Capital Celluloid - Day 229: Friday August 19

'Cape Fear (Scorsese, 1991): Ritzy Cinema, Brixton

This underrated Martin Scorsese movie is screening as part of the Revenge is Sweet season at the Ritzy and will be shown in a magnificent 35mm print.

Here is Kim Newman's Empire review:

'By 1991, Martin Scorsese was the most distinctive and talented film-maker working at the peak of his powers but had still never quite had the mega-hit which would give him the Hollywood clout to go along with his abilities. As a payback to Universal for supporting his tricky Last Temptation of Christ project, Scorsese unashamedly applied himself to a big-scale quickie thriller, built on the skeleton of the well-remembered 1962 suspense thriller.  The first hour presents a quietly scary logic as Max (Robert de Niro), barely breaking the law, reduces Sam's (Nick Nolte) life to shreds.  However Scorsese abandons subtlety with an all‑stops‑out gothic finale in a swamp that finally answers the question of what a Friday The 13th movie would look like starring and directed by Academy Award nominee. Despite provocative debate on legal and family ethics, it's just a horror picture, but it is at least a damn good horror picture.'

Here is the great Saul Bass title sequence, complete with Elmer Bernstein score.

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