTrope: Viewers can be somewhat mystified by the premise for why antagonist Max Cady (RobertDeNiro) felt slighted by protagonist Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). At the time of release, the prior sexual history of a rape victim was a valid defense that would have lessened Cady's sentence, or might have even kept him out of jail. Nowadays, prior sexual history is inadmissable in rape cases.

* VillainHasAPoint: Cady ''is'' technically correct when he points out that Bowden violated his legal and ethical duty as a defense attorney by burying important evidence that may have secured his client's acquittal. Hence he bears no grudge against the judge or the prosecutor, who were just doing their jobs correctly.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The movie makes a point that Cady educated himself in prison, and acted as his own lawyer. His vendetta against Bowden is due to his discovering that Bowden suppressed evidence that the girl he raped was promiscuous, which may have gotten him a lighter sentence or even had the case dismissed. The question of exactly how he learned Bowden suppressed this goes unanswered. Acting as his own attorney, he would have gotten access to trial notes and evidence, but where exactly would he learn of this? Bowden would not have been stupid enough to record that evidence in his own notes, as it coming out during a post-trial investigation or retrial would have gotten him definitely disbarred and probably facing criminal charges. Even if he did put it in his notes (which would have been insane to do) and Cady requested the case file as part of his appeal, no legal secretary is going to send anything to anyone without the lawyer who handled the case reviewing the file first. This evidence would not have been recorded or even sought out by the prosecution, as it would only hurt their case, so Cady would not have learned of it from their files. The only way Bowden could suppressed it is by talking to the girl or her associates, learning of her promiscuity, and saying nothing and not recording it. The only way it makes sense is for Cady to have spoken with the same people that Bowden interviewed and learning from them that they informed Bowden of the girls promiscuity, but that's a stretch. As a convicted felon in prison acting as his own attorney, he would have had no supoena or summoning ability and talking to witnesses would have been nearly impossible, unless he requested they visit him and learned the facts just by talking to them. Possible, but just barely.

* AmoralAttorney: Gregory Peck's cameo as Cady's lawyer. Also Bowden dipped his toe into the pool in the backstory, purposefully bungling Cady's defence.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: A varying shade of gray depending on whether you agree that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, since Bowden seems more shocked by the fact that Lori was raped than brutally beaten (and the film shows that he has other human flaws as well, like having an affair, taking things personal, etc.). Nevertheless, he's still firmly a good guy when paired against Cady, as sabotaging the latter's defense to punish him and prevent further crimes was a clear altruistic action.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Bowden should have never consented to the thugs beating Cady up. That only made Cady go off the rails.

* {{Bookends}}: The movie begins with chilling music and a blood-red negative shot of a [[CloseupOnHead on the daughter's eyes]] zooming out into a positive shot of her giving a speech. The final scene inverts this, starting with a positive shot of her monologing AnAesop and zooming in on her eyes, turning the shot into a b&w and then red negative.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: A varying shade of gray depending on whether you agree that RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, since Bowden seems more shocked by the fact that Lori was raped than brutally beaten (and the film shows that he has other human flaws as well, like having an affair, taking things personal, etc.). Nevertheless, he's still firmly a good guy when paired against Cady, as sabotaging the latter's defence to punish him and prevent further crimes was a clear altruistic action.

* CastingGag: Gregory Peck in his aforementioned role.