 |
| Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange,
Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum |
|
 |
Anamorphic
widescreen |
|
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
 |
DTS |
|
|
Trailer(s) |
|
Featurette(s) |
|
Documentary |
|
Audio commentary
|
|
Deleted scenes
|
|
Concept art
/ storyboards |
|
Multi-angle
feature |
|
|
|
|
Max
Cady (Robert De Niro): Your mommy's not happy...your daddy's not
happy, and you know what? You're not happy.
An
ex-convict continuously harasses his former defense attorney and his
family.
 Scorsese's
remake of J. Lee Thompson's classic B-movie thriller is an interesting
attempt by its director to create a commercial film within the studio
system he otherwise has always carefully avoided, but the result is
frustratingly uneven. Cape Fear includes some of his most impressive
work, but it's easy to tell how quickly he loses interest each time
the narrative is forced into familiar action thriller territory, and
the film immediately suffers. Scorsese has clearly labored to bring
more depth to the the characters, and to make the conflict between Sam
Bowden's family and Max Cady more interesting than the simple good vs.
evil battle at the heart of the original.
Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange and Juliette Lewis each perform admirably,
with Nolte lending his character just the right amount of nervous hypocrisy
to make him a convincing character without losing too much sympathy
as the 'hero'. Lange and Lewis are equally perfect, and the three together
make a credibly dysfunctional family unit. De Niro as supervillain Max
Cady however has a tendency to go wildly over the top, something Robert
Mitchum carefully avoided in the original. He is terrific in some scenes,
but often ends up overplaying the part, which makes him less threatening
and less scary than he might have been. And the film almost completely
derails toward the overblown finale, where Scorsese is simply no longer
able to come up with any more new ideas to sustain interest. Scorsese's
Cape Fear can therefore be seen as something of a flawed masterpiece:
a genre film that is better than almost any other movie of its kinds,
but which seems ill at ease with itself. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
Two-disc
Special Edition DVDs were released for Region 1 and Region 2 to celebrate
the movie's tenth anniversary in 2001. The only difference between the
two is the absence of a DTS audio mix on the Region 2 version, which
served as a basis for this review.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx.
2.35:1. Fans of the movie who have awaited this DVD anxiously for quite
some time will not be disappointed, as the transfer presented here is
all but flawless: colors are bright and natural, detail levels are superlative,
and the source print is in magnificent shape. It's a delight to finally
re-experience Cape Fear in all of its widescreen glory the way
it was supposed to look.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix is also outstanding, bringing great
force to Elmer Bernstein's re-orchtestration of Bernard Herrmann's classic
score. Apart from the final sequence, there isn't very much in the way
of action scenes in this film, and the rear speakers are effectively
employed for ambient noises and the musical score. The DTS audio mix
featured on the Region 1 release is sadly missing from the R2 version.
Produced
by Spielberg's production company Amblin' Entertainment, Scorsese's
remake of Cape Fear is one of those popular titles long missing
from any DVD catalogue, with malicious rumors claiming Spielberg himself
was holding back Amblin' titles until the medium had truly proven its
longevity. Whether there is any truth to this rumor remains unknown,
but the movie has now finally been released as a special '10th Anniversary
Special Edition', and it's a great two-disc set that has been worth
the wait. It's too bad that Scorsese has so far been unwilling to provide
audio commentaries for his own movies on DVD, but the superlative extras
on disc 2 almost make up for this sad absence...
Disc 1 has no extras apart from a (Windows-only) DVD-ROM screenplay-to-film
comparison, where you can watch the movie while reading the screenplay.
A nice feature if you've got the right operating system on your computer,
too bad if you're a Mac user like we are, a platform that remains woefully
unsupported as far as DVD-ROM features are concerned...
 The
bulk of the extra material is however contained on the second disc,
starting with an exceptional 80-minute documentary. Produced
and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, one of the true greats in the world
of DVD extras, this great feature more than holds the attention for
its extended running time, and succeeds generously in providing a full
overview of the movie's development and production. It includes new
interview footage with all of the principals of cast and crew, including
Martin Scorsese, actors Jessica Lange, Julliette Lewis, Nick Nolte and
Robert De Niro, screenwriter Wesley Strick and production designer Henry
Bumstead, as well as many others. No stone is left unturned as special
effects, improvised scenes, make-up choices and casting decisions are
all dealt with. None of the participants are hesitant about expressing
some of the doubts or criticisms they had about the film, making this
a revealing, truly insightful documentary that can stand among the best
yet produced for DVD.
A nine-minute deleted scenes presentation runs for about nine
minutes (in non-anamorphic, fairly rough-looking widescreen), and includes
shots trimmed from existing scenes as well as eight short scenes that
were cut entirely. A nice addition, though all clearly deserved their
place on the cutting room floor. Two short featurettes each offer
a quick look behind the scenes of two of the film's major sequences:
Behind the Scenes of the Fourth of July parade cuts together
B-roll footage with actual scenes from the film, as does On the Set
of the Houseboat, which offers a look in the drenched actors in
the tank built for the climactic sequence. Both featurettes are welcome
additions that run about two minutes each.
Three photo montages offer further insight into some of the movie's
fascinating elements: 'The Physical Transformation of Robert de Niro's
Max Cady' combines stills with movie footage in a short presentation
accompanied by music from the score, as is 'The Cast of Cape Fear',
which includes the usual cast portraits and behind-the-scenes photographs
with short clips from the film. 'Martin Scorsese directs Cape Fear'
has no music, just movie clips and still images; all three presentations
can be played individually or consecutively with the 'play all' button.
There's also a two-minute featurette that focuses on the matte paintings
used for several backgrounds in the film; the separate plate elements
are shown first, followed by the final shot from the movie. Great stuff.
But there's still more! Legendary designers Saul and Elaine Bass created
the memorable opening credits sequence for Cape Fear, and as
a kind of tribute, the full opening credits sequences for four
of his best-remembered films are presented together here: Vertigo,
Psycho, Spartacus and Casino. Presented in non-anamorphic
widescreen, this presentation runs for about twelve minutes. Rounding
out these great extras are the theatrical trailer (in non-anamorphic
widescreen), production notes and filmographies for Scorsese
and principal cast members. The
movie is started automatically upon insertion of the disc (as does the
documentary on disc 2). Menu screens are static and somewhat underdesigned,
but easily navigated and otherwise without major annoyances. The feature
has only 15 chapter stops, which is on the short side for a two-hour-plus
film.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Cape
Fear .
Click here
to return to the front page.
|
|
| |
