In the shot of the Bowdens' Jeep driving away with Cady attached underneath, the car's suspension has been noticeably raised so he can fit under it without scraping the ground. In previous scenes the suspension is at a standard level for this model.
The recorded threat was different to the actual threat made to Cady.
When Lori is in the bar with Cady, she unbuttons her top button on her blouse. In subsequent shots, the button goes from buttoned to unbuttoned without her ever touching it again.
After Max bites Lori's cheek, his mouth is covered with blood, but in the next shot when he swings his fist down to hit her his mouth is clean.
As Cady approaches the dumpster Sam is hiding behind, the metal pipe he is carrying is in his right hand. However, when he stops walking toward the dumpster it's in his left hand. When he finally gives up and turns away it's in his right hand again.
As the Bowdens drive towards Cape Fear, a sign for "Cape Fear..Next exit" is reflected in shimmering water. The words can be read normally, whereas reflections of text in water would have to have the text up-side-down.
When Leigh and Sam Bowden have an argument Sam is sent to sleep on the couch. In a house that large there would certainly be at least one guest room in which Sam could have slept. The couch would not have been necessary.
This is a visual cliché. Something expected or predictable, based on a prior event. A couple argue = the husband sleeps on the couch. It's immediately understood and saves screen time over something basically unimportant.
This is a visual cliché. Something expected or predictable, based on a prior event. A couple argue = the husband sleeps on the couch. It's immediately understood and saves screen time over something basically unimportant.
Dani removes her retainer while on the phone with Cady, but it reappears and disappears again between shots before she finally puts it back in when she hangs up.
Maybe it was uncomfortable or maybe she thought it affected her voice. It isn't disappearing and reappearing if she removes it herself.
Maybe it was uncomfortable or maybe she thought it affected her voice. It isn't disappearing and reappearing if she removes it herself.
When Sam throws the anchor in the water it's attached to an iron chain.
Minutes later the anchor is only attached to rope, and Max is able to cut it loose with a knife.
That's the usual setup for an anchor line. The anchor is attached to a chain to keep the flukes on the bottom for holding power and a rope from the other end of the chain to the boat.
That's the usual setup for an anchor line. The anchor is attached to a chain to keep the flukes on the bottom for holding power and a rope from the other end of the chain to the boat.
After Max Cady assaults Lori Davis, a point is made that no charges can be filed because Lori refuses to testify. However, the extreme violent nature of the assault would've left enough of Cady's DNA on Lori's body, as well as his unique bite mark on her face. This evidence would've been enough to convict Cady without her testimony.
Convict him of what? Biting? In 1991, DNA evidence was continually being challenged in court, necessitating bringing in expensive expert witnesses. Coupled with the expense and waiting time of the actual DNA test and the refusal to testify, it's unlikely any prosecutor would choose to file a charge.
Convict him of what? Biting? In 1991, DNA evidence was continually being challenged in court, necessitating bringing in expensive expert witnesses. Coupled with the expense and waiting time of the actual DNA test and the refusal to testify, it's unlikely any prosecutor would choose to file a charge.
Max Cady tapes Sam's threat to do the "hospital job," and then uses that tape recording in court to get a restraining order against Sam. Although Sam admitted making the threats, no tape recording in any state in any court of law is admissible as evidence.
It doesn't need to be admissible as evidence. It just needs to be convincing enough to persuade the judge to issue the restraining order.
It doesn't need to be admissible as evidence. It just needs to be convincing enough to persuade the judge to issue the restraining order.
At the start of the scene where the hired goons attack Max in the parking lot, Max is wearing his watch when he turns to face them after one of them calls his name. About half way through the scene Max's watch inexplicably disappears from his wrist.
Inexplicable is a strong word to describe damage to the watch torn from his wrist in an outmatched fight. It probably disappeared under a dumpster. His clothing and face took some damage also.
Inexplicable is a strong word to describe damage to the watch torn from his wrist in an outmatched fight. It probably disappeared under a dumpster. His clothing and face took some damage also.
When Cady is kissing Danielle, he leans to the right. When the camera switches, showing the back of Danielle's head, now Cady is leaning to the left. This sequence happens again when the camera switches back to its original angle.
There is no way that Max Cady could have survived under the car the Bowden's were travelling on to their river boat. The underside of a car can reach up to 1,400 degrees from the heat exhaust, and Cady straps himself in right underneath the catalytic converter, which can also reach temperatures over 1,200 degrees.
Cady is a tough guy. So tough that he let the molten lava from the flare flow over his hand without visible damage.
Cady is a tough guy. So tough that he let the molten lava from the flare flow over his hand without visible damage.
Sam orders the "hospital job" against Max Cady in the hope that Cady will leave the Bowden family alone afterwards. During the actual attack, Cady takes eighteen repeated heavy blows with metal pipes all over his body and then stands up to fight back, a complete impossibility. Max Cady would have been dead.
Cady is portrayed as a supra-normal, semi-demonic being, starting with thunder clouds framing him as he walks out of prison. His intensity and his musculature seem to allow him superhuman strength and endurance.
Cady is portrayed as a supra-normal, semi-demonic being, starting with thunder clouds framing him as he walks out of prison. His intensity and his musculature seem to allow him superhuman strength and endurance.
When Danielle runs to her room as her parents are fighting, the 'music channel' the TV is turned to is playing the video for Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealing", but the music that's heard is Guns'n'Roses "Patience"
Sam is wrong about Job. Satan took Job's wealth and killed his family, not God.
Max sits in a convertible talking to Sam who is standing on the sidewalk. Max's watch alarm chimes yet he is wearing an analog watch.
At the parade, Dani talks to her father but her lips are not moving.
When Sam Bowden and his associate Tom Broadbent are discussing their next move against Cady at their office, the camera pans and you can clearly hear footsteps and other noises from the camera crew; there was nobody else in that room who could have made these noises.
It is simply not possible that Cady could cling to the underside of a truck for an extended journey, even with the aid of his thin leather belt.
Cady is portrayed as a supra-normal being. His intensity and musculature allow him superhuman strength and endurance.
Firstly, there would be nowhere for him to put his feet, his hands would get tired within a few minutes of holding on to the underside of the car and the belt would severely cut into his waist, all of which would be exacerbated by travelling over bumpy roads.
Cady is portrayed as a supra-normal being. His intensity and musculature allow him superhuman strength and endurance.
Firstly, there would be nowhere for him to put his feet, his hands would get tired within a few minutes of holding on to the underside of the car and the belt would severely cut into his waist, all of which would be exacerbated by travelling over bumpy roads.
Considering a lawyer's income, Sam would be expected to have a high-tech security system on his property and he would definitely own a gun.
At the end of the film, Sam Bowden says that he had to go to hearings before the American Bar Association as a result of his criminal actions toward Cady. But the ABA doesn't license lawyers, nor does it have the authority to disbar them. It is a lobbying group. Bowden would have had to go before the Georgia Bar Association, given that the crime occurred in that state.
When Lori meets Max in the bar, he doesn't understand her when she says "debauchery." Lori says, "Debauchery--it's a 3-syllable word." It's a 4-syllable word.
It's a three syllable word. Dee-botch-ree. Especially when drunk.
It's a three syllable word. Dee-botch-ree. Especially when drunk.
When Danielle and Max are talking in the theater, she tells Max that part of her punishment for smoking grass is that she can't drive the Cherokee. Their Jeep is a Grand Wagoneer. In 1977, the Cherokee became a low-end Wagoneer with either two or four doors.
Cady asks Bowden to recite Canon Seven of the ABA Model Code.
The Model Code was abandoned in 1983 and replaced with the Modern Rules of Professional Conduct, which has no canons. As Cady had been in prison for 14 years, the earlier Model Code would still have been in place when Bowden represented him.
When investigator Kersek is crawling along the floor in the Bowden house following the fishing line that is moving, you can see that there are no bullets in the cylinders of his revolver. It is true that perhaps he only had a bullet in the chamber, but it would be more likely that under the circumstances that the gun be fully loaded.