History Film / CapeFear

* {{Hypocrite}}: Cady in both versions. While the original has him wanting to torment Bowden because his testimony sent him to prison—despite it being rightfully so—he claims in the remake to want to punish Bowden both legally and divinely for burying the report that probably would've gotten him off for a rape—and Cady purposely ignores not only that was he guilty of that rape to begin with, but committed three other before it and after being released from prison, poisons a dog; rapes another woman; murders two people and nearly tortures a family to death.

* BittersweetEnding: The Bowdens are traumatized by the events of the story but survive, while Cady goes back to prison for life (1962 original) or drowns in the river (1991 remake).

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The otherwise psychopathic and seemingly amoral Cady harbors absolutely no ill will towards the judge or prosecutor for putting him away. According to him, they, like law enforcement generally, were just doing their jobs. This is in contrast to his hatred for Bowden, who he blames for intentionally failing in his job as defense attorney.

It tells the story of Sam Bowden (Creator/GregoryPeck), a Georgia lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist who's been released from prison. Said rapist, Max Cady (Creator/RobertMitchum), wants vengeance on Bowden -- who'd [[AttemptedRape interrupted]] Cady's attack -- for providing the testimony that helped to convict him. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his wife (Polly Bergen) and teenaged daughter (Lori Martin) to their houseboat on Cape Fear in North Carolina, hoping to set a trap that will lead to Cady's re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

%%* LargeHam: De Niro, in fine form. It's taken UpToEleven after [[spoiler: Cady is set on fire.]]

* CoolHat: Cady's white Panama hat.

* AMFMCharacterization: Danielle has posters of Music/JimiHendrix, Music/{{Megadeth}}, Music/TheCure and Music/GunsNRoses and watches the video for Music/JanesAddiction's "Been Caught Stealing" while her parents argue.

* {{Revenge}}: Cady's lust for revenge against Bowden fuels the plot and hits a lot of RevengeTropes.

* AdultFear: Rape in both versions, moral corruption (Cady seducing Danielle and basically trying to get Sam to kill him) in the remake.

[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cape_fear_1991.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:318:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Robert De Niro Is Staring Into Your Soul.]]]]

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cape_fear_1991.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Robert De Niro Is Staring Into Your Soul.]]]]

It tells the story of Sam Bowden (Creator/GregoryPeck), a Georgia lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist who's been released from prison. Said rapist, Max Cady (Creator/RobertMitchum), wants vengeance on Bowden -- who'd [[AttemptedRape interrupted]] Cady's attack -- for providing the testimony that helped to convict him. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his wife (Polly Bergen) and teenaged daughter (Lori Martin) to their houseboat on Cape Fear in North Carolina, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

It tells the story of Sam Bowden (Creator/GregoryPeck), a Georgia lawyer whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist who's been released from prison. Said rapist, Max Cady (Creator/RobertMitchum), wants vengeance on Bowden--who'd [[AttemptedRape interrupted]] Cady's rape attempt--for providing the testimony that helped to convict him. After a lengthy game of cat and mouse between the two, Bowden takes his wife (Polly Bergen) and teenaged daughter (Lori Martin) to their houseboat on Cape Fear in North Carolina, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cape_fear_1991.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:315:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Robert De Niro Is Staring Into Your Soul.]]]]

It tells the story of Sam Bowden (Creator/GregoryPeck), a Georgia 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 wife (Polly Bergen) and teenaged daughter (Lori Martin) to their houseboat on Cape Fear in North Carolina, hoping to set a trap for Cady that will lead to his re-imprisonment. Needless to say, this does not go as planned.

The film was successfully remade in 1991 by director Creator/MartinScorsese, with Creator/RobertDeNiro starring as Cady, Creator/NickNolte as Bowden, and Creator/JessicaLange and Creator/JulietteLewis as Bowden's wife and daughter; De Niro and Lewis each received UsefulNotes/AcademyAward and [[UsefulNotes/GoldenGlobeAward Golden Globe]] nominations for their performances. In this version, Cady is out to get Bowden because the latter, while defending Cady on a rape charge, deliberately buried possibly-exculpatory evidence about the victim, leading to Cady's conviction.

* ScarpiaUltimatum: Cady promises to spare the daughter if Bowden's wife would have sex with him. In the remake, [[TakeMeInstead the wife offers herself up]] as soon as Cady goes for the daughter.

* BuyThemOff: Bowden offers Cady $10,000 in cash to leave him alone. He doesn't take it.
%%* DateRape: Cady's encounter with Diane Taylor (Lori Davis in the remake) ends up this way.

* SocietyMarchesOn:
** Both: Today, stalking laws would go a long way to hinder someone like Cady.
** Remake: Viewers can be mystified by the premise for why antagonist Max Cady felt slighted by protagonist Sam Bowden. 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 in Florida, where the movie is set.

* DeathOfAChild: Cady kills the family dog in both versions.

* 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. Only technically though, since this leads more to the condemnation of such a warped law than to Cady's justification.

* KarmicDeath: Cady constantly declares that in God’s eyes, he'll punish Bowden for betraying him and just before Bowden is about to kill Cady with a rock, a wave pulls Cady back into the River where he's eventually dragged down to the bottom.

* NotSoDifferent: Cady at least ''tries'' to invoke this in his argument with Bowden, and is trying to bring Bowden [[HeWhoFightsMonsters to his level]]. The way Bowden snarls like a rabid animal while violently trying to beat Cady's brains out with a rock in the climax suggests he at least slightly succeeded. It's not like Bowden's anger is [[PapaWolf in any way misplaced.]]

* DisruptingTheTheater: The film has a famous scene where Cady (who holds the protagonist, Sam Bowden, responsible for doing a poor job at defending him, causing him to go to prison for sexual assault) laughs obnoxiously while filling the room with cigar smoke at the cinema, ruining Sam's family's experience.

* AMFMCharacterization: Danielle has posters of Music/JimiHendrix, Music/{{Megadeath}}, Music/TheCure and Music/GunsNRoses and watches the video for Music/JanesAddiction's "Been Caught Stealing" while her parents argue.

* MadeOfIron: Max gets beaten on for quite a while by some thugs, but as soon as he gets a weapon away from one of them, he takes them all down with ease. Later, Danielle throws some boiling water in his face, and he doesn't even blink. Grasping a lit signal flare didn't faze him, either.

* CombatBreakdown: Played very realistically. By the end of the final fight both men are staggering around, throwing weak punches and sluggishly trying to hit each other with rocks. Despite being much stronger than Bowden, eventually [[RealityEnsues Cady's injuries catch up to him]] and [[spoiler: he drowns in the surf when he's dragged under by sinking debris.]]

* RealityEnsues: Despite his [[AxCrazy savagery]], Cady is no superhuman monster. By the end of the final brawl with Bowden, his ''many'' injuries leave him too weak to stand [[spoiler: and he eventually drowns when the surf washes him away]].