Greetings, Nextlanders! And apologies for the slight delay on getting this schedule to you. We've had much going on the last couple of weeks, but I'm here now to tell you in definitive terms what our plans are for the rest of May's Watchcastings. And what's on the horizon is a trio of documentaries, each picked out by one of us, on a variety of subjects from wildly unsafe theme parks to the majesty of space exploration. Here's what's on the schedule:
Monday, May 11th: Class Action Park (2020)
First up is Vinny's pick, a movie neither Brad nor myself had seen, but I knew of reputationally. Specifically, I remember what a big hit this movie was when it dropped on HBO Max in 2020. Or whatever HBO Max was called in 2020. I stopped trying to keep track two or three name changes ago.
Class Action Park tells the sordid tale of Action Park, a New Jersey institution from the late '70s up until about the mid-'90s that, on its face, looked like no more than maybe a slightly more unhinged take on your standard water slide and/or family fun park. But beneath the cheerful veneer laid a nearly unbelievable number of safety hazards and ill-advised business decisions that ultimately rendered the place the stuff of nightmarish legend. The doc itself mostly talks to former employees and attendees, and they all share stories that range from shockingly dangerous to outright horror. How was such a place allowed to stay in business? You'll have to watch (and listen) to find out!
Monday, May 18th: Harlan County, USA (1976)
Next up is my pick for the month, and another one of my all-time favorites, albeit one I haven't seen in a very long time. Justified fans will undoubtedly recognize Harlan County as, broadly, American coal country, and Harlan County, USA follows the 1973 strike at the Brookside Mine, which dragged on for a year and resulted in repeated clashes between the miners and people representing the Duke Power Company, which owned the mine.
If you have even the slightest interest in American labor history, this is one of those movies you have to see at some point. Director Barbara Kopple captures some truly incredible scenes as she earns the trust of the striking workers and embeds herself in the daily struggles related to the strike. It's one of those "I can't believe there was actually someone there filming all this" kinds of movies. It's also a movie that hasn't gotten a proper blu-ray release of any sort yet, so hopefully us picking it this month greases those wheels, as so often is the case when we put a movie on this podcast.
Monday, May 25th: Apollo 11 (2019)
Finally, we come to Brad's pick, and another one I've been meaning to check out ever since Brad started talking it up god knows how many years ago. You might think that the Apollo moon landing might be a subject with little left to explore, but you'd be wrong! DEAD WRONG.OK, OK, that's a little harsh. But Apollo 11 fits nicely into Brad's favorite flavor of documentary; namely, a "We didn't know we had all this footage lying around so here it is" flavor of documentary. Someone had the forethought to record a bunch of on-the-ground footage in 70mm, so you get up close and personal looks at the control room as the mission progresses, the people on the ground watching the launch, and everything else in-between. The result is a doc with zero narration or added flavor. It just takes you beat-by-beat through one of the most exciting events of the 20th century. Given what gigantic space nerds we are all, it was probably inevitable we'd do this for the show eventually, and now we are!
And that's May! As far as next month goes, there will likely be at least a one week gap somewhere in the month, as I will be headed out to Summer Games Fest in the first week of June. Exactly how that schedule is going to be broken up will be announced at the end of the Apollo 11 episode. Until then, enjoy this slate, and we'll see you at the movies!
--A