Entertainment

Cult Movie: Fear Is The Key a 'pacy, punchy and slickly plotted' American road movie classic

Barry Newman stars in Fear Is The Key
Barry Newman stars in Fear Is The Key Barry Newman stars in Fear Is The Key

Fear Is The Key

THE thriller novels of Alistair MacLean have been given the Hollywood treatment on plenty of occasions. While much love has been dished out for the likes of The Guns Of Navarone (1961) and Where Eagles Dare (1968), little affection has been given to Fear Is The Key. A novel from 1961, it finally got the big screen make-over courtesy of director Michael Tuchner in 1972; as slick, road trip movies go, it's better than most.

It stars Barry Newman, who many of my vintage remember as the hard grafting do-gooder Petrocelli on telly, but who the keepers of the cult flame will always revere for his lead role in the 1971 psych-out classic Vanishing Point.

Just like that frazzled road tripping epic, Fear Is The Key sees Newman getting behind the wheel and flooring the pedal as he races across America's back roads with the law constantly on his tail.

This time out, Newman is Talbot and unlike the mostly freewheeling Vanishing Point, this has a plot to die for.

We first see our enigmatic main man as he talks back on a radio transmitter to a plane that's being shot out of the sky. The plane contains Talbot's family and from there on in he's a driven man, in more ways than one.

We next see him raising hell in Louisiana and when his cop baiting antics see him wind up in front of the local judge he pulls a gun, shoots a cop dead in the court room and does a runner grabbing the daughter of a local oil baron (played by the beautiful Suzy Kendall) on his way out as a hostage.

From there, a crazy and hugely technically impressive car chase across the banks of the Mississippi ensues that lasts for an incredible 13 full minutes, all sound tracked by a super funky score from the great Roy 'Get Carter' Budd.

From there Talbot – a man who admits he has "nothing to lose" – locates the business men who are seeking to make a profit from the cargo that shot down airplane was carrying, and corruption and double dealing await on every sweaty street corner.

Aside from the marvellously moody central performance from Newman, there are fine roles for excellent character actors like John Vernon and Ray McAnally and even a debut from a very young Ben Kingsley as an almost silent villain. Oddly enough, he dropped out of view on cinema screens after this, only reappearing when the career defining role of Ghandi came calling.

As a pure slice of 1970s escapism, there's much to savour in Fear Is The Key. While things slow down after that frantic opening chase sequence, there's still much to enjoy in a film that feels like a classic American road movie but which also benefits from having all its interior scenes being shot in England. There's a quality in production on show throughout that simply can't be matched by similar American releases of the same era.

Pacy, punchy and slickly plotted it deserves a much better reputation than it currently enjoys.