Editing Cape Fear (1962 film) (section)

===Filming===
Principal photography of ''Cape Fear'' began on April 6 and ended in June 1961. Thompson envisioned the film in black and white, believing that shooting the film in color would lessen the atmosphere. As an [[Alfred Hitchcock]] fan, he wanted to have [[Hitchcockian]] elements in the film, such as unusual lighting angles, an eerie musical score, closeups, and subtle hints rather than graphic depictions of the violence Cady has in mind for the family. Hitchcock collaborators [[Robert F. Boyle]] and [[George Tomasini]] served as production designer and editor, and his regular composer [[Bernard Herrmann]] wrote the score.
 
The outdoor scenes were filmed on location in [[Savannah, Georgia]]; [[Stockton, California]]; and the Universal Studios backlot at [[Universal City, California]]. The indoor scenes were done at Universal Studios Soundstage. Mitchum had a real-life aversion to Savannah, where as a teenager, he had been charged with vagrancy and put on a [[chain gang]]. This resulted in a number of the outdoor scenes being shot at Ladd's Marina in Stockton, including the culminating conflict on the houseboat at the end of the movie.

The scene in which Mitchum attacks Polly Bergen's character on the houseboat was almost completely improvised.{{citation needed|date=January 2016}} Before the scene was filmed, Thompson suddenly told a crew member: "Bring me a dish of eggs!" Mitchum's rubbing the eggs on Bergen was not scripted and Bergen's reactions were real. She also suffered back injuries from being knocked around so much. She felt the impact of the "attack" for days.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Mitchum The Reluctant Star (DVD)|year=2009|publisher=Janson Media|location=Harrington Park}}</ref>  While filming the scene, Mitchum cut open his hand, leading Bergen to recall: "his hand was covered in blood, my back was covered in blood. We just kept going, caught up in the scene. They came over and physically stopped us."<ref name="jeff stafford">{{cite web|last=Stafford|first=Jeff|title=Cape Fear|url= https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70207/cape-fear#articles-reviews|work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]|publisher=Turner Entertainment Networks|access-date=October 26, 2024}}</ref>

In the source novel ''[[The Executioners (MacDonald novel)|The Executioners]]'', by [[John D. MacDonald]], Cady was a soldier [[court-martial]]ed and convicted on then Lieutenant Bowden's testimony for the brutal rape of a 14-year-old girl. The censors stepped in, banned the use of the word "rape", and stated that depicting Cady as a soldier reflected adversely on U.S. military personnel.{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}