Holland has been a state prosecutor for 27 years and joined What Happens Next to talk through Cape Fear, whose plot turns on an ex-con stalking his own defence attorney. The host asked why you hear about witnesses being threatened but almost never prosecutors. Holland has also run a cold case division, where witnesses dying, moving away or losing their memories is the central problem.
Robert Mitchen was in jail in real life. He was arrested at 14 for vagrancy and it was like a hobo, like hopping freight cars. So he clearly was able to call on real life experience to play this guy.
You hear stuff about beating up witnesses, paying off the jury, but we don't hear that the mob goes after prosecutors and their families. Why is that?
It's not really that effective to go after a prosecutor because guess what? There's a million prosecutors and somebody else can just be handed the file, right? It's a lot more effective to go after a witness who's going to get up on the stand and point the finger at you. That's more effective because without that person, you have less evidence. As long as you're just on the up and up, I think defendants kind of recognize that you're not the problem.
Originally for the 1962 film, Bernard Herrman wrote the musical score that is omnipresent in the Cape Fear film, particularly during scary moments. Elmer Bernstein alters it slightly for the 91 film.
I think the music is very effective right from the beginning. It gives a mood. You're immediately put on edge. Like it's suspenseful, dark, foreboding, right? And you know it's foreshadowing all the bad things that are about to happen.
Bernard Herman, who did the original Cape Fear theme song, was also the musical composer for several Hitchcock movies, such as Psycho.