CAPE FEAR (1962) Hell hath no fury like a Mitchum scornedR

CAPE FEAR was remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese, but as so often with remakes, much that was merely suggested in the original is too brutally graphic in the new version - unnecessarily, in my opinion. The first version, directed by the late British director J. Lee Thompson. is scary enough. An ex-con (a grossly evil Robert Mitchum) seeks revenge on the prosecuting attorney (Gregory Peck) who got him convicted and put away for eight years. Mitchum's relentless stalking campaign on Peck's family rapidly escalates from veiled threats to attemped rape and murder. The final scenes on and near the houseboat on which Peck has sequestered his pretty wife and nubile teenaged daughter are no less harrowing today than 50 years ago. (Trivia note: Peck and Mitchum both had cameos in the remake that starred Robert DeNiro in Mitchum's part and Nick Nolte in Peck's, but with their personalities reversed.)