It’s a pleasure to put neglected work in front of a new audience; classic 1972 thriller Fear is the Key is a film that really deserves to be brought to the attention of the John Wick crowd. A hard-core black-ops specialist, heartbroken by personal tragedy, sets out to extract personal and professional revenge against the syndicate he believes responsible; the notes are similar, but this adaptation of Alistair Maclean’s 1962 novel plays them in a different order, and the effect is striking.
An ingenious soft-opening sees Talbot (Barry Newman) cut off mid-conversation with a radio-connection; only when you know the whole story do you understand what he was listening to. We then jump forward three years, and Talbot is on the lam. He hits a dive, a red-neck bar, and demands bourbon on a Sunday; arrested and taken to court to be charged, he escapes, taking a hostage Sarah Ruthven (Suzy Kendall) and stealing a car before embarking on a marathon car-chase as he aims to shake off the authorities.
What’s Talbot doing? Has he lost his mind? He behaves like a sociopath, but there’s method in his madness. Michael Tuchner’s film plays like a Bond movie, if the Bond movies ever considered Ian Fleming’s writings as source material; it’s lean, cynical, caustic and keeps you guessing as to the motives of all the characters. Sarah is the daughter of a millionaire, who happens to have invested in lucrative salvage operations; why was she at the courtroom that day? What drives Talbot’s rampage? And what are the motives of the sinister Vyland (John Vernon) and his henchman (Ben Kingsley)?
For once, the action is the key; reuniting Newman with a team that brought his classic Vanishing Point car-chases to life, Fear is the Key has some rip-snorting, kinetic sequences that turn out to have a clever purpose; As Talbot’s bright red 1972 Gran Torino navigates the board-walks and river-beds of Louisiana, we slowly realise that he’s putting on a show to convince Sarah that he’s the baddest of bas-asses. So when things settle down to a more sedate pace, we’re still as breathless as she is, and trying to work out if Talbot is on the ‘side of the angels’ as he puts it, or not.
Newman is great here in double denim, sneering at the authorities and very much his own man, while Kendal does well with Sarah’s haughtiness. This is a stripped down story of professional killers, circling each other like sharks, and with super widescreen photography and a rousing jazz-funk/funk jazz fusion score by Roy Budd, the film doesn’t feel dated at all. A remake or reboot has been mooted, and has potential to start a franchise; John Wick did it in style, but Maclean got there first; setting a tough oil-rig expert against ruthless criminals makes for one cinematic universe that’s really well worth expanding…
Thanks to Studio Canal for access to this title.
A stone-cold classic. Hope there is a remake. The chases here are fantastic and the story is a belter.
Totally agree with all points!
I’m intrigued. A Bond story with a touch of Wick? That’s a recipe for a fantastic flick! But how’s the action compared to how Reeves’ performance? Do they actually put in legit choreographic work to make the action sequences worthwhile on the silver screen? Great review. Will keep an eye out for this director and this movie!
This is car-fu rather than knife fu or horse fu, but the main character would give Wick a run for his money…
When you said John Wick, I felt tingles.
It really does have that grim, determined feel. Not much Kung-fu, but big on car chases…
vrooom. i like that!
Like a car! Yes!
NICE! I LOVE IT!
It’s a winner!
I LOVED MacClean’s books (see how I cleverly butchered the name there? I learned that from this guy I know. He taught me everything about butchering names 😉 ) Back in highschool I devoured them as our library had a lot of them and what they didn’t my dad did. I thought they were the best things ever.
I tried a couple of years ago to re-read them as a slightly more mature man. They held up about as well as Louis L’amour’s westerns 🙁 Sometimes we change enough that we can’t go back and our entertainment habits reflect this more honestly than our minds.
Now that Wick exists, I do wonder if books/movies like this stand a chance. They’ll be compared to Wick, no matter that their source material is as old as Reeves 😀 I wouldn’t mind some more like this redone if they were standalones. Tell ONE story and tell it well. Then move on.
“Bookstuge”
Right, when I first saw this on, at about 11, I was mesmerised because I had no idea what I was looking at, you’ll never get that kind of energy in a franchise picture. These books were of their time, but work better as cinema today. Thanks! -flim authouriti!
On a serious side, how do you play the comedy routine so well with all of your commenters? I can handle it with you on my blog, but there is no way I’d have the energy for multiple streams of comedy’ness.
You are special, obviously, but when I had the website build, I was keen to give lots of space and prominence to the comments, because that’s the best bit of blogging!
Comments are definitely the best! I agree with that 200%…
Yup.
There’s comedy here??? 😳
Plans are underway for actual comedic content by 2029. Watch this space.
I’m agog.
Huh, I could have sworn you were Fraggle!
Yes, I am, but agog is my assumedenomdeplume.
*wipes brow*
Good to know. For a second there I thought I might be going crazy.
Zing!
😉
It’s salt of the earth people like you who keep Film Authority’s head from completely swelling up. Lord knows I do my humble best, but he’s more than one man can handle alone.
Oh I’m not into handling men, not without gloves anyhoo, most distasteful, you’re on your own with that.
As long as you keep “noping”, that’s all that is needed….
That’s a given!
Now this is exactly the kind of badinage that, while I was busy driving, I find going on behind my back. Did Rodger Ebert have to deal with this kind of behaviour going on when he wrote his reviews? I think not.
Rodger?? 😳🙄 sigh.
That was a joke! Comedy! Right here, right now! -sigh.
Awwww.
Fail.
It’ll take a few years before the gags start landing…
When I was about 15 or 16, give or take a year or so, I actually read the book this movie was based on. I obviously can’t remember much about it, but I do know that I enjoyed it. And…I never even realised there was a movie until reading this. This once again totally sounds like my cup of tea again. Even though there are no black speedboats in this…(or are there??) That said…whatever happened to the delivery of those? Were they taken?🤔🤔
Great post! Have a good weekend !😊
As Tom Cruise says in Mission Impossible, I’m working on it…
Haha….well that’s a good thing to hear😂 I will try to keep a look out for the helicopters in my twelfth floor appartment 😊
Make sure you have your Condorman suit ready!
As someone very famous in a movie once said: I was born ready! 😂😂
I had to check that out; think John Carpenter lifted it from John Wayne!
Lol…you may even be right 😂😂😂
For a moment I thought that said Condomman. Sorry 🤣🤣
That’s very intuitive, I nearly mis-typed as exactly what you wrote!
I had a ‘thing’ for Barry Newman when he played Petrocelli, but the only movie of his I’ve seen is Vanishing Point, only saw it last year and really enjoyed it so this sounds up my street.
Oh yes, this is almost like a Vanishing Point sequel; Newman is DRIVEN in this film. Was a Petrocelli fan too, back in the day, he never finished that house! And he’s a double-denim master for sure…
Your inability to spell names is an ongoing problem then? 🤣🤣🤣
Ha, I’ve fixed it! Thanks! Always keen to hear from fans of Bari Neuman, Been Kingsli and Jon Vernoon, all of them are great in this film Feer is the Quay…
And don’t forget Rachel!
Rachel Wales is never forgotten, she’s up there with Ursola Undress and Jina Lollobriggia as a 60’s icon…
I grew up reading all these MacLean novels. But I’ve seen very few of the movie adaptations. I’d love to check this out.
I’m a fan of the author, and the genre. This is a good place to start….