7. Cape Fear - (1962) Max Cady
Max Cady, convicted rapist, leaves jail and makes a beeline straight for the lawyer he believes was responsible for him doing porridge. Sam Bowden is the legal eagle whose family Cady begins to slowly threaten and harass. He kills the dog but nobody can prove it. Increasingly concerned for both his welfare and that of his family, Bowden hires Charlie - a Private Investigator. Cady attacks a drunken tart one night but nobody can get her to testify. Bowden gets so desperate to get rid of Cady he hires three thugs to beat him up but he ends up beating up the thugs instead. Bowden takes his wife and daughter off to Cape Fear to escape Cady. He goes in a totally different direction to throw Cady off the scent - his rationale is that Cady will go after his wife and daughter and attack them and Bowden can jump into the fray and hopefully get rid of Cady. He hides nearby with a deputy sheriff but Cady is smarter than he thought and kills the deputy. Cady goes to attack his family, so there is a final showdown between the two men. Bowden gets the upper hand in the fight but decides to spare Cady his life and send him to jail as this is the proper moral thing to do. Apparently everyone in Hollywood fought for a role in Cape Fear. The role of Max Cady went to Robert Mitchum - the King of portraying screen über scumbags. Mitchum's Cady is a dark sinister character that is omnipresent in the film. There is so much about him that is shady. Does he have sexual designs on Bowden's daughter? He is a convicted rapist, will he try to rape again? Mitchum's turn as Max Cady is spine tingling. He has spent years behind bars studying law books and he uses his knowledge to taunt Bowden and evade arrest - this is what gets under our skin. He doesn't really do much physical harassment to the Bowdens but the threat is present - in his eyes, in his speech, in his demeanour. A tour de force performance by Robert Mitchum as a dyed in the wool scumbag.