Normalcy, Psychopathy, and The Hitchcock Influence on "Cape Fear" (1962)

Spoilers Below

In 1961, after filming The Guns of Navarone under the direction of J. Lee Thompson, Gregory Peck hired Thompson to direct a film adaptation of novel for which Peck bought the rights for his production company,  John D. MacDonald's' The Executioners. Not liking the title, Peck changed it to Cape Fear, since he believed films named after places did very well commercially. And just typing the words Cape Fear alone bring to mind Bernard Herrmann's classic score. While the film has bee  overshadowed by its 1991 remake, directed by Martin Scorsese, Thompson's original is still a startling, tight-knit thriller of psychological torture. It's also one of the best riffs on Alfred Hitchcock ever made. This essay will delve in to the master's influence on the film in terms of style and narrative.  

Like Hitchcock's films, Cape Fear explores the intersection of normalcy and psychopathy. Think of Shadow of a Doubt, where a serial killer returns to his quaint home town, or of Strangers on a Train where a tennis pro gets embroiled in the plot of a psychopath. In Psycho, Hitchcock showed us the darker side of seemingly ordinary people like Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), a bank clerk who steals money from a client. Her path crosses with hotel proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), another seemingly ordinary, if slightly strange man, who is eventually revealed as the titular psycho. Then there there's Rope, where a dinner party is taking place in the unknown presence of a corpse and two murderers. In Cape Fear a ordinary lawyer, Sam Bowden (Peck) had prior to the events of the film intervened in the attack of a woman by Max Cady (Robert Mitchum). Bowden acted as a witness and got him convicted. At the film's beginning, Cady, now out of prison has come to Georgia, blaming Bowden for his conviction. So, like in Hitchcock we have the ordinary (Bowden and his wife and daughter) and the preternatural evil (Cady). Cady brutally beats a woman before and during the events of the film. He wants to rape Bowden's daughter, Nancy (Lori Martin), and even attempts to blackmail Bowden's wife (Polly Bergen) into giving consent to sex in exchange for sparing Nancy. He's a vile animal, a smart animal, but an animal nonetheless. 

Hitchcock's villains often had similar qualities to Cady, a sort of otherworldly evil, and a lack of remorse for the crimes they've committed: Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) in Shadow of a Doubt or Brandon Shaw (John Dall) in Rope. Brandon killed a college friend solely because he believed he was superior to him. And Charlie didn't think  much of  of his victims. Look at this exchange between him and his niece Little Charlie (Teresa Wright):

Uncle Charlie: The cities are full of women, middle-aged widows, husbands dead, husbands who've spent their lives making fortunes, working and working. And then they die and leave their money to their wives, their silly wives. And what do the wives do, these useless women? You see them in the hotels, the best hotels, every day by the thousands, drinking their money, eating their money, losing the money at bridge, playing all day and all night, smelling of money, proud of their jewelry but of nothing else, horrible, faded, fat, greedy women.

Young Charlie: But they're alive. They're human beings.

Uncle Charlie: Are they? Are they, Charlie? Are they human or are they fat, wheezing animals, hmm? And what happens to animals when they get too fat and too old?

Cady has this same hatred towards women. He got horrible revenge against his ex-wife for divorcing him and marrying a plumber, raping her, forcing her to write Cady a love letter than threatening to show it to the plumber if she ever phoned the cops. He views them as animals. Again, Cady has no remorse, blaming Bowden for winding up in prison. That's what makes  him and the premise so terrifying. Interfere with evil and evil will bite you back. With Peck and Mitchum you have the perfect casting to represent these good and evil. Peck is the stalwart everyman, blandly likeable, conventionally handsome. Then you have Mitchum, a rougher kind of actor, whose face often seems drawn by someone rather than birthed. He often played anti-heroes but was capable of playing true, other-worldy, almost comedic evil, as in The Night of the Hunter, which I wrote about many years ago: Davies in the Dark: The Essential Films: "The Night of the Hunter" (1955) (thenoirzone.blogspot.com)

Coming back to Hitchcock, the director always had a distrust of the police, which can be seen in his work, which is full of innocent men on the run, attempting to prove their innocence. The law can't protect you in Hitchcock's world, and it can't in Cape Fear either. The film posits the law cannot protect you but can only respond to a crime. And even when Cady beats up Diane Taylor, she won't testify due to the fear of repercussions from Cady. Essentially, she wants to avoid being in Bowden's position. She can put him away but it won't stop him from coming back and exacting revenge. "No good deed goes unpunished" could've been the film's tagline. Bowden did the right thing in the law's eyes but now it can't remove Cady from Bowden's life. Bowden is a fine upstanding lawyer who believes he can get rid of Cady pretty easily with the help of his friend and police chief, Mark Dutton (Martin Balsam). You'll be forgiven if you assume Dutton will be seen climbing some stairs before getting stabbed, since Balsam will always be associated with Psycho. But no, Cady understands that he can psychologically torment Bowden and his family without breaking the law. . The only way the law will work in Bowden's favor is putting his family in extreme danger, putting them on a boat, so he can trap Cady in the act of attempted violence.

I've talked about the thematic connections between Hitchcock's work and Cape Fear. Now, I want to discuss the stylistic similarities between the two. First, Bernard Herrmann, a frequent Hitchcock collaborator, was brought on to do the score. Like his score for Psycho, his theme for Cape Fear has a stalking terror- something evil is coming for you. Herrmann's scores fitted Hitchcock's expressive style-Hitchcock always wanted to communicate things without dialogue, i.e. visually and auditorily, so Hitchcock provided the images Herrmann's provided the emotion.   

On the DVD making of documentary, director Thompson discusses how he studied Hitchcock,  actually working with him in England years prior. Thompson says he always approached a scene wondering how Hitchcock would do it. One thing Thompson highlights about Hitchcock's style is that he always liked to clue the audience in on something the character didn't know. The footage shown while Thompson is talking is when of Cady's victims, deputy Kersak, who's protecting the Bowden women on a boat, is being stalked by Cady. This is quintessential suspense, obvious, maybe, but it was crucial to Hitchcock's approach to storytelling, the camera being a character that saw things others didn't, and was unable to prevent things. 

Thompson also says he only saw the film in black and white, that the blacks and shadows would enhance the story, that color would ruin it. Like Psycho, it's hard to imagine the film being as effective in color. The world of both films exist in the shadows. Cape Fear's stark cinematography is courtesy of Sam Leavitt. His work provides much of the film's unnerving atmosphere. And it's just styilized enough without drifting in to complete unreality. 

Another Hitchcock collaborator working on the film was Robert Doyle,  Due to his own relationship with Hitchcock, knew what Thompson was looking for in terms of production design. For example, the bed that becomes a cage for Diane Taylor. Then there's the sequence where Nancy is behind a gate, being stalked by Cady. Thompson wanted to the gates to be black. The gates Thompson found were painted extra black by Boyle. What makes this sequence truly Hitchcockian is the payoff at the end when who we think is Cady following Nancy is someone else. George Tomasini, who edited Psycho and Vertigo, obviously knew what he was doing with the editing of that sequence. 

Paying homage can result in a wane amalgamation of that person's style, but  while Cape Fear may not be Rear Window or Psycho, it's a respectable and effective thriller that stands well amongst Hitchcock's ouevre. It doesn't force the Hitchcockiness but comes by it organically. It subtly reminds us of Hitchcock, why creating its own unique personification of evil in Max Cady. Mitchum's performance is arguably up there with Anthony Perkins in Psycho, Joseph Cotton in Shadow of a Doubt, and Robert Walker in Strangers on a Train. Bowden lets Cady live at the end, knowing he can punish him more by sending him to prison than killing him. I can understand why this can strike some as a cop out, that the film should've had Bowden cross the line, having Cady win. But I'd argue Cady has won, permanently scarring Bowden and his family.  He's shown Bowden the lengths how the law, the thing he's dedicated his life too, won't protect him unless he goes to the methods he's gone, almost killing a man. We don't see the family happy at the end as they're being escorted home. They're silent, worn down by the ordeal through which they've gone. Just like the psychiatrist's explanation at the end of Psycho doesn't really matter because Norman can't truly be summed up so neatly, neither can this so story wrap up so easily. Both Norman and Cady can't allow a truly happy ending for anyone in their stories. 

Desert Island DVDs

Recently critc Matt Zoller Seitz asked fellow critics to pick the ten films they'd want to take with them if they were stuck on a desert island. The rules were to pick ten films, one season of television and one short. I posted mine on Jim Emerson's blog, Scanners. I want to post it here as well just for fun.

Films (In no particular order, except for number one)

1. Casablanca- When asked what my favourite film is I pick this one. Roger Ebert said of Carol Reed's The Third Man that it captures the romance of going to the movies for him. I feel that way about this film. Romantic, funny, heroic and ultimately a little tragic, Casablanca has never failed to entertain or move me.

2. Casino Royale (2006)- My favourite Bond film. It may not be a perfect movie but in it's own way it's a perfect Bond film in that it combines fantastical action sequences with a grounded humanity, never escalating in to camp. The romance between Bond and Vesper Lynd is heartbreaking and establishes why Bond is such an emotionally cold bastard sometimes.

3. The Haunting (1963)- A really fun and spooky haunted house film. The fact that you never see a ghost makes it all the more terrifying and surprisingly satisfying.

4. The Apartment (1960)- Billy Wilder's romantic comedy blends humour and tenderness with cynicism and interesting social commentary very well. I think I like this more than Wilder's film before this, Some Like It Hot.

5. Out of the Past- It really encapsulates the film noir genre/style. While romance may not be what one automatically thinks of when they think "film noir" but the doomed romances at the heart of this film are integral to the psychology of the film noir anti-hero.

6. Shutter Island- This may sound blasphemous but this may be my favourite Scorsese film.

7. Hamlet (1996)- I'd need my Shakespeare fix and Kenneth Branagh's epic is my favourite Shakespearean adaptation on film.

8. Rear Window- Hitchcock is my favourite director and it's insanely difficult to pick only one. I think I would go with this one.  It takes something which sounds uncinematic and makes it in to pure cinema.       

9.  The Godfather- Mafia life played at almost Shakespearean heights.

10. The Pink Panther Strikes Back- My favourite of the series

Television: Season Five of The Simpsons
Short: Someone on Emerson's blog picked Geri's Game, which played before Pixar's A Bug's Life. It's the short where the old man plays chess with himself. I think I'd have to pick this one as well.

This is a fun but very difficult game. There are so many more more films I could have swapped with the ones on this list. It would take me too long to list all of them. I encourage everyone to try this exercise. It gives you a sense of the films you really can't live without...and you realize there's a lot!

The Essential Films: "The Night of the Hunter" (1955)

The Essential Films: A Series of Writings on Films that I feel are essential viewings for film lovers, coupled with films that are personal to me.

Is there a more frightening film than "The Night of the Hunter?" Is there a more powerful representation of evil on screen than Robert Mitchum as Reverend Harry Powell? Many people would probably say yes but nevertheless "The Night of the Hunter" stands as one of the most powerful evocations of a nightmare in all of cinema. The only film from legendary British character actor Charles Laughton, "The Night of the Hunter" is a difficult film to classify under any particular genre. Part film noir, part fairy tale, part biblical allegory, the film is like a dream or as I said earlier, a nightmare; it exists in a universe where tone and content can shift at any moment. The plot involves the sinister "preacher" named Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) who kills widowed women and steals their money. After going to jail for stealing a car he meets Ben Harper (Peter Graves), who is to be executed for being part of a robbery witch resulted in two deaths. Powell learns from Harper talking in his sleep that his children know where the money is. After being released, Powell seeks out Harper's wife Willa (Shelley Winters), eventually marrying her in order to find where the money is.

Many people believe Powell is Mitchum's greatest performance and while I haven't seen all of Mitchum's work, I would have to agree. Mitchum has been described as a laconic actor but here he's very forceful. Nevertheless, as in his other performances, you don't seem him trying, he just is Harry Powell. He perfectly embodies a man who hides his evil behind the veil of being a good preacher. He's genuinely scary yet like all great screen villains you come to enjoy his presence because Mitchum is very funny and charismatic in a sinister way.  At the same time, you still sympathize with Willa's children, John (Billy Chapin) and Pearl (Sally Jane Bruce). Both young actors, as film critic A.O Scott points out, are never too cute or precious in their roles, which I think would be harmful to the film. Rather, they contrast each other. Chapin the older of the two, gives John a sense of maturity and awareness that is important to the character's ability to see through Powell's hypocrisy. Bruce, the younger of the two, gives Pearl a natural innocence that allows us to question if aware Pearl is of Powell's evil nature or just very forgiving. There is a moment late in the film when Powell finds John and Pearl at the farm of Rachel Cooper (Lillian Gish), a woman who takes in runaway children. Pearl surprisingly gives Powell a hug. John and Pearl can be seen as representing two elements of childhood, John symbolizing the ability to see what adults can not namely Powell's evil nature, while Pearl symbolizes the compassionate side of childhood, to be more forgiving; or maybe that's just an assumption. No matter, ultimately John and Pearl are not interchangeable,  and that lends the children a layer of complexity that I admire.

What I like most about Powell is that even though he is a hypocrite, he wears his hyprocrisy quite openly, it's just that adults cannot see this because they are blinded by his charisma and his position as a preacher. Of course, these people who admire him, such as Icey Spoon (Evelyn Varden) are the same people who call for Powell to be lynched at the end of the film. It is in this violent contrast between the admiration shown toward Powell in the early parts of the film and the hatred and mob mentality at the end of the film. It is within this contrast that "The Night of the Hunter" shows us how quickly people can turn on one another, as well as how this mob is similar to Powell in that while they hide behind religious morals they can ultimately be violent.

I don't think "The Night of the Hunter" is an anti-religious film so much as it is against religious fanaticism and is suspicious of evil people who hide behind religion or have twisted religious beliefs in order to serve their purpose. Rachel is the opposite in that her faith is pure. She does not hide any kind of evil nature behind religion or use religion to get what she wants. In the film, the battle between good and evil, love and hate, is represented by pure religion, on Rachel's side, and twisted religion, on Powell's side. It is ironic that Powell, in arguably the most famous scene from the film, enacts the battle between love and hate, with the words "love" tattoed on the fingers of one hand, and "hate" on the other hand. The irony is twofold in that the love/hate scene foreshadows Powell's demise.  Love wins in this scene and by the end of the film love, represented by Rachel, wins over Powell. Nevertheless, as I said, the irony is twofold because even though love conquers him, we are left with the hatred of the mob in Powell's last scene. Even when love wins out, people will still act with hatred against others. Even if Powell deserves to be hated because of his crimes, the mob doesn't seem to realize how much they enabled Powell to kill Willa.

Charles Laughton was an English character actor but with "The Night of the Hunter" he created a distinct vision of America. It also represents a vision that exists in the realm of a nightmare, putting it similarly outside any culture while still reflecting America. I think this effect comes from Laughton being inspired by German Expressionist films, which can be traced forward to Film Noir, which is a quintessentially American style. The film exists between these two styles, very expressionistic yet also reminding the viewer of how similar German Expressionism is to Film Noir. However one views the film's visual style, the style itself is simply awesome. I love the shot of Powell, boogeyman style, chasing the children up the basement stairs. That image alone captures how the film can be both terrifying and very funny at the same time. The shot with Powell riding a horse in the background, with the children in the foreground is also breathtaking. This film reminds us how visually powerful movies can be. Laughton died in 1962, before he ever got the chance to possibly direct another film. Some accounts say he never wanted to direct another film after the initial failure of "The Night of the Hunter," others say he was planning to direct another. While it is unfortunate that we don't have more of Laughton's awe-inspiring directorial vision, "The Night of the Hunter" stands as a terrifying, funny, mysterious, and finally, moving portrait of the struggle between good and evil.

"The Racket" Review

The Racket (1951) is a slightly disappointing affair. The film promises a faceoff between Robert Mitchum and Robert Ryan, two iconic actors, playing a honest cop and a gangster, respectfully. When these two actors do confront each other, the film is very powerful. Unfortunately, one feels that Mitchum and Ryan are sometimes sidelined due to the number of plotlines the film tries to handle. While it may take too long to summarize everything that goes on in The Racket, I'll give a basic summary of the plot. The film centers on the attempts of honest cop Captain Tom McQuigg (Mitchum) to bring down gangster Nick Scanlon (Ryan). This battle between cop and crook is set within the context of a crime comission investigation that is trying to stop DA Welsh (Ray Collins, Boss Jim Gettys in Citizen Kane) from being made a judge by "the old man," the leader of the crime syndicate.

The film is remake of a 1928 film of the same name, produced by Howard Hughes, who also produced this film. According to Eddie Mueller, who did a commentary track for the DVD, Hughes produced this remake because of the interest in real life crime commission investigations. Mueller also states that the first scene of the film establishing the crime commission as a part of  the story, was added in after the film was done. Nicholas Ray, director of They Live By Night and Rebel Without a Cause, directed this scene. He also directed a few others after credited director John Cromwell left the production. The film supposedly also had a few writers. I got the sense from this film that there is a number of intriguing characters and ideas that not fully developed. I think this has to do with the number of writers that were involved, as well as the different directors. I can see how all the parts of the film are supposed to fit together but, as I just said, at the same time I never felt they were fully developed enough to create the full picture.

This is not to say I wasn't involved with the plights of the characters though. I did care about rookie cop Bob Johnson (William Talman), and I was definitely invested in the relationship between McQuigg and Scanlon. The one thing that disappoints me most about the film is how, as Mueller also states, it's entirely about this conflict. Like Mueller, I wish it was. Mitchum and Ryan have great screen presences, even though Mitchum, as Mueller says, was perhaps a litte too laconic for this role, and there's real tensio when they face off. I think an extra half hour could have given all the plotlines room to breath and develop. At only 89 minutes, the film feels like something more expansive that was crammed in to a brisk hour and a half. I also wished we learned more about the past relationship between McQuigg and Scanlon.

While The Racket falls short of being a really great film noir, I still think it's a fine film due to Mitchum and Ryan's characterizations, along with the other strong performances in the film. The direction is subdued but visually pleasing due to the way Cromwell handles the composition of actors in front of the camera. The Racket is problematic but for fans of this genre and these actors, it's worth seeing.