DVD Talk review of 'Cape Fear (1991)' (Blu-ray)
 

I read Jamie S. Rich's DVD review of Cape Fear (1991) at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=51181 and...disagree that the remake is even in the same league as the original. What Jamie fails to mention is that the original Bowden family had an almost ideal, loving relationship, making Cady's threatening presence even more horrifying. The remake shows a cheating husband, bitter wife, and rebellious, sulky teenager who are hard to like. In addition, the original had Cady seeking revenge simply because Bowden was the attorney who got him convicted; as Rich points out, the remake shows that Cady had at least a modicum of twisted "justification" for his actions in that Bowden broke the law to see Cady convicted. In the original, Mitchum's Cady was a hulking, menace who attracted women with his animal presence; DeNiro's Cady is a small religious fanatic in tacky, dated clothing who would repel women. The first is a bonafide classic; the second is a weak imitation. At least Scorsese had the good sense to leave the original score intact.

Re: DVD Talk review of 'Cape Fear (1991)' (Blu-ray)
 

Don't you dare say Juliette Lewis is 'hard to like!' :)

At any rate, I'd argue that your reasoning could easily be applied to Rich's opinion as well. While the original family fit an ideal that was fervently striven for at the time, Scorsese's family could be easily seen as more 'realistic' for the '90s, and thus easier to identify with.

Call it bad apples to bad oranges, with both movies succeeding nicely in their own ways.

Plus, awarding myself bonus points for using so many versions of the word 'easy' in this comment.

Re: DVD Talk review of 'Cape Fear (1991)' (Blu-ray)
 

Creekdipper: You act like all these changes were idiotic mistakes made by Scorsese because he's clueless. All the changes you describe were deliberate. Where would the fun be in remaking something exactly like the original? Scorsese made those changes to make the characters more ambiguous, thus giving the film an extra edge.