''Fear Is the Key'' is a 1972 British action thriller film directed by

Michael Tuchner Michael John Tuchner (24 June 1932 – 17 February 2017) was a British film and theatre director. Born in Berlin, to German-Jewish parents, he was seven years old when his family moved to Britain with the rise of the Nazis. He eventually re ...

and based on the 1961 novel of the same title by

Alistair MacLean Alistair Stuart MacLean ( gd, Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a 20th-century Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably '' The ...

. It stars Barry Newman and

Suzy Kendall Suzy Kendall (born Freda Harriet Harrison; 1 January 1937 ) is a British retired actress best known for her film roles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Personal life Born in Belper, Derbyshire, Kendall attended Derby & District College of A ...

, with supporting roles by

John Vernon John Keith Vernon (born Adolphus Raymondus Vernon Agopsowicz; February 24, 1932 February 1, 2005) was a Canadian actor. He made a career in Hollywood after achieving initial television stardom in Canada. He was best known for playing Dean Wormer ...

Dolph Sweet Adolphus Jean Sweet (July 18, 1920 – May 8, 1985) was an American actor, credited with nearly 60 television and film roles and more than 50 roles in stage productions, including performances on Broadway. He often played policemen throughout ...

, and

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

in his feature film debut. The film features a soundtrack by

Roy Budd Roy Frederick Budd (14 March 1947 – 7 August 1993) was a British jazz pianist and composer known for his film scores, including ''Get Carter'' and ''The Wild Geese''. Early life Born in South Norwood, South London, Budd became interested in mu ...

Plot

John Talbot is talking on radio to a woman and a man who is flying a plane. He hears them being machine gunned to death by another plane. Some time later, Talbot appears in a small town in

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where he starts a fight with some local police. He is arrested and faces trial, where it is revealed he is wanted for killing a policeman and robbing a bank. Talbot escapes from the courtroom, shooting another policeman and kidnapping a woman, Sarah Ruthven. A car chase ensues. Talbot and Sarah meet up with a mysterious man, Jablonsky, who reveals that Sarah is the daughter of an oil millionaire. Jablonsky turns Talbot and Sarah over to Sarah's father. A man working for him, Vyland, hires Talbot for an unspecified task. Jablonsky is retained to guard Talbot. It is then revealed that Jablonsky and Talbot know each other and have arranged the whole scenario for an unspecified reason. Late at night, Talbot sneaks out of the house and travels to an oil platform to search for something. When he returns he sees Vyland's henchmen burying something – it is Jablonsky's body. Talbot then sneaks into Sarah's room and makes a confession: all the events up until the present time are part of a scheme. The brawl in the town was to get Talbot into court. The shootout in court was faked; Talbot shot the policeman with blanks. Sarah was invited there deliberately so she could be kidnapped. Everything was set up to get Talbot and Jablonsky into the house. Talbot says her father used his money for a stake in a salvage operation but didn't know about Vyland, and that Sarah and her father are in danger, especially after the death of Jablonsky. Talbot asks Sarah for her help, although he won't say what his plan is or what is going on. Talbot is hired to operate a submersible for an unspecified project. He goes to an oil platform with Sarah, Ruthven, Vyland, Royale and Larry. Talbot deliberately delays the launch of the submersible. Larry begins to suspect Talbot and pulls a gun on him but falls off the platform and dies. With Sarah's help, Talbot then kills another of Vyland's men. He calls for help from the mainland but the authorities cannot fly to the platform because of the storm. He is forced to enter the submersible with Vyland and Royale. The submersible approaches the wreck of a Douglas DC-3. Vyland admits to Talbot he is looking for cargo. Talbot says he knows what the cargo is – over $80 million in uncut diamonds. Talbot then switches off the oxygen and tells Vyland and Royale they will die in six minutes. Talbot says the diamonds were a payment from the Colombian government to buy arms during a revolution. They hired a plane from a small airline, Talbot's, but it was shot down by people who knew what was on the flight. Talbot says the plane contained his brother, his wife and his 3-year-old son. He has planned his revenge over three years. Talbot tells Vyland and Royale he is willing to die on the ocean floor beside his family. He asks who ordered the destruction of the plane. Vyland confesses it was him, which is heard by Talbot's associates on the oil platform via microphone. Royale shoots Vyland dead. He then confesses to killing Jablonsky. Talbot turns on the oxygen and returns to the surface.

Cast

* Barry Newman as John Talbot *

as Sarah Ruthven *

as Vyland *

as Jablonsky *

as Royale *

Ray McAnally Ray McAnally (30 March 1926 – 15 June 1989) was an Irish actor. He was the recipient of three BAFTA Awards in the late 1980s: two BAFTA Film Awards for Best Supporting Actor (for ''The Mission'' in 1986 and ''My Left Foot'' in 1989), and ...

as Ruthven * Peter Marinker as Larry *

Elliott Sullivan Elliott Sullivan (July 4, 1907 – June 2, 1974) was an American actor. Sullivan was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Rabbi Solomon Solomon. He appeared in the films ''They Won't Forget'', '' Over the Wall'', ''Accidents Will Happen'', ' ...

as Judge Mollison * Roland Brand as Deputy *

Tony Anholt Anthony Anholt (19 January 1941 – 26 July 2002) was a British television actor, known for his role as Charles Frere in the BBC drama series '' Howards' Way'' (1985–90). In 1974 he was cast as Mark Colebrook, a crooked architect in ''Contact ...

as FBI Agent * John Alderson as Tanner (uncredited) * James Berwick as (uncredited) * Hal Galili as Cibatti (uncredited) * Ernie Heldman as Bartender (uncredited)

Production

The novel was published in 1961. Film rights were bought by producer

Elliott Kastner Elliott Kastner (January 7, 1930 – June 30, 2010) was an American film producer, whose best known credits include ''Where Eagles Dare'' (1968), '' The Long Goodbye'' (1973), ''The Missouri Breaks'' (1976), and '' Angel Heart'' (1987). Early li ...

who had filmed a number of MacLean novels. MacLean wrote the scripts for the two earlier Kastner films, ''Where Eagles Dare'' and ''Where Eight Bells Toll'' but was too busy to do the script for ''Fear is the Key'' so the job went to Robert Carrington. The car chase was choreographed by Carey Loftin, who had worked on ''Vanishing Point'' which also starred Barry Newman. Newman said he enjoyed making ''Fear is the Key''. "I thought the character that I played was a lovely character for the kind of film it was, an Alistair MacLean story."

Reception

The film was a

box office disappointment A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

in the US but performed better in Europe. It was one of the most popular movies of 1973 at the British box office.

References

External links

* *
Review of film
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''
Film review
at Alistair Maclean.com

at Black Hole Review {{Alistair MacLean 1972 films 1970s crime thriller films British chase films British crime thriller films Films about kidnapping Films about murder British films about revenge Films based on British novels Films based on works by Alistair MacLean Films set in Louisiana Films scored by Roy Budd Treasure hunt films Underwater action films EMI Films films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films