Cape Fear

Daniel:
If you hang onto the past you die a little each day.

Claude Kersek:
You're scared. But that's Ok. I want you to savor that fear. The south was born in fear. Fear of the Indian, fear of the slave, fear of the damn Union. The south has a fine tradition of savoring fear.

Max Cady:
It's not necessary to lay a foul tongue on me my friend. I could get upset. Things could get out of hand. Then in self defense, I could do something to you that you would not like, right here.

Max Cady:
Every man... every man has to go through hell to reach paradise.

Max Cady:
You learn about loss.

Max Cady:
You ready to be born again, Miss Bowden?

Max Cady:
I'm going to chop you into 42 pieces.

Max Cady:
Mmm mmm, hot as a fire cracker on the fourth of July.

Max Cady:
Already read 'em.

Max Cady:
Granddaddy used to handle snakes in church, Granny drank strychnine. I guess you could say I had a leg up, genetically speaking.

Max Cady:
Counselor, could you be there?

Max Cady:
I am like God, and God like me. I am as large as God, He is as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath Him be. Selatius, 17th Century.

Max Cady:
Your mommy's not happy... your daddy's not happy, and you know what? You're not happy.

Claude Kersek:
Well, gee golly gosh. I sure am sorry I offended you, you white trash piece of sh*t.

Lieutenant Elgart:
I don't know whether to look at him or read him.

Lieutenant Elgart:
Well, pardon me all over the place.

Max Cady:
I understand, I'm not your type, too many tattoos. Thing is, there isn't much to do in prison except desecrate your flesh.

Max Cady:
Are you my friend? Are you my friend?

Claude Kersek:
No I'm not your friend.

Max Cady:
Well, see, I like to plan my comings and goings with friends, so if you're planning my comings and goings I'd call that presumptuous, in fact I'd call it downright rude.

Max Cady:
Councilor! COME OUT, COME OUT WHERE EVER YOU ARE!

Max Cady:
You cant escape your demons just by leaving home.

I learned that one in prison....you like?

"I AM.. the do right man"..

Max Cady:
[smiling, after grabbing the keys from the car] Free as a bird. You go wherever you want with whomever.

Sam Bowden:
I'd like my keys back please.

Max Cady:
Could it be you don't remember me?

Sam Bowden:
I remember you. You were at the movies the other night.

Max Cady:
I'm disappointed. I'm hurt.

Sam Bowden:
I would like my keys.

Max Cady:
Max Cady. You look the same. Maybe 15 pounds heavier. But they say the average man gains a pound a year till he's about... Come on. Gains a pound a year till he's about 60. Me? I dropped a pound every year in my sentence.

Sam Bowden:
Atlanta. July 1977?

Max Cady:
You got it. [looks at keys] Fourteen years since I held a set of keys.

Judge:
Let me quote our great Negro educator, Mr. Booker T. Washington."I will let no man drag me down so low... "...as to make me hate him."

Lieutenant Elgart:
So what happened, your wife let the dog out and Cady abducted him and...

Sam Bowden:
No, my wife didn't let the dog out.

Lieutenant Elgart:
So he came into the house? Now that's illegal entry...

Sam Bowden:
No, he didn't come into the house either. Now look, I'm not a cop, I don't know how he did it, all I know is that he DID it.

Max Cady:
I wanted to meet you, see what you're like. I see you're a nice person. That's all.

Danielle Bowden:
You're not gonna hurt me, are you?

Max Cady:
No, I'm not gonna hurt you at all. There's no hurtin' here, Danielle. 'Tween us, there's no anger, nothin'. Just a search for truth. I mean, did you judge me, did you get angry at me when you caught me smokin' the grass? Hmm?

Danielle Bowden:
No.

Max Cady:
But your parents, they judged you. They got plenty angry at you, didn't they?

Danielle Bowden:
Yeah.

Max Cady:
Mm-hmm. They punished you for their sins. What did they do?

Danielle Bowden:
They, uh... My dad... They just yelled a whole lot and, um... My mom cried... and my Dad said I couldn't drive the Cherokee.

Max Cady:
I'd say they punished you for their sins, and you resent that, and you should resent it. But Professor 'Do-Right' has a little advice for you. You shouldn't damn 'em. Don't judge 'em. Just forgive 'em, for they know not what they do.

Danielle Bowden:
Well, um, why do you hate my father?

Max Cady:
I don't hate him at all. Oh no, I pray for him. I'm here to help him. I mean, we all make mistakes, Danielle. You and I have. At least we try to admit it. Don't we?...But your daddy, he don't. Every man carries a circle of hell around his head like a halo. Your daddy too. Every man... Every man has to go through hell to reach his paradise. You know what paradise is?...Salvation. 'Cause your daddy's not happy. Your mommy's not happy. And, you know what? You're not happy. Are you? You know, I think I might have found a companion, a companion for that long walk to the light.

Sam Bowden:
Because I knew he brutally beat and raped her!

Max Cady:
Talk... TO ME! I'm Right HERE! [hits Sam in the face]

Sam Bowden:
Just because she was promiscuous... didn't give YOU THE RIGHT TO RAPE HER! But YOU BRAGGED about how you beat TWO prior rapes... you were a menace!

Max Cady:
[Screams] YOU WERE MY LAWYER... you were my lawyer! That report could've saved me FOURTEEN YEARS!

Sam Bowden:
[begrudgingly] You're probably right.

Max Cady:
[Disgusted] YOU SELF-RIGHTEOUS F***! I'm Virgil and I'm guidin' you through the gates of Hell. We are now in the Ninth Circle, the Circle of Traitors. Traitors to country! Traitors to fellow man! Traitors to GOD! You, sir, are charged with betrayin' the principles of all three! Quote for me the American Bar Association's Rules of Professional Conduct, Canon Seven.

Sam Bowden:
"A lawyer should represent his client... "

Max Cady:
"Should ZEALOUSLY represent his client within the bounds of the law." I find you guilty, counselor! Guilty of betrayin' your fellow man! Guilty of betrayin' your country and abrogatin' your oath! Guilty of judgin' me and sellin' me out! With the power vested in me by the kingdom of God, I sentence you to the Ninth Circle of Hell! Now you will learn about loss! Loss of freedom! Loss of humanity! Now you and I will truly be the same...

Sam Bowden:
I'M GONNA KILL YOU!

Max Cady:
You already sacrificed me, Counselor!

Max Cady:
Counselor? Counselor, is that you? Counselor, come out, come out, wherever you are! I ain't no white trash piece of sh*t. I'm better than you all! I can out-learn you. I can out-read you. I can out-think you. And I can out-philosophize you. And I'm gonna outlast you. You think a couple whacks to my good ol' boy guts is gonna get me down? It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that, Counselor, to prove you're better than me! I am like God, and God like me. I am as large as God. He is as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath Him be. Silesius, 17th Century. Counselor? Counselor, could you be there? Could you be there? [He whistles] Counselor. I wonder if you're here. Ah, f*** it. You're here, you ain't here. What the f***'s the difference?

Max Cady:
I am going to teach you the meaning of commitment. Fourteen years ago, I was forced to make a commitment to an eight by nine cell, now you are going to be forced to make a commitment. You could say I'm here to save you.

Max Cady:
[Singing] On Jordan's stormy branks I stand! Oh, who will come with me? I am bound for the promised land! I am bound for the promised l-... land! I am bound for the promised land!

Danielle Bowden:
My reminiscence: I always thought that for such a lovely river the name was mystifying, Cape Fear, when the only thing to fear on those enchanted summer nights was that the magic would end and real life would come crashing in.

Danielle Bowden:
We never spoke about what happened, at least not to each other. Fear, I suppose, that to remember his name and what he did would mean letting him into our dreams. And me, I hardly dream about him anymore. Still, things won't ever be the way they were before he came. But that's alright because if you hang onto the past you die a little every day. And for myself, I know I'd rather live. [whispers] The end.