Part of Weekend Classics
The life of small-town lawyer Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck) turns torturous when Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) is let out of prison. Jailed for eight years after Bowden testified that Cady attacked a young woman, the newly released convict — armed with a newfound knowledge of the law — begins to methodically terrorize Bowden and his family, particularly targeting Bowden’s daughter. Concerned for his family’s safety, Bowden relocates the clan to a houseboat in North Carolina, but Cady’s not so easily shaken off… Talk about a vacation from Hell!
“A cold-blooded, calculated build-up of sadistic menace and shivering dread…. And Mr. Mitchum plays the villain with the cheekiest, wickedest arrogance and the most relentless aura of sadism that he has ever managed to generate.” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (Apr 19, 1962)
“Mitchum has no trouble being utterly hateful. Wearing a Panama fedora and chomping a cocky cigar, the menace of his visage has the hiss of a poised snake.” —Variety (Dec 31, 1961)