Cape Fear
Trigger warning : murder and intimate rape .
Cape Fearis consider Martin Scorsese ’s horror movie , and adding to its horror vibration is the tangible crime that inspired one of the characters ' portrayal . Martin Scorsese is no stranger to adapting report to the expectant screen with his hallmark story and ocular style , and one of his most praise ( but also troubling ) works isCape Fear , a remaking of the 1962 pic of the same name by J. Lee Thompson , free-base on the 1957 novelThe Executioners , by John D. MacDonald . ness Fearreunited Scorsese with frequent collaborator Robert De Niro afterGoodfellas , and present him one of his scariest and most unsettling roles .
Cape Fearis the storey of Sam Bowden ( Nick Nolte ) a attorney and former public defender who is stalked byMax Cady ( De Niro ) , a violent raper essay revenge against him for using purposefully faulty defence tactics during his trial , leading to his 14 - yr imprisonment . Cady is also dangerously magnetic , and he not only manipulated Bowden ’s teenage daughter , Danielle ( Juliette Lewis ) , but also his lover and County Courthouse shop clerk Lori Davis ( Illeana Douglas ) . Danielle avoided a horrible fate thanks to her parent , but the same ca n’t be order about Lori , who was violently assault by Cady , and this part of her report was urge by a existent - biography crime .
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Cape Fear’s Lori Was Inspired By The Murder Of Jennifer Levin
Bowden was married to Leigh ( Jessica Lange ) but was having an affair with Lori Davis , and Max Cady knew about it . Cady intentionally cross way of life with Lori at a bar and flirted with her as they kept drinking , convince her to spend the night with him . Cady , being the psychopath he is , used Lori to direct a message to Bowden , and he plunder Lori and beat her nearly to destruction , also bite off part of her buttock , leave her badly injure and shock . Although Bowden enjoin Lori to press charge , she refused to out of fear of their relationship becoming public , something that Cady plain forestall , as he just wanted to terrorise Bowden . In an interview withThe AV Clubin 2009 , Illeana Douglas explained that afterMartin Scorsese gotCape Fearfrom Steven Spielberg , she propose changes to her role , which primitively did n’t even have a name , and she based Lori on Jennifer Levin .
On August 26 , 1986 , the body of 18 - year - erstwhile Jennifer Levin was determine , and the autopsy revealed she had been strangled . Levin had shortly dated her murderer , Robert Chambers , who after lie to the police about the result of their last night together , ended up arrogate that Levin ’s end was an accident as he tried to push her off of him as she sexually assaulted him . Chambers ’ defense exact Levin was wanton and adjudicate to habituate that as grounds for Chambers ’ benefit , standardized to what happened inCape Fearduring Cady ’s trial run , and Levin had injuries on her body and face up like those of Lori . Douglas admitted using Levin ’s case as inspiration for work up the fictional character of Lori and for her performance in the bar scene , and the parallels are clear once you teach the details of Levin ’s death .
Is Cape Fear Based On A True Story?
AlthoughScorsese’sCape Feartook inspiration outside the author material to make Cady and the overall story scarier , more brutal , and more violent , the moving picture and the book are n’t based on a lawful chronicle . MacDonald reportedly come upwith the musical theme ofThe Executionersafter he was challenged by a friend to break away from his usual writing elan and do something risky , and he certainly did with Max Cady and his crime . sure , Max Cady has similarities to live criminals in different ways , whether in their personalities , methods , or backstories , but there is n’t a specific person or case that inspired the story of Max Cady and Sam Bowden in Martin Scorsese’sCape Fear .
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