•THE MAD CANADIAN (1976),

Better-known as the subject of the NFBC feature-documentary THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS (1981), ( - released on VHS video as THE LATE SHOW PRESENTS: THE DEVIL AT YOUR HEELS (1993) - ), daredevil stunt-man Ken Carter rises again in this rare 10 minute quickie, from the Usual Suspects at the NFBC. It’s a tense, tight close-up of stunt-man Ken’s role on the stock-car racing track. At 16 Ken Carter joined Joey Chitwood's "Congress of Canadian Daredevils". At 17, he was with "The International Hell Drivers". Risking life and limb to rocket a car from a ramp over a parked line of cars takes more than the will to make a living. Everything else involved is shown as the camera looks and listens while Carter prepares himself for his act and then makes his wild ride. Prod Co: National Film Board of Canada. Prod: Bill Brind. Dir: Robert Fortier. 10 mins. ALC

•THE TEN TOWN ROCKET CAR (1960 -1963),

Episode from the children's knockabout action adventure series THE ADVENTURES OF THE TERRIBLE TEN. The kids lived as an autonomous collective, without adults, in a settlement called 'Ten Town'.

In this episode, the winner of the Wallaby Creek Cup will win the favour of Lady Poynting, who is being pursued by a number of eligible suitors. To help out Mr. McGlurk, one of their number’s dad, the Terrible Ten build a rocket car. The only possible mix-up is with The Prof’s special rocket-starting fuel, which comes in soft-drink cans! Watch out for the SENNET’S ICE CREAM sign!

Originally aired on Channel 9, when re-aired in 1963 on the ABC, the national broadcaster re-jigged the episodes under the title THE TEN AGAIN. Filmed at Mount Macedon, Victoria. Prod Co: Pacific Film Productions. Prod: Roger Mirams. Dir: David (THE GREAT McCARTHY, 1975) Baker. Cast: Gavan Ellis, GARY GRAY, Susan(ne) Haworth, Lynda Keane, Rhonda Larter, Russell McDonald, Debbie McMillan, Joanna Mirams, David Morgan, Rodney Pearlman, MICHAEL SHMITH, Karen Trott. 12 mins. AAC. 12 mins. ALC

and featuring:

•THE STRAIGHT STORY (2000),

David Lynch comes up with his best movie in years, without a single severed body part or crime of passion.

Oscar™ nominated one-time movie stuntman RICHARD FARNSWORTH (RESURRECTION [1980])'s performance in this whimsical true account of an elderly man's long trek to see his estranged brother, a cross-country journey that he makes riding his own power lawnmower because he no longer can drive a car, is so natural, so emotionally touching that many picked it as the best of 1999.

Alvin, a poor World War II veteran who, when hearing his estranged brother has suffered a stroke, decides to travel across the American mid-West to visit him. Alvin is a reformed alcoholic who feels heavily the guilt of what his alcoholism cost his wife and family.

A magical road movie about human failure and human community, "The Straight Story" sees David Lynch forgo his usually dark and perverse examination of the libido and repression to instead concentrate on a story about human compassion and forgiveness. Lynch's remarkably restrained direction allows the dignity of the story to come through without sliding into sentimentality. In this he his assisted by an excellent production staff that includes cinematographer FREDDIE FRANCIS, production designer Jack Fisk, and editor Mary Sweeney.

In "The Straight Story", Lynch celebrates the rugged individualism of traditional rural American heroes, as represented by Western icon FARNSWORTH, but subversively suggests that this individualism must be tempered by the communal strengths of family, community and friendship. It may be a symptom of the degeneration of such values in contemporary Hollywood that Lynch had to rely on French and English money to finance this gentle and poetic road movie. 
    
Prod. Co: Le Studio Canal / Filmfour / Picture Factory.  Prods: Mary Sweeney, Neal Edelstein. Dir: DAVID LYNCH. Wr. Mary Sweeney, John Roach. Mus. ANGELO BADALAMENTI. Cast: SISSY SPACEK, RICHARD FARNSWORTH, HARRY DEAN STANTON, MAX THE WONDER DOG. 107 mins. ALC