Re: RARA-AVIS: john d macdonald

From: Anders Engwall ( Anders.Engwall@uab.ericsson.se)
Date: 30 Nov 2000


Juri Nummelin:

> The earliest MacDonald film is however
> Edmond O'Brien's "Man-Trap" (1961) that is based on some short story

"Taint of the Tiger" -- or so it is ususally claimed. However, I happen to own a British Pan Books pb of a novel titled
"Man-Trap" which comes complete with a still from the movie on the back cover, and there it says that it had previously been published as "Soft Touch"! So, what gives?

> So, "Cape Fear"
> is the only good MacDonald movie - if you can handle Scorsese's
> heavy-handedness. I haven't seen the first version of the film, but
> everyone seems to like it.

I usually like Scorcese, but this remake must rank as his very worst movie ever, and calling it "heavy-handed" is an understatement. I usually like De Niro, too (I saw "Heat" last week -- brilliant!), but his over-acting here borders on the ridicilous. No matter how he flexes his muscles and rolls his eyes, he's outdone by Mitchum in the original, who merely just had to stand there and smile to seem like your worst nightmare ever.

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