Max Cady: The 'Best' Villain Ever?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Cape Fear
tryggvason_asgeir — 12 years ago(May 15, 2013 08:42 PM)
One of the scariest charachters ever on screen, he was pure evil, pure revenge. The punishment he could take made me think he was a demon, working with a higher (lower) powers. All the quotes he had in the movie from the Bible and philosophers just added to his creepiness. Its not that rare to see a movie about a good guy who will stop at nothing to put revenge on the bad guys. But I cant remember a film other than this where we follow the bad guy who stops at nothing to get even with the "good" guys.
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TheAnimalMother — 12 years ago(May 20, 2013 03:27 AM)
Well then I guess you never saw The Terminator. Arnold is bad and nearly impossible to stop.
I know what you mean though. De Niro nails this part and Scorsese really nails the film in general. It's a bit of under appreciated thriller I think mainly because the villain is so harsh, the brutal violence toward women depicted, and because it actually tackles some very controversial and personal topics. Everything from if it's ever right to bend the truth, to teenage sexuality, etc. Cady quotes from controversial books too such as Henry Miller's Sexus. It's a book that basically challenges the way everyone lives, including Miller himself. He did think he was a good writer, however he was only a good writer because he believed he was not courageous and strong enough to truly live himself. If he was truly living, he felt that he would actually have no time to write about it. He felt most people were hiding basically, just following the leader kind of thing, and were just slowly dying, rather than truly living at all.
This portrayal of the Cady by De Niro actually reminds me of Robert Mitchem's performance in The Night Of The Hunter. He is actually a lot like this, in that he's a bad guy and he stops at nothing kind of thing. And Mitchum also of course plays Cady in the original Cape Fear.
I would agree that De Niro's Cady is one of the best and scariest psycho killers in film, ever. I find him a lot scarier than Hannibal Lector actually, who is the most popular choice for best psycho killer ever.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abusedand ILIKE IT!! -
TheAnimalMother — 12 years ago(May 25, 2013 11:19 PM)
The Night Of The Hunter is worth a watch for sure.
Another film to check out if you haven't seen it is Westworld. The Yul Brynner character is also reminiscent of Max Cady and The Terminator, lol. For sure! It's a pretty damn cool film for it's time with or without the Brynner character. I do feel that both The Terminator and Westworld do go a little overboard in the end, you're just like "why don't you just die already?" sorta thing, but in Cape Fear I actually didn't feel that way about Cady. He was the kind of villain you want to watch alive, rather than see him die, just because he's so interesting.
My body's a cage, it's been used and abusedand ILIKE IT!! -
domincanredangel — 11 years ago(January 02, 2015 09:20 PM)
Trygg ICAM i couldn't agree more yep.
i have it on all new year weekend,i am enjoyin it again,have not seen it in years,five or six and glad its on cable much this winter.love it.have to get it on dvd.DENIRO is LOCO
Definitely 1 of the top villains EVER.
Noches.
Adios.
BMWRedheadlBella
Love Robert Dinero in Cape Fear.
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MichaelJacksonPollock — 10 years ago(September 18, 2015 01:35 PM)
The funny thing is, in Sidney Lumet's 1990 film "Q & A" Nick Nolte as crooked cop Mike Brennan is waaaaaay scarier and crazier than DeNiro as Max Cady.
Max wouldn't have lasted a round opposite to Nolte's Brennan. -
relaxingend — 10 years ago(January 06, 2016 10:24 PM)
While it was a generally entertaining performance and movie, I can't possibly compare his character to other villains in cinema history. He got very repetitive with his Bible quotes and other sayings, and he was absolutely over-the-top. I didn't care much for the accent, and also prefer Bobby D. in roles other than an antagonist.
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LeonardPine — 10 years ago(February 10, 2016 03:49 AM)
For a serious thriller Cady was way too indestructible. He's a ridiculous character and De Niro plays him so over the top he's nothing but a cartoon.
Was it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions"? -
TheEightiesAreBack — 9 years ago(June 18, 2016 05:12 AM)
I also agree and was thinking the same thing De Niro's portrayal of Max Cady might not only be his best performance but one of the best on screen villains of all time.
His character is very interesting. He was a self-admitting piece of "white trash" that educated himself in prison to no longer be a stereotype and become a messenger of death. -
tyson6633 — 9 years ago(October 06, 2016 10:02 AM)
Hey, I'm with ya OP.
One of the best. I loved DeNiro in this. Brilliant. Scary as hell.
The bedroom assault did it for me:
He breaks her arm. BITES and takes a CHUNK out of her FACE. Spits it out. "I gotcha now, bitch!" And proceeds to beat the sh!t out of her.
Brutal.
"Yyyuuplotta history down that road."