Cape Fear

"Cady" (Robert De Niro) is released from jail after serving eighteen years for rape. He alights on the doorstep of his erstwhile defending counsel "Bowden" (Nick Nolte) with his cigar and his red sports car and generally starts intimidating the man and his family. Why? Well it turns out that the lawyer had buried some evidence during the trial that may have cast doubt on the voracity of the evidence given by the victim - and so now, "Cady" has revenge in mind. Now I loved the 1962 version of this film - Robert Mitchum is superb - and so I was always a bit sceptical about this remake. No, this honestly isn't a patch on that version, but that's as much to do with it being in colour and with it featuring the really poorly cast Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange. De Niro thrives in his element as the manipulative and genuinely odious character whilst Martin Scorsese allows the tension to increase, the sense of desperation and control to blossom and for a genuine sense of peril to develop. Hats can also go off for a strong effort from Juliette Lewis as the daughter "Danni" - a naive young girl whom "Cady" soon has in his sights. The setting for the denouement is as good as cinema can offer - an houseboat and a rainstorm - and as remakes go, this is not bad at all.