Tryon Fine Arts Center presents the 1962 psychological thriller “Cape Fear” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 17 in the auditorium. Cape Fear, starring Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck and Polly Bergen, is a story of revenge in a remote setting, actually filmed in Savannah, Ga. Though not for the faint of heart, the film serves as an example of the quality and creativity that Hollywood invested in its great films of the 1960s.

 

The movie was directed by Britain’s J. Lee-Thompson (“The Guns of Navarone”) from a screenplay by James L. Webb. New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther said this has a “tough, tight script and … directed in a steady and starkly sinister style. There is no waste motion, no fooling. Everything is sharp and direct. Menace quivers in the picture like a sneaky electrical charge.”

 

Of the acting Crowther said, “Mr. Mitchum plays the villain with the cheekiest, wickedest arrogance and the most relentless aura of sadism that he has ever managed to generate. Mr. Peck is taut and tenacious, Polly Bergen is jittery as his wife and Lori Martin does some admirable racing through a couple of real displays of screaming terror as the child.” The colorful, terse cast includes Martin Balsam as a tough police official, Barrie Chase as the barroom girl and Jack Kruschen as the defense lawyer for the villain.

 

Interestingly, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and Martin Balsam all appeared in supporting roles almost 30 years later in the 1991 version of the film.

 

This is the second in TFAC’s spring series of movies from the 1960s. They are screened on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Tickets are available at the door, beginning at 6:30 p.m. on the evening of the show. The film begins at 7 p.m. Concessions are available for purchase. For the season schedule, visit tryonarts.org or call 828-859-8322.

 

Other movies in the spring 2015 series include: “Hot Millions” on April 7;

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” on April 21 (with the series gala beginning at 6 p.m.); “Blow Up” on May 5; and “Easy Rider” on May 19.

 

– Submitted by Frances Flynn