Cape Fear

1962, U.S.

A film “heavy on Spanish moss and sick behavior." Mitchum is a giant of evil in this movie; a slithery, completely corrupt, malevolent force. Along with his role as the crazed preacher in The Night of the Hunter, this is arguably his finest performance.

A vicious ex-con, Mitchum shows up in the small North Carolina town where Gregory Peck is the chief prosecuting attorney. It was Peck who put Mitchum away for eight years for a hideous sex crime and Mitchum has used that time well, plotting his revenge on Peck through Peck's wife and daughter.