Cape Fear

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Cape Fear

R

1991

2h 8m

Mystery & Thriller

Crime

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

77%

Tomatometer

60 Reviews

77%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

When attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) knowingly withholds evidence that would acquit violent sex offender Max Cady (Robert De Niro) of rape charges, Max spends 14 years in prison. But after Max's release, knowing about Sam's deceit, he devotes his life to stalking and destroying the Bowden family. When practical attempts to stop Max fail, Sam realizes that he must act outside the law to protect his wife and daughter in Martin Scorsese's remake of the classic 1962 thriller.

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Critics Consensus

Smart and stylish, Cape Fear is a gleefully mainstream shocker from Martin Scorsese, with a terrifying Robert De Niro performance.

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Steve Murray

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sep 25

Scary, gory and able to jangle your nerves in half a dozen ways.

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Wendy Ide

The Times (UK)

08/14/2023

Yet the grubby story is elevated by a superior cast in both the original and this grimly bloodthirsty remake.

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Victoria Luxford

BBC.com

05/06/2022

(De Niro) had played a tough guy before, but never quite like this: a very sinister, very jagged, very dangerous character… put that together with Martin Scorsese at possibly the peak of his powers, and it’s a delightful if slightly scary film.

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Dan DiNicola

The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)

Dec 18

5/5

This is a superbly taut and frightening chunk of suspense at once accessible and tinged with psychological complexity.

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Aug 26

3/4

Technically, the film is a dazzling achievement, but De Niro’s performance wavers uneasily between brutish commitment and shallow parody.

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Terry Francis

Southern Voice (Atlanta)

05/08/2023

2.5/4

The picture's missteps are more than numerous.

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Travis M

@TMorg007 5d

An underwhelming remake of a classic movie. This version is highly overrated and Deniro's depiction of the villain character drags it down with the abysmal accent and forced delivery. It's a great story but unfortunately something was definitely lost in the translation to this film adaptation.

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Erik B

@Atma-X Jul 6

A very stylized story about an ex-con getting revenge on his lawyer. Definitely smacks of an older film, likely due to it being a remake of a 1962 classic. Weird and creepy, the film does a great job of selling the unsettling aspects of being watched and followed. AEB says: Maybe this is how Juliette Lewis started her murder career before Natural Born Killers? Overall, dark and haunting - very enjoyable!

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Carrie J

@carriejack Jul 5

A masterpiece!!! The score, acting, camera work, cast....all were perfection!!!

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Young S

@YoungStevie Jul 1

Basically a masterpiece

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tim G

@timg8747 Jun 24

i found cape fear to an exciting movie this remake has robert deniro as a prisoner released seeking on the attorney who took his case nick nolte and his family played by jessica lange and juliette lewis great preformances by everyone including joe don baker a definite thumbs upper

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Dwayne B.

@Dwayne_Barkers_World Jun 16

I went into Cape Fear (1991) completely blind. I’d seen a trailer for the new Cape Fear series and mentioned it to a friend, who told me there was an original movie with the same name. So I watched it with zero expectations — and wow. Robert De Niro is absolutely terrifying as Max Cady, a completely unhinged psychopath who spends 14 years in prison plotting revenge on the lawyer he believes wrongfully put him there. De Niro sells every second of it. Fair warning: a lot of scenes are brutal and not for the faint of heart. The film makes a chilling point about how prison can warp a man — Cady goes in dangerous, but comes out a full-blown monster.

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Martin Scorsese

Director

Robert De Niro

Max Cady

Nick Nolte

Sam Bowden

Jessica Lange

Leigh Bowden

Juliette Lewis

Danielle Bowden

Joe Don Baker

Claude Kersek

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Cady Kills Kersek

2:43

Cape Fear: Official Clip - More Than Human

2:34

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Cady Drowns

2:22

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Leigh Offers Herself

2:17

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Sucking Cady's Thumb

2:58

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Strip Search

2:35

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are

2:58

Cape Fear: Official Clip - The People vs. Samuel Bowden

3:03

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Cady's Release

1:18

Cape Fear: Official Clip - Smoking and Cackling

2:23

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Synopsis

When attorney Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) knowingly withholds evidence that would acquit violent sex offender Max Cady (Robert De Niro) of rape charges, Max spends 14 years in prison. But after Max's release, knowing about Sam's deceit, he devotes his life to stalking and destroying the Bowden family. When practical attempts to stop Max fail, Sam realizes that he must act outside the law to protect his wife and daughter in Martin Scorsese's remake of the classic 1962 thriller.

Director: Martin Scorsese
Producer: Robert De Niro, Barbara De Fina
Screenwriter: John D. MacDonald, James R. Webb, Wesley Strick
Distributor: Universal Pictures, MCA/Universal Pictures [us], Universal Home Entertainment
Production Co: Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Tribeca Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 13, 1991, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 19, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $76.4M
Runtime: 2h 8m
Sound Mix: Surround
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)