Cape Fear [1991]

1. Missing piano wire.
2. Robert Mitchum drawls, “Well, pardon me all over the place.”
3. The giant rock smacks the mud where his head had been only a few seconds before.

Seeing it again for the first time in many years, I find it almost as pathetic as Gus Van Sant’s Psycho. Here we have a filmmaker at the height his powers squandering his formidable mastery of technique on material so morally bankrupt, it’s indefensible. Utter nihilism.  It isn’t even fun to watch. The message seems to be: human beings are shit, and evil is all but impervious. To satisfy the requirement to have at least five climaxes too many, Max Cady becomes superhuman: you can’t outthink him, outrun him, outtalk him, beat him to death, burn him up, punch him out, or smash his head with giant rocks. You end up hating everyone in the movie, and everyone behind the camera. Freddie Francis’ gorgeous cinematography is for naught. Not only is there so much technique that it’s senseless, but there seems to be a competition to see who can chew the most scenery (De Niro’s sham of a Southern accent, Jessica Lange on the edge of a nervous breakdown, Juliette Lewis auditioning for the role of Lolita, and Nick Nolte emulating the passing of multiple kidney stones.) At least a De Palma film has sense of humor, a sense of camp. Both are completely missing from this movie … except during Gregory Peck’s cameo, which is awesome.

Scorsese can be so frustrating. This is the same man who made After Hours and Kundun?!