Movies
Cape Fear
Martin Scorsese's remake of a thing that was made well enough the first time, 1962. The director's appreciation of Hollywood Past can still be caught here in glimmers — mainly in the use of the stars of the original, Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum (along with supporting player Martin Balsam), in bit-parts, and in Elmer Bernstein's reworking of the original musical score by the late Bernard Herrmann. But these little glowworm hommages are inevitably swallowed up in the implied and unfounded presumption of superiority. It is possible to put a finger on at least one area of definite improvement: the natural teenagerishness of Juliette Lewis versus the TV-type teenness of Lori Martin. But on the whole the project is not so much new and revitalized as just modishly and conformistly hyperbolized. Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Joe Don Baker. 1991.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: R
