MovieChat Forums > Cape Fear (1962) Discussion > Why Did Diane Taylor Go On Date With Cad...

Why Did Diane Taylor Go On Date With Cady?

posted 15 years ago by louis-king
16 replies | jump to latest

She catches his eye while she's with another guy at a bar. She sees him get taken away by the police for questioning, so she must know he's not a nice guy. While the police escort him out of the bar, Cady pauses next to her, tells her he's trying to pick her up, and tells her to get rid of her friend in an hour.

She and Cady go to a hotel where he rapes and beats the crap out of her, scaring her so bad she winds up leaving town, not signing a complaint against Cady.

Diane Taylor seemed like a woman with a lot of experience with men. Didn't her instincts warn her against going out with a man like Cady? The guy she was with at the bar looked a bit boring, but at least he was safe.

[–] scamper67 15 years ago

Yeah she knew he was dangerous, she said so while they were in the car, maybe she was foolish enough to think it would be different with her, that she could handle it, plus, lets admit it ladies, the guy is smokin hot.

As for not reporting him, she was afraid of what he would do when he was out of jail in six months and with very good reason, in fact that's the one time where she showed any sense. It wouldn't have helped Bowden anyway, Cady would have just went right back to pursuing his family when he was released.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] joekeck7 15 years ago

I think you guys have a bit to learn about women. it BEAUSE he was dangerous that she went with him! There's something in women that get them sizzling at guys like that. With guys, it's the trashy girl. With women, it's the dangerous guy. This was expressed by a woman I knew she said, "I want a man I'm just a little bit afraid of." That pretty much tells it all. Even the women that will say they would never go for a guy like that, and really (think they) mean it, they might be gifted with enough wisdom to hold back, but they are definitely intrigued.

Yeah scaper67, you're right. He's smokin' hot, but it's not because he has a pretty face!

As far as Diane Taylor, I think the movie well implies he did some unspeakable things to her in the motel. THAT is why she was scared. It was a bit Pavlovian, I think.

[–] agera 15 years ago

You answered your own question.

"...she must know he's not a nice guy."

[–] dbre 13 years ago

I think she was a prostitute. They called her a drifter in the movie but this was back in the '60's and they weren't going to let the movie pass with him going with a prostitute even though it was completely in character for him. After all he offered the woman in the bowling alley money (today's equivalent of about $200) even though he knew she was married. This is probably another reason she wasn't going to testify. The movie was pretty subtle on the issue but this is how it appeared to me.

Another clue I picked up that had me wondering was the woman's name. Her name was Taylor and back then Elizabeth Taylor was making a name for herself playing prostitutes. I thought that was an interesting coincidence and maybe a clue to the viewer that this woman was one also

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BoyWiththeGreenHair 10 years ago

What's even weirder is that the family dog's name is Marilyn, and the film is released only a year after Marilyn Monroe's suicide. Were there even people back then who believed that Marilyn had been murdered through poisoning? lol

[–] sfordscott 10 years ago

Marilyn was the dog's name in the 1957 novel the film was based on.

[–] BoyWiththeGreenHair 10 years ago

There goes that theory haha - although its still a weird coincidence, lol.

Was Diane Taylor a figure in the book as well?

[–] mason22 10 years ago

Bingo, "dbre." She was a prostitute who recently began working the town. They had to be a bit more delicate and indirect with such matters in a mainstream film in 62'.

[–] pjglynndoora 13 years ago

She found Cady attractive, as he was, in her words, "rock bottom".

[–] hollyjoy13 13 years ago

So did they have sex before he raped her and beat her up? I don't understand why she was fake sleeping. Didn't she go to the hotel with him knowing they were going to have sex? It doesn't make sense for her to get all undressed in her teddy and then pretend to sleep. I'm wondering if they actually did it and then when he didn't leave she pretended to sleep. He wanted more so he raped her and beat her up?

[–] honeylocs 12 years ago

She was a bad girl looking for a bad boy. They had sex, but for Cady, that wasn't enough. He'd been jailed before for a vicious rape, he liked to terrorize. Rape is not about sex, but about terror, power, and control. That's what his personality was about.

[–] BoyWiththeGreenHair 10 years ago

I was confused about the situation as well. I guess a passage of time is supposed to be indicated between the phone call being placed and the actual rape scene.

I think you gave about as good an explanation as I could figure - I guess they could only let on to so much, at the time (it was only two years prior that Janet Leigh broke ground by appearing in a two piece slip on a bed), but they must have had intercourse and then instead of leaving he raped her in order to threaten Sam.

As for the fake sleeping, she seemed familiar enough with men to be able to read into his body language and figure what he was about to do. But, she didn't figure out that this wasn't just a "bad boy act" until it was too late.

[–] pjglynndoora 10 years ago

Just one minor point: Janet Leigh wore a bra and slip on the bed in Psycho, not a two-piece slip.

[–] nimmy1 10 years ago

Because she's a woman and women do stupid things like that.

Only those with no valid argument pick holes in people's spelling and grammar. 