Class Action Park: America's Most Dangerous Amusement Park

Today we discuss the HBO documentary Class Action Park and the story behind the dangerous amusement park.
Subscribe for more from Factual America: http://bit.ly/AlamoPictures

Action Park in Vernon, New Jersey was straight out of a Gen X teenager's dream. The R rated version of a John Hughes film, or as Jason Bailey at the New York Times puts up, "a rule-free stew of dangerous rides, teen guests, teen employees, raging hormones, ad style machismo, and booze".

But for all the nostalgia, this dangerous amusement park comes with bad memories for those whose loved ones were seriously injured, and in some cases killed by the reckless actions of Gene Mulvihill, the fallen Wall Street mogul who owned and ran the park.

Seth Porges and Chris Charles Scott, the co-directors of Class Action Park produced by HBO Max, brilliantly captured both the time and place, Northern New Jersey in the 1980s and 1990s that will never be repeated. And many would say thank God for that.

“The laughter of Action Park isn’t a designed joke, it’s not a comedy routine. It’s the laughter of a brain having no other way to process what it’s hearing. Laughter is something that happens when you can’t cry, you can’t scream, you can’t do anything else, all you can do is laugh. ” - Seth Porges

Time Stamps:
00:00 - Guests introduction and film trailer.
02:20 - What Action Park was, and the dangers there.
05:03 - What the film explores, and why it’s been so successful.
07:34 - The first clip of the film showing ‘The Cannonball Loop’.
09:38 - Who designed these crazy rides and how they tested them.
11:33 - A short clip showing the dangers involved with testing the new roller coasters.
14:01 - What the movie is really about and how different children’s upbringings used to be.
15:28 - The mix of nostalgia and darkness that are present in these old memories.
17:17 - What drives people to create such insane roller coasters.
18:18 - The way Action Park used radio ads to gain popularity.
20:15 - The terrifying nature of Action Park and how unique it was.
24:14 - A clip showing the dark side of the Park.
26:33 - How the dangerous nature of the park actually increased its popularity.
31:04 - How many people died or were seriously injured at the park.
33:00 - How the owner managed to win most of the class action suits brought against him.
35:27 - How Seth came to know of Action Park and what inspired him to make a documentary about the place.
36:40 - How Chris became involved with the film.
38:00 - The biggest challenges they came against when making the film.
41:16 - Talking to the parents of George Larson, who died at the park.
47:03 - Who the owner Gene Mulvihill was and what he was really like.
49:44 - The juxtaposition of freedom and safety that is shown in the film.
53:23 - What Seth and Chris want to achieve with this film.

Resources:
Class Action Park: https://www.classactionpark.com/

Connect with Seth Porges:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sethporges?lang=en
Facebook:   / sethporges  

Connect with Chris Charles Scott
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrischarle...

Connect with Matthew Sherwood:
Facebook:   / matthew.sherwood.14  
LinkedIn:   / matthewsherwood  
Twitter:   / sherwood1967  

#actionpark #classactionpark #amusementpark

▬▬ FACTUAL AMERICA PODCAST ▬▬

Factual America explores the themes that make America unique through the lens of documentaries about America. Each episode a guest chooses a film and then discusses it with host, Matthew Sherwood. Guests include leading documentary filmmakers as well as experts on the American experience.

Matthew Sherwood was born and raised in Texas. He came to the UK in 2001 to work for The Economist. Matthew has worked in journalism and publishing and has a wealth of experience writing for publications, interviewing world leaders, and chairing conferences. Formally he spent his time helping diverse audiences understand the global trends impacting upon their lives.

Emmett Glynn is the producer of Factual America. Known to many in the broadcast world, Emmett is a London-based sound designer and producer who has delivered over 100hrs of TV documentaries for Channel 5, Channel 4 and the BBC. He produces three other podcasts and is developing documentaries alongside Alamo Pictures.

▬▬ ABOUT ALAMO PICTURES ▬▬

Alamo Pictures is a production company that makes US documentaries from a European perspective. Our goal is to create US documentaries for an international audience, remaining subjective by looking at American issues from a European point of view. This helps everyone to better understand America

▬▬ CONTACT ▬▬

Visit our Website: https://www.alamopictures.co.uk/
Follow us on Instagram: @AlamoPictures
Follow us on Twitter: @AlamoPictures
Like us on Facebook:   / alamopictures  
Like us on LinkedIn:   / about