Factual error: 'Cape Fear' is based in North Carolina, and cars shown in the film have North Carolina license plates. However, the cars have plates on both the front and back, and in North Carolina, cars only have plates on the back.
Cape Fear (1991)
1 factual error
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis
Continuity mistake: When De Niro first meets Nolte's lady-friend, they are having a conversation in a bar or restaurant. As the camera goes from De Niro to the woman, the woman's top blouse button is open in one shot, then closed, then open, etc.
Trivia: The officer that talks to Sam is played by Robert Mitchum who was the original Max Cady and the lawyer that Max hires is Gregory Peck who played the original Sam Bowden.
Question: The whole basis of the film is that Max is suddenly aware of hidden evidence that impacted his sentencing. However, his lawyer claims he wouldn't have known and hurried the case to keep it hidden. The question remains: how did Max find out about the evidence while in prison?
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Answer: As I remember it, Sam Bowden, Max's lawyer, knew his client was a rapist. He did not want Max to go free, so he buried the evidence that could have exonerated him. At that time, Max was illiterate, and Bowden assumed he'd never know about the hidden information. While in prison, Max, who was actually highly intelligent, learned how to read and also studied law. He later mounted his own unsuccessful appeals, which presumably gave him access to all previous evidence.
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