Cape Fear Page #3

Let me continue with the pattern.

On Wednesday,

he was picked up twice...

first on suspicion of burglary,

second on suspicion of grand theft auto.

His new landlord became aware of this

in some manner...

and again Mr Cady

was forced to move.

His present lodgings

are squalid and uncomfortable.

Today is Thursday.

You must be about finished.

For the moment, yes.

Then what is this pattern

you're talking about?

I'm sure Mr Bowden here

is still enough of a lawyer to see it.

My client is an ex-convict.

He's been constantly harassed

by the police...

subjected to extreme mental cruelty

and public degradation.

He's even been denied

an adequate place to live!

To be very blunt, gentlemen,

my client has been thoroughly rousted.

And isn't it also a fact...

that with manpower

as short as you say it is...

that officers

are assigned day and night...

to guarding the premises of one private

individual, your personal friend...

this without any evidence

of danger?

You're referring to my house?

Yes, I am.

Then I ask...

who furnished you

with that information?

Well, I think you will find

that this is a matter of...

common knowledge

in the department.

Grafton,

I want you to listen to this.

I don't owe Sam Bowden

any special favours, nor do I give any.

In each 24 hours, there's been less than

two hours devoted to guarding his house.

I'm prepared to substantiate that.

Now, are you finished?

That depends, gentlemen.

It depends wholly

on the treatment...

that my client receives

from now on.

Come, Mr Cady.

Gentlemen.

I'll see you around, Counsellor.

Now you can see why I wanted you

to hear this, Sam.

I can't do anything more

without an overt act.

Like a neat little murder?

Well, you show me a law

that prevents crime.

All we can do

is act after the fact.

You remember the Hoffman murder?

Before she was killed, Mrs Hoffman

came up here week after week...

telling us that her husband was

going to do it, and I believed it.

But I couldn't arrest the man

for something that might be in his mind.

That's dictatorship.

Sam, you're a citizen.

Would you want it any other way?

Then what am I supposed to do?

Pull up the drawbridge?

Sit home with a loaded gun? Have

the groceries dropped in by airlift?

That's kind of an artificial way

to live, wouldn't you say?

Sam, I'm going to make

a humiliating suggestion...

and it's humiliating for me.

You hire yourself

a private detective.

That's all you can do.

Get Charlie Sievers.

If anyone can dig up

something we can act on, he can.

- Private detective.

- That's right.

I'm not going to go into

the "I am a taxpayer" routine...

but is that the best

you can do?

You're telling me

to hire protection?

It's a hell of a note, isn't it?

Either we have too many laws

or not enough.

Why are we going this way?

Better scenery.

What would you know

about scenery?

Or beauty?

Or any of the things

that really make life worth living?

You're just an animal.

Coarse, lustful...

barbaric.

Keep right on talkin', honey.

I like it when you run me down.

Max Cady.

What I like about you is...

you're rock bottom.

I wouldn't expect you

to understand this...

but it's a great comfort

for a girl to know...

she could not possibly sink

any lower.

Yeah.

Tell me some more

about that time when you were...

queen of

the veiled prophet's ball.

Operator,

Police Department.

Give me Sergeant Elkins.

Hello, Mike.

This is Charlie Sievers.

I'm at the corner

of Sherman and DeSoto.

If you want something

on Max Cady...

he's up in a room with a girl

who just blew into town a few days ago...

Diane Taylor.

He's in the room with her now.

She's over 18, but you can

still get him for lewd vagrancy.

That's the room.

Second floor.

Open up! Open up!

There's a back door open here

and an outside stairway.

Something kind of weird's

happened to her.

I can't get her to spill a thing.

Maybe you can.

Miss Taylor?

You're probably hurt

worse than you realize.

Would you like me to get a doctor?

My name is Charlie Sievers.

I'm a private detective.

I can help you.

No need to take

a beating like this lying down.

A man like that has no right

to walk around free.

You've got the law on your side.

Why not use it?

No one blames you

for being afraid of Max Cady.

This one's different,

and you know it.

He beat you up tonight.

He'll probably do it again

tomorrow night.

He might even kill you.

Let me take you down

to the homicide bureau.

I'll show you photographs

of girls...

who got mixed up

with men like Cady...

and, Miss Taylor,

it'll make you sick.

But you'll realize

how lucky you are to be alive.

Why not protect yourself?

Hello?

Could you send

a taxicab promptly...

to the corner

of Sherman and DeSoto?

I want to go to the bus station.

Right.

Quick, please.

Leave town if you have to,

and as I said, no one will blame you.

But before you go,

help us put this man away.

All you have to do is come to police

headquarters and sign a complaint.

Won't you do that?

If not for your sake,

for somebody else's?

Protect myself?

Nobody can protect themselves

against a man like that.

I'm scared.

- You can't help me.

- But I can.

You file an assault charge,

and Cady will get six months in jail.

Six months.

And after that?

When he walked out of this room...

he said...

he said to consider this

only a sample.

And from my limited knowledge

of human nature...

Max Cady isn't a man

who makes idle threats.

Anyway, you said

you weren't a policeman.

What do you want?

I have a client... Mr Bowden.

Mr Sam Bowden.

Cady has threatened

his wife and his daughter.

Never mind the reasons.

Mr Bowden is worried,

and I can't blame him.

You know Cady.

You believe that I could ever...

ever...

in my whole life...

step up and repeat...

to another living soul...

what that man...

what he did?

What about my family?

I'm someone's daughter too.

What about the newspapers

in my home town?

Do you think I could bear

to have them read about...

I'm afraid I got you here

for nothing.

She won't talk, and she's

leaving town on the next bus.

This is Mr Bowden.

Once more, before it's too late,

would you reconsider?

I'm sorry.

Really, I'm sorry.

So what do we do next?

Drop tailing him.

You're wasting your money.

He expected to be covered.

And anytime he wants to shake loose,

he'll figure a way.

Then what do you suggest?

Change his mind.

Get in touch

with a guy named Jepson.

Alex Jepson.

He's got some rough friends

along the waterfront...

and for the right price...

Are you kidding?

- I can't consider that.

- Okay.

So you're a lawyer

and you believe in due process.

But it's your family,

not mine.

A type like that is an animal...

so you've got to fight him

like an animal.

That's my advice.

When can we have one like that?

It's on our fiscal program

for the year 1980.

- What's "fiscal"?

- That's what we haven't got.

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