In this contemporary day and age, there are in fact many disappointing efforts in rehashing classic Hollywood movies. For most cases, many directors will apply special effects in order to outshine and elaborate the sense of reality, but ironically they usually never compare to the excitement of the original film. However, Martin Scorsese has an incredible approach in remaking a classic thriller when he reissued his own version of Cape Fear in 1991. Scorsese’s personal adaption was released exactly 29 years following the release of the original 1962 film of the same name, with the remake including several cameos of main actors from the original film. However, this review is aimed to analyze the amount of potential Hollywood remakes can have with a modern, impressionable audience who may be unfamiliar with the original production. The film stars Robert De Niro as Max Cady, a Southern, sociopathic rapist who has just been released from prison and is thirsty for terrorizing his former lawyer. As well, Nick Nolte stars as Sam Bowden, a successful attorney and former public defender living in the fictional, affluent town of West Essex, North Carolina (seemingly adjacent to the Cape Fear River although never emphasized) with his bitter wife, Leigh (Jessica Lange) and troublesome daughter, Danielle (Juliette Lewis).

Sam Bowden was once a public defender based out of Atlanta, Georgia although now works for a prestigious law firm in eastern North Carolina. When an uneducated Cady was convicted of raping a teenage girl, Bowden was appointed to represent Cady on the entitlement of legal defense for the accused. Due to poor legal representation, Cady internally vows revenge on Sam Bowden and his family. Specifically, Bowden possessed a report confirming the rape victim’s promiscuity, and such information could have Cady acquitted from such charges. However, due to some obscure conflict of morality, Bowden buried the document from the prosecution with self-assured protection due to his client’s illiteracy. After a 14 year sentence, Cady can now read while he surreptitiously and gradually terrorizes his former counselor.

In the original, Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) solely testifies against Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) in court for being an eyewitness to a rape incident that occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. Therefore, Scorsese justifies how much effort he applied to this remake in order to enhance the sense of fear (pun intended) for the exposed audience. As well, the original film portrays the family as a prosperous and non-dysfunctional unit. However, the remake focuses on the Bowden family problems that are causing the possible deterioration of the family’s stability; this includes Sam’s past infidelity, Leigh’s depression and Danielle’s rebelliousness. Therefore, Scorsese creates a more unstable family setting than the original, enhancing the idea that the family members are taking each other for granted on a daily, exacerbating basis.

These innovative changes introduced by Scorsese outlines that he sympathizes with the average American family, considering the fact that divorce, infidelity and domestic mistrust have become the normalcy for the common family structure of the 1990’s. Also, there are other relevant entities that help embellish the personality of some characters. For instance, Danielle is a skeptical, naïve teenager obligated to summer school enrollment after being caught with marijuana. Her bedroom posters elaborate both her personality and lifestyle, including famous music groups such as Megadeth, The Cure, Guns N’ Roses, and also a scene where she’s watching the Jane’s Addiction music video for “Been Caught Stealing” (a huge hit in 1990). These efforts are utilized in a very professional and experienced matter; considering the fact that the modern audience has some congruency in music taste with the youthful lifestyles of the supporting cast. Drawing a parallel between the interests of both the audience and characters is necessary, especially for the early 1990’s, when alternative rock, grunge, and heavy metal were highly popular music genres for Danielle Bowden’s Generation X demographic. In that sense, Scorsese was very creative and highly sympathetic to the interests and trends of younger American generations. Such decorative details are highly necessary in characterizing such roles that may have not included enough importance in the original 1962 movie.

Overall, Scorsese did an exceptional job at enhancing the possibilities behind a movie remake. Considering the original film did not follow the family problems as intimately as Scorsese did when he redeveloped the plot with a higher degree of suspense and characterization. The 1991 remake should assure American film enthusiasts that rehashing an older film can have incredible capabilities if the director can sufficiently rewrite the script in favor of their innovative ambitions. Although highly violent and frightening, Cape Fear is an incredible film that illustrates how a sadistic ex-con manages to intrude and encroach on the prosperity of a seemingly solidified family unit. Since the release of Truman Capote’s, In Cold Blood, the American film audience acknowledged that even the most common family can experience the most terrifying reality, given the nation’s cesspool of vengeful criminals who are hastily freed once the sentence is served. Cape Fear is another grim account of how innocent American families are justifiably fearful from such sinister human tendencies.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101540/