08/01/2026
The original movie Cape Fear was made in 1962. Sociopathic ex con harasses the prosecutor and his family as revenge for his imprisonment. Simple plot, simple script, fantastic performance by Robert Mitchum as the villain, adequate performance by Gregory Peck as the victim, embarrassing miscast performance from Polly Bergen as the wife; a good idea waiting to be remade.
In 1991, Martin Scorsese remade it with the same simple story, a bit more rounded script, a frightening villain in Robert DeNiro, a mesmerizing performance from Juliette Lewis as the daughter, a good performance by Jessica Lange as the wife and forgettable role by Nick Nolte as the husband. Full disclosure: I could not remember who played that role and had to look it up. I still felt this was a good idea that needed a remake.
The 10 episode series on Apple TV just finished. Javier Bardem is our villain, Amy Adams is our lawyer; I am limiting my introduction of the actors to these two. Others may be competent or over the top or forgettable but it is the two leads whose job is to move this along. Once again, the villain is the star, Bardem is a worthy successor to Mitchum and DeNiro. No longer a simple story, the convoluted script does ask who is truly the criminal but then goes in so many unresolved directions it becomes a waste of talent and film and Bardem. Amy Adams portrays one of the worst parents and lawyers ever. For people who are in fear for their family they put themselves and their children in many dangerous situations.
The writers are to blame, the director is to blame, the producers, and this hurts as the producers are Scorsese and Spielberg, are to blame.
The only common threads is each version has a great actor as it’s sociopathic lead and it’s a good story worth a remake
