Fresh out of prison, the sadistic Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) determines to have his revenge on Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), the lawyer who sent him away. But Cady is smart. He sticks to menacing Bowden's wife and teenage daughter with obscene phonecalls and implied threats, and never does anything which would give the police the right to arrest him. It is therefore Bowden who, in order to protect his family, must go beyond the confines of the law and seek to engage Cady in a direct confrontation. Famed for Mitchum's sinister performance and Bernard Herrmann's atmospheric score, 'Cape Fear' is one of the great classics of the late studio era. It was remade by Martin Scorcese in 1991.