Cape Fear (1991 Martin Scorsese)

'Bob Mitchum or Bob de Niro?' Q had questioned on one of her film groups. Mitchum was hands down the preference of over 200 respondents.

And Lee Thompson's version is also easily the winner, for what Scorsese and writer Wesley Strick have done is to considerably muddy the character waters. The lawyer (Nick Nolte) has a shady past, he and his wife Jessica Lange are on the point of divorce, and instead of being repelled by the psycho, teenager Juliette Lewis has something of a crush on him. All this does is to severely dissipate the tension. It is also - naturally - over 20 minutes longer.

Marty's direction (and Thelma's editing and Freddie Francis's photography) are of course all very interesting, so it's very watchable, and Marty's had the sense to reuse Herrmann's score (slightly adapted by Elmer Bernstein) but actually that doesn't always sit that well over a more modern film.

It was nice - briefly - to see Peck, Mitchum and Balsam from the original. With Joe Don Baker, Ileana Douglas.