Cape Fear
Gregory Peck (foreground) and Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962), directed by J. Lee Thompson.
Cape Fear
film by Thompson [1962]
Cape Fear, American thriller film, released in 1962, that was a suspenseful tale of revenge, especially noted for Robert Mitchum’s chilling performance. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Gregory Peck portrayed Sam Bowden, a defense attorney who, along with his family, is terrorized by a man he once prosecuted and sent to jail, the sadistic ex-convict Max Cady (played by Mitchum). Bowden and Cady match wits throughout the film before their final showdown...