Cape Fear (1962)

Robert Mitchum, one of the screen's most ruthless figures, was most menacing when he was most amiable. His role as Max Cady in Cape Fear (the role reprised by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake) comes in second in the sinister sweepstakes only to his chilling performance for Charles Laughton in Night of the Hunter seven years earlier. Mitchum's Cady is every father's and husband's worst nightmare: an untouchable, unstoppable, unrepentant corrupter of innocence. . .all with a sadistic smirk. Gregory Peck is cast obviously as the upright and proper father. Director J. Lee Thompson clearly envisioned Cape Fear as a 1962 challenge to the fading Fifties concept of the perfect nuclear family. Coming off the success of The Guns of Navarone, Thompson significantly scaled back his scope for this drama, and even the fight scenes at the end have a subdued, almost still aspect. A special note has to be given to Bernard Herrmann's haunting score, which ranks with his memorable scores for Vertigo and Psycho. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide