Cape Fear River, river in central and southeastern North Carolina, U.S., formed by the confluence of the Deep and Haw rivers along the boundary between Chatham and Lee counties. It flows generally southeast past Fayetteville, Elizabethtown, and Wilmington and enters the Atlantic Ocean at Southport, opposite Smith Island, after a course of about 200 miles (320 km). The chief tributary, the South River, joins the Cape Fear River just above the latter’s estuary. The southern portion of the estuary forms part of the Intracoastal Waterway. A series of locks and dams makes the river navigable from Wilmington to Fayetteville. The river is named for Cape Fear, at the southern tip of Smith Island, the site of dangerous shoals. The river and its region are the setting for the popular Hollywood film noir Cape Fear (originally made in 1962 and remade in 1991), which is based on the novel The Executioner (1958) by John MacDonald.