Cape Fear
I'd seen the original version with Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum years ago, I'd read the book by John D. MacDonald on which it was based (definitely much less interesting that either film version, don't you love when a mediocre source material spawns a much superior work when translated to film - The Godfather, Kiss Me Deadly also come to mind), and I've seen the Simpsons spoof with Sideshow Bob numerous times, but I had yet to see this remake from start to finish (I'd always caught a little bit of it here and there, but never was quite drawn in enough to commit). The other night I finally got around to watching the whole thing from start to finish, and while it is a bit overblown in places, I was impressed by quite a lot of it. Some interesting reviews here on Spout, be sure to check out MaryMcilwain's 'Joe Don Baker' tribute, and Quint makes an interesting point about the film echoing 'Frankenstein' (which hadn't occurred to me before, but I can definitely see it now). While DeNiro is definitely over the top most of the time, he effectively creepy, and downright frightening in the final sequences, and there are some very fine supporting roles throughout, the aforementioned Joe Don Baker, and Scorcese's then-girlfriend Illeana Douglas in a wonderful bar pickup scene with DeNiro (and of course, the cameos by Mitchum, Peck & Martin Balsam, each given interesting parts to play that fill out the movie, rather than a cheap walk-on like some movies would resort to). Some of the directorial choices are over the top as well, but you really can't fault them because they work so well despite their attention-getting qualities (the constant storm cloud backgrounds seemed a little Spielberg-ish to me, and the 'Gingerbread House' in the high school drama class scene seemed a bit excessive, but on the other hand, it ended up being one of the truly creepy scenes in the movie). I'm upgrading my star rating on this one from three to four.