60 Nights of Horror #20: Cape Fear (1991)

This night I wanted to compare this over the top cuckoos nest to the original, and good lort these movies couldn’t be any more different. I learned that Illeana Douglas and Martin Scorcese were romantic partners at the time, and that’s always a wild thing to me, to put your partner in a character who gets brutalized by a icon. Did he tell her she would become a scream queen? Would she have believed him? (I say this as a fan of Stir of Echoes AND Otis.)

One of the things I love about the remake of Cape Fear is what an utterly inept schmuck they rewrote Sam Bowden to be. No more upstanding Gregory Peck here, we’ve got douchey pathetic impish catman Nick Nolte, perfectly cast in this sad role as a man who is legally incapable of protecting his family and has to resort to extreme measures. Little does he know, he’s against shrewd and charming forces, not least of which is his precocious teenage daughter.

Juliette Lewis was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Danielle Bowden, whose complicated sexual awakening we witness as she is pulled into the sticky cum-scented web of Max Cady. She is absolutely charming, sweet in her infatuation, and the guilt she feels in being attracted to Max despite knowing how dangerous he is just rolls off of her, reminding me of myself at 15, accepting invitations into the clutches of people who should have treated me like the child I was. And I knew that, thinking I could exploit it, not really realizing that I was just giving these predators everything they wanted. The difference between me and Danielle is, she told someone. I didn’t start talking about my teen adventures til I turned 30.

And I’ve never set anyone on fire.

Jessica Lange as Leigh is a departure from the original, in all her off-shoulder sweaters, Tammy-Faye Bakker haircut, chain smoking dog loving glory, someone get this woman a nail file, she needs to open her Diet Coke! I just love her. She’s so vicious, so absolutely superior to her stupid schmuck bitch husband, and she doesn’t let him forget it. Whether she’s being subtle in her punishment (which he deserves) or outright cruel, she does such a good job of being a cunt that when she tries to pretend to be kind and understanding of Max Cady in a moment of crisis, nobody is convinced. It’s hilarious.

I came to this movie ready to cringe at myself for being attracted to Robert DeNiro, and I admit that 15 year old me would have let him eat her up. Especially with the wavy hairstyle he has when he’s impersonating a drama teacher. Like… babe you don’t even have to quote Billy Shakes you just gotta tell me how smart and right I am, how you never thought about it that way, how maybe you’ve finally met someone you can confide in, someone who could keep a secret. Could I keep a secret? I’ve got the upper hand. I can keep allllllll the secrets.

It’s been 20 years and I’m still having to remind myself that I did not, in fact, have the upper hand.

Long story short, DeNiro’s Max Cady is gross, Nick Nolte’s Sam is a bitch and I gained a year of life with every punch he sustained, Jessica Lange is a dreamy hoot and a half as always, and Juliette Lewis is a magnetic little piece of work. Did you know that she met Brad Pitt when she was 16, though they didn’t start dating til she turned 17… and he was 27? Cause I didn’t. And if I had learned that when I was a wee thing, I would have found a way to justify it, I’m sure.

Funny how things change. Except the age of Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriends. He keeps getting older though, and someday it won’t be cute anymore. Counselor.