Cape Fear is a 1962 film starring Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Martin Balsam and Polly Bergen. It was adapted by James R. Webb from the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson, and released on April 12, 1962. The movie concerns an attorney whose family is stalked by a criminal he helped to send to jail. Cape Fear was remade in 1991 by Martin Scorsese. Peck, Mitchum and Balsam all appeared in the remake. After spending eight years in prison for rape, Max Cady (Robert Mitchum) is released. He promptly tracks down Sam Bowden (Gregory Peck), a Georgia lawyer whom he holds personally responsible for his conviction because Sam interrupted his attack and also testified. Cady begins to stalk and subtly threaten Bowden's family. He murders the Bowden family dog, though Sam cannot prove this. A friend of Bowden's, police chief Mark Dutton (Martin Balsam), attempts to intervene on his behalf, but he cannot prove Cady guilty of any crime. Bowden hires Charlie Sievers (Telly Savalas), a private detective.