Reading other reviews, I'm wondering if I've watched the same film. For me, 'Fear is the Key' is bitty, confusing and illogical. Even as a product of its 1972 origin, it's a very poor offering. I have trouble believing that the novel on which it's based isn't rather better.
The action is frequently ridiculous, the lengthy car chase being one of the more implausible elements, while the characters are wooden, the dialogue banal and the direction seriously weak, with too much style and too little substance. The plot itself is obscure and the 'twist' is obvious from very early on. Only at the very end is there anything that approximates to tension or suspense or, indeed, a scene that lasts for any length of time with reasonable dialogue.
John Vernon plays a the archetypal villain, but hardly seems enthused by his role, Barry Newman the hero who is on a mission and tackling a whole gang of crooks single-handed. Suzy Kendall provides the female interest, doing very little while looking terrified most of the time she's on screen, which isn't much.
Altogether it adds up to a pretty dreadful film. It's one I would not bother watching again and rather regret the time wasted in watching it at all. There are far better films of similar type from the same era and I'm far from surprised that this one has been largely forgotten.
The action is frequently ridiculous, the lengthy car chase being one of the more implausible elements, while the characters are wooden, the dialogue banal and the direction seriously weak, with too much style and too little substance. The plot itself is obscure and the 'twist' is obvious from very early on. Only at the very end is there anything that approximates to tension or suspense or, indeed, a scene that lasts for any length of time with reasonable dialogue.
John Vernon plays a the archetypal villain, but hardly seems enthused by his role, Barry Newman the hero who is on a mission and tackling a whole gang of crooks single-handed. Suzy Kendall provides the female interest, doing very little while looking terrified most of the time she's on screen, which isn't much.
Altogether it adds up to a pretty dreadful film. It's one I would not bother watching again and rather regret the time wasted in watching it at all. There are far better films of similar type from the same era and I'm far from surprised that this one has been largely forgotten.