Cape Fear is a
1991 thriller film directed by
Martin Scorsese. It is a remake of the
1962 film of the same name and tells the story of a family man, a former
public defender, whose family is threatened by a convicted rapist who wants vengeance for having been imprisoned for 14 years because of the lawyer's purposefully faulty
defense tactics, prejudicing the accused.
The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor (
Robert De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (
Juliette Lewis). The two were also nominated for
Golden Globe Awards.
Plot
Sam Bowden (
Nick Nolte) is a former Atlanta
public defender who is now in
private practice in the quiet town of New Essex, North Carolina.
Max Cady (
Robert De Niro) is a client Bowden defended 14 years ago in Atlanta. Cady, who was being tried for the rape and battery of a young woman, was
illiterate at the time and unable to read a report Bowden kept hidden from the court that revealed the woman Cady raped was promiscuous. The report could have possibly lightened Cady's sentence or even acquitted him had Bowden brought it to light.
