<Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $182.3 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Cape Fear is a 1991 American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and a remake of the 1962 film of the same name . It stars Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, and Juliette Lewis, and features cameos from Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, and Martin Balsam, who all appeared in the original film . It was Peck's final theatrical film . The film tells the story of a convicted rapist, who, using mostly his newfound knowledge of the law and its numerous loopholes, seeks vengeance against a former public defender whom he blames for his 14 - year imprisonment due to purposefully faulty defense tactics used during his trial . </P> <P> Cape Fear marks the seventh collaboration between Scorsese and De Niro . The film received positive reviews and received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor (De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (Lewis). </P> <P> Sam Bowden is a lawyer in the town of New Essex, North Carolina . Max Cady is a former client whom Bowden defended 14 years earlier when he was working as a public defender in Atlanta . Cady was tried for the violent rape and battery of a young woman . Bowden, appalled by Cady's crime, buried evidence that might have lightened Cady's sentence or even secured his acquittal . After his release from prison, Cady tracks down Bowden . He studied law in prison and assumed his own defense, unsuccessfully appealing his conviction several times . Cady hints he has learned about Bowden burying the report . </P>

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