The Stunt Driver

You've likely never heard of Ken Carter, a.k.a. "The Mad Canadian". A stunt man who worked from the 1960s into the early 1980s, his jumps were impressive, but could hardly compete with those of his rival from down south, Evel Knievel. In the wake of Evel's failed jump of Snake River Canyon in 1974, Ken began to dream of his own showcase, a mile-long jump over the St. Lawrence River in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental. Finally, in 1976, the plan was coming together, ABC's Wide World of sports agreed to finance and air it, and construction on the car and the thousand foot ramp began.

That's more-or-less where we begin, following a short montage in which Carter (Jay Baruchel) is seen making some jumps and talking a big game and dumping all over his American rival ("he's full of shit and a coward"). His wife (Laurence Leboeuf) doesn't play much role in the plot, but she does occasionally pop up, first to offer encouragement and support, and later to reprimand him for putting his dream ahead of their financial solvency. He quickly recruited Dick Keller (Ed Helms) to build the car, as the company he co-founded (Reaction Dynamics) built Blue Flame, a rocket car that set a land speed record at Bonneville Salt Flats that had stood for six years (and would stand for another seven). Fictional Canadian stuntman Danny Lafortune (Marc Beaupré) is hired as his understudy, both as Ken's protege and a backup to quell the investors' concerns, given the great expense and its scale far, far exceeding anything Carter had previously attempted (in real life, American Kenny Powers served this role). Given the historic nature of the jump to come, they also hired a documentarian Carter had previously worked with, Bob Fortier (Joe Cobden), who would eventually put out The Devil at Your Heels in 1981.

Read my full review on Pop Culture Maniacs.