Cape Fear (1962): Robert Mitchum’s Straw Hat and Striped Tee as Max Cady
Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962)
Vitals
Robert Mitchum as Max Cady, psychopathic ex-convict
Southeast Georgia, Summer 1962
Film: Cape Fear
Release Date: June 15, 1962
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Costume Designer: Mary Wills
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
With the latest adaptation of Cape Fear earning strong reviews on Apple TV+, let’s look back to the release of the original film sixty-four years ago today on June 15, 1962. Adapted from John D. MacDonald’s suspense novel The Executioners, the first Cape Fear stars Gregory Peck as Southern attorney Sam Bowden and Robert Mitchum in a chilling performance as Max Cady, a psychotic ex-convict who, upon his release after serving eight years for sexual assault, sets out to exact revenge on the man he believes responsible for his incarceration.
Director J. Lee Thompson cited Alfred Hitchcock as a major influence on Cape Fear, which was photographed in black-and-white to heighten its atmosphere of dread and suspense. Much of the film was shot on location in Savannah, Georgia, though several outdoor sequences were relocated to Ladd’s Marina in Stockton, California, in part because Mitchum—who had been arrested for vagrancy as a teenager in Savannah and sentenced to a chain gang—had little desire to return there.
Nearly three decades later, Martin Scorsese helmed a 1991 remake starring Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro as Bowden and Cady, respectively, though the 1962 version cast members Peck, Mitchum, and Martin Balsam all returned to portray different characters.
What’d He Wear?
For a brief seaside confrontation between Sam Bowden and Max Cady, Robert Mitchum wears a cotton T-shirt horizontally block-striped in white and gray. With its wide boat neck and prominent horizontal stripes, Cady’s shirt reflects a nautical pedigree dating to the Breton stripes famously pioneered for French Navy sailors from the mid-19th century onward. Mitchum wears the full-length sleeves rolled and pushed up well above his elbows like a short-sleeved shirt.
Although J. Lee Thompson intentionally filmed Cape Fear in black-and-white, enough color photography exists from the production to clearly indicate the colors in Max Cady’s costume from this scene.
Cady tucks the shirt into mid-gray tropical wool slacks, tailored with a long rise to Mitchum’s natural waist. Rigged with three-button adjuster tabs on each side of the waist, the trouser waistband closes through a hidden hook on the square-ended extended front tab. Styled with slightly slanted side pockets and jetted back pockets, the trousers follow contemporary trends by fitting roomy through the hips and thighs then gently tapering down to the bottoms, which are finished with turn-ups (cuffs).
We only get a brief glimpse at Cady’s low shoes, which appear to have black uppers and soft rubber soles. As they’re clearly not the two-tone spectator wingtips he wears in most other scenes, I haven’t seen better angles than this quick shot on screen.
Cady wears his usual light natural straw Panama hat, styled like a fedora with its prominently pinched crown and a wide black silk band—itself banded by two narrow white stripes. His wristwatch is Mitchum’s own personal stainless steel Rolex Datejust with its silver dial, “Cyclops” date window magnification, and matching steel Jubilee bracelet.
What to Imbibe
The All-American St. Louis-brewed Budweiser lager is Max Cady’s preferred on-screen brew, from long-necked bottles at the bowling alley to cans here at the marina. However, the King of Beers isn’t Cady’s exclusive choice, as he’s nursing a bottle of Busch Bavarian beer when Bowden has him arrested on suspicion.
How to Get the Look
Robert Mitchum as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962)
Robert Mitchum models a near-perfect classic casual seaside look in his straw hat and striped boat-neck shirt—neither of which are necessarily easy for most men to pull off, but Mitchum makes it work with his characteristic insouciance.
- Gray-and-white horizontal block-striped long-sleeved boat-neck T-shirt
- Mid-gray tropical wool double reverse-pleated trousers with button-tab side adjusters, slanted side pockets, jetted back pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
- Black low shoes with soft rubber outsoles
- Light straw Panama hat with pinched crown and black and white double-striped silk band
- Rolex Datejust with stainless steel case, silver dial with 3:00 date window, and steel five-piece link Jubilee bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
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