Do you want to see ‘Cape Fear’?

Cape Fear (1991)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 45
Fresh: 34 | Rotten: 11

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

Average Rating: 8.6/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1

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

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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 62,489

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Movie Info

Martin Scorsese's remake of Cape Fear provided the director with a box-office success to follow up the critical success of the previous year's Goodfellas. After serving a lengthy prison sentence for a sexual assault, Max Cady (Robert De Niro) comes calling on the man who served as his public defender, Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte). Max begins a campaign of harassment against the man and his family because Bowden buried a report that would have in all likelihood acquitted Cady of the charges against

R, 2 hr. 8 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Written By: Wesley Strick

In Theaters: Nov 13, 1991 Wide

On DVD: Sep 18, 2001

MCA/Universal Pictures

Cape Fear Trailer & Photos

Cast

Robert De Niro
Max Cady
Nick Nolte
Sam Bowden
Jessica Lange
Leigh Bowden
Juliette Lewis
Danielle Bowden
Joe Don Baker
Claude Kersek
Illeana Douglas
Lori Davis
Robert Mitchum
Lieutenant Elgart
Gregory Peck
Lee Heller
Martin Balsam
Judge
Fred Dalton Thompson
Tom Broadbent
Zully Montero
Graciella
Rod Ball
Prisoner
W. Paul Bodie
Prisoner
Parris Buckner
Racquetball Colleague
Forest Burton
Prisoner
Kate Colburn
Waitress
Ken Collins
3rd Big Man
Paul Froehler
Parade Watcher
Robert L. Gerlach
Arresting Officer
Craig Henne
Prisoner
Bruce E. Holdstein
Arresting Officer
Tamara Jones
Ice Cream Cashier
Will Knickerbocker
Detective
Joel Kolker
Corrections Officer
Billy Lucas
2nd Big Man
Margot Moreland
Secretary
Elizabeth Moyer
Ticket Agent
Paul Nagle Jr.
Parade Watcher
Mary Ellen O'Brien
Parade Watcher
Linda Perri
Ticket Agent
Edgar Allan Poe IV
Prisoner
Roger Pretto
Racquetball Colleague
Catherine Scorsese
Fruit Stand Customer
Charles Scorsese
Fruit Stand Customer
Domenica Scorsese
Danny's Girlfriend
Garr Stevens
1st Big Man
Richard Wasserman
Parade Watcher
Jodie Wilson
Parade Watcher
Antoni Corone
Corrections Officer
Ellen Lewis
Jackie Davis
Jimmy the Dockmaster
Chad Dowdell
Jim (uncredited)

Critic Reviews for Cape Fear

All Critics (45) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (11) | DVD (21)

It's hard to understand why Martin Scorsese wanted to remake a nasty, formulaic 1962 thriller whose only "classic" credentials are a terrifying performance by Robert Mitchum and a Bernard Herrmann score.

May 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Smart and stylish.

August 7, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety

| Comment

Variety

Top Critic

Stay away if you're squeamish but, if you do, you'll miss an essential work by one of our masters, as well as two of the year's most accomplished performances, those of Mr. De Niro and Ms. Lewis.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times

| Comment

Vincent Canby

New York Times

Top Critic

Though Scorsese doesn't always transcend the pulp in Cape Fear, watching him try allows us to share the exhilaration he experiences behind the camera.

May 12, 2001 Comment

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

It's a helluva movie.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

It's a brutal, demonic film with a grip like a vise; it grabs you early, its fingers around your throat, and never lets go.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comment

Hal Hinson

Washington Post

Top Critic

Scorsese's remake (also hommage in some ways) is inferior to the original 1962 version, though the acting is good, and both Robert De Niro and Juliette Lewis garnered Oscar nominations.

January 20, 2012 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

| Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com Source: EmanuelLevy.Com

Martin Scorsese's loose remake of J. Lee Thompson's 1962 thriller is an exercise in audience manipulation, with every frame designed to stagger the senses.

May 24, 2011 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide

| Comment

TV Guide's Movie Guide

It has a lot to recommend it, but did we really need a remake of Cape Fear?

May 24, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Film4

Scorsese cria com riqueza de detalhes um neo noir que, com um estilo marcado, se diferencia de boa parte de sua obra, demonstrando simultaneamente sua versatilidade e seu conhecimento sobre a hist�ria do Cinema.

February 4, 2008 Comment (1)

Pablo Villaca

Cinema em Cena

The only thing I got out of this film is a sense of deja vu that I could do without.

February 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

| Comment

Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

In Scorsese's frightfully wrong remake, De Niro seduces a teen (Juliette Lewis), bites off breasts with geek-like fury and breaks the world's record for longest hitchhike on the underside of a car.

October 10, 2006 Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly

| Comments (5)

Thomas Delapa

Boulder Weekly Source: Boulder Weekly

Overblown horror-schlocker.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out

| Comment

Time Out

The heart-warming story of a hardened convict returning to exact revenge on the lawyer who put him in jail.

May 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid

| Comment

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Auteur Scorsese remakes a solid 1962 thriller and turns it another of his fascinating tales of obsession.

July 29, 2005 Comment

Chuck O'Leary

FulvueDrive-in.com

Scorsese & Co. maintain a Nightmare on Elm Street kind of tension. And yes, there are a few slasher moments.

August 14, 2004 Comment

James Plath

Reel.com

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Cape Fear

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DeNiro is a monster.

October 28, 2011

Graham Jones

Super Reviewer

I never thought I'd say this, but of all the Martin Scorsese films that I have seen, I have to say that Cape Fear is by far his weakest film. Based on the original 1960's classic, the Cape Fear remake is a borderline decent thriller film with a few horror elements, but it's nothing beyond good. De Niro was good

June 26, 2011

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

Cape Fear Quotes

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1. Max Cady: Come out, come out, wherever you are!
– Submitted by Chris P (9 months ago)
1. Lieutenant Elgart: Well, pardon me all over the place
– Submitted by Fraser M (10 months ago)

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