What do you do when a criminal — a violent man who seeks revenge — turns up after fourteen years and menaces you and your entire family?
Sam Bowden’s testimony had helped put Max Cady, a rapist, behind bars during World War II. Now Cady appeared out of nowhere in the small town where the Bowdens led their leisurely life. Cady was doing nothing criminal. But he pointedly admired Sam’s fourteen-year-old daughter, and Sam remembered vividly another fourteen-year-old, the whimpering girl he had seen Cady brutally assault.
Cady started appearing wherever the Bowdens were, but the sidewalks are free to the public. And the tension continued to mount.
What do you do when the criminal breaks no laws, eludes the private detective you have hired to shadow him, and the police are powerless to throw him out of town, or stop his war of nerves on you?
Sam Bowden’s approach to his profession — the law — was one of dedication and ethics, and he did his best to adhere to the code he believed in. Suddenly the code stopped working. The law simply did not protect one against verbal threats, and Cady was too shrewd an operator to go beyond them. Furthermore, he relished the squirmings of his potential victims. Then he did act, sadistically, and still Sam had nothing with which to jail him. It was enough of a warning, though, to convince Sam Bowden that Cady was now ready to strike in earnest.
What do you do when the law cannot help you and your very existence is in immediate danger?
Do you become the law?
Description:
What do you do when a criminal — a violent man who seeks revenge — turns up after fourteen years and menaces you and your entire family? Sam Bowden’s testimony had helped put Max Cady, a rapist, behind bars during World War II. Now Cady appeared out of nowhere in the small town where the Bowdens led their leisurely life. Cady was doing nothing criminal. But he pointedly admired Sam’s fourteen-year-old daughter, and Sam remembered vividly another fourteen-year-old, the whimpering girl he had seen Cady brutally assault. Cady started appearing wherever the Bowdens were, but the sidewalks are free to the public. And the tension continued to mount. What do you do when the criminal breaks no laws, eludes the private detective you have hired to shadow him, and the police are powerless to throw him out of town, or stop his war of nerves on you? Sam Bowden’s approach to his profession — the law — was one of dedication and ethics, and he did his best to adhere to the code he believed in. Suddenly the code stopped working. The law simply did not protect one against verbal threats, and Cady was too shrewd an operator to go beyond them. Furthermore, he relished the squirmings of his potential victims. Then he did act, sadistically, and still Sam had nothing with which to jail him. It was enough of a warning, though, to convince Sam Bowden that Cady was now ready to strike in earnest. What do you do when the law cannot help you and your very existence is in immediate danger? Do you become the law?