This National Film Board of Canada produced documentary is in the grand tradition of quirky Canadian nonfiction cinema (a category that includes PROJECT GRIZZLY and CARTS OF DARKNESS). Occurring during the late 1970s, when daredevil stunts were all the rage, it centers on the late Ken Carter (1938-1983), a.k.a. Kenneth Polsjek, a.k.a. “The Mad Canadian,” a Montreal stunt driver determined to jump a rocket-fueled car across a mile-wide stretch of river—a stunt so dangerous that no less an authority than Evel Knievel called it “the daredevil stunt that might end all daredevil stunts.”
Speaking of Evel Knievel, he’s also the subject of the more recent doco STUNTMAN, released on Disney Plus in July, 2021. It chronicles the efforts of stuntman Eddie Braun to pull off Knievel’s failed attempt at rocketing over Idaho’s Snake River Canyon (footage of which is included in THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS), standing as a 21st Century companion-piece to the present film—which, in any event, is superior.
Narrated by Gordon Pinsent, THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS begins with Carter jumping a ‘64 Chevy 135 feet, and injuring himself severely. We’re filled in on his Montreal-set background, the most interesting portion of which involved Carter dropping out of school at age 14 to pursue his dream of becoming a stunt driver. His early attempts were unspectacular, but he didn’t give up, and attained enormous success as a travelling showman. But Carter yearns to “amaze the world” via a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental (not the most aerodynamically sound car) he dubs Captain America, with which he hopes to make a 260 mph jump across the St. Lawrence Seaway that connects Canada and the United States.
The realization of this dream entails a five year odyssey fraught with disappointments and false starts caused by a perpetual lack of funds, malfunctioning engines, negative press coverage, unreliable crewmembers, bad weather and an intrusive Hollywood film crew (as Pinsent’s narration states, “It never occurred to Hollywood that Ken Carter’s real life is more bizarre than anything they could imagine”). Yet Carter perseveres, constructing a runway and 1,400 foot takeoff ramp in Morrisburg, Ontario. Ultimately Kenny Powers, a stunt driver colleague, ends up attempting the jump in late 1979, and in so doing (SPOILER ALERT!) demonstrates why it was a bad idea to begin with.
Filmmaker Robert Fortier (who’d already profiled Ken Carter in the 1976 short THE MAD CANADIAN) skillfully covers this sad yet curiously inspirational saga from start to nail-biting finish, while providing appropriately cynical commentary. That commentary may be a bit too prominent, with Gordon Pinsent’s voice being so ever-present its verbiage often feels closer to an extended monologue than descriptive narration, although that annoyance gradually fades as the film’s underlying power takes hold.
Narratively the proceedings are impeccable, yet they also have an introspective side. Much screen time is given over to discussions of what fuels the daredevil spirit (with fellow stunt driver Tom Barry touting the “psychic ecstasy” that comes from attempting impossible stunts) and of Ken’s own psychological make-up, with he viewing himself in a schizophrenic light, his personality divided into the fearless Carter and the more circumspect Polsjek. Fortier also includes a great deal of car stunt footage in the form of jumps, drag racing and verite test runs for the St. Lawrence River jump, presented in both wide and driver POV shots. Quite simply, this film delivers.
Ken Carter, for the record, died on September 5, 1983, while attempting another rocket-powered car jump. The location was a pond in Peterborough, Ontario, where Carter was killed when his vehicle flipped and landed on its roof. Footage of that jump is included in the 2013 CHEX TV documentary KEN CARTER—STUNT MAN TO THE END, which isn’t up to the standards set by THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS but as an addendum works fine.
Vital Statistics
THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS
The National Film Board of Canada
Director: Robert Fortier
Producer: Adam Symansky, Bill Brind, Robert Fortier
Screenplay (narration): David Wilson, Charles Lazar
Cinematography: Barry Perles
Editing: Robert Fortier
Cast: Gordon Pinsent, Ken Carter, Jim Deist, Robert Fortier, Kenny Powers, Evel Knievel, Dar Robinson, Mark Sennet, Don Branker, Tom Barry
