Vernon, Florida (1981)

Errol Morris made Vernon, Florida way before he made Gates of Heaven. Werner Herzog gave him 2,000 dollars cash to make this movie. We must go and thank Mr. Herzog for helping Errol Morris become a director so we could watch his wonderful movies.Vernon, Florida is about the people in Vernon, Florida a small town with a small population in Florida. The people are very obsessed with hunting. It occupies a lot of their time. Despite this Errol who as usual shows his deep love for anything he films and brings out a weird beauty ion his interaction with these oddball characters.Morris has a very good eye for these characters. He must have tons of footage of all these people. I imagine he sits up late into the night and just watches and re - watches all the unused footage he has of these characters.There are many characters. A policeman who has very little to do in the afternoon. A man obsessed with hunting turkeys. A man who has a lot of pets and who claims to have been bitten by anything in the forest except rattlesnakes. " I watch out for those" he says.Vernon Florida is a beautiful movie. It is a movie to be seen to know more about people that no longer exist. What a forgotten generation was like. It is a fascinating insight into human psyche.

well near it.....I remember seeing errol morris one autumn afternoon as he stood in the street with tripod and camera back in 1981....I had just gotten off from work at the elementary school (where I still teach)....its hard to remember how different things were then...because the physical side of vernon is still the same....although this is going to change soon....the widening of the main street is going to literally wipe out the town as we know it.the jury is still out on the purpose of morris' film....most of the town folk look at it today as a mockery....however some who were in it thought differently then (movie stars)....I watched it recently (again) and took it at face value...it was funny....however knowing vernon like I do...I must say that in my days at vernon high school...I remember variety in the culture....all were not rednecks or eccentrics...morris just let the cameras roll....if there were any genius in the filmaking....it was in the editing...as these characters were patched together to create this look at a seedy, unique town.to me the "condescending" (as some of the critics have declared) part is summed up in the music (if you can call it music) at the very beginning...this sets the tone for the entire picture....on the other hand...the genuine honesty and realism in the turkey hunter's interview is just that...the reason I know that.... he is my cousin...I have known him all of my life...that attention to details is the way he tells stories...I have heard countless ones through the years.

This is a surprise, a documentary about weird, old people in Florida that manages to be both amusing and insightful. The film is very simply a collection of anecdotes from Vernon's eccentric elderly residents about their hobbies and in the case of the bored policeman, his job.Errol Morris, surely one of the best documentary filmmakers of recent times, wisely chooses to let his subjects do the talking. There is no Michael Moore grandstanding and no pompous voice-over. The result is refreshing as it allows the viewer to come to their own conclusion about the interviewees without having someone's personal agenda shoved down your throat. Personally, I think these old coots are awesome. They have all found different ways to bring happiness and meaning to their twilight years, whether it be shooting turkeys, farming worms or looking after stray animals. While the gobbler hunter provides most of the laughs with his amazing anecdotes and wall of turkey feet, the highlight for me was the priest and his sermon.Vernon, Florida is a beautifully filmed documentary that stands up incredibly well 25 years after it was made. This is highly recommended.

Errol Morris went to Vernon, Fla because it had a reputation for excessive insurance claims due to missing limbs. Known as "Stump City," Vernon turned out to be much more--a place seemingly filled with odd characters. Morris spent a year there, gaining the locals' confidence and doing interviews that are priceless. I can't recommend this too much. I was passing through Florida three years ago and saw a turnoff to Vernon. I went there anticipating the same characters would be hanging out at the gas station watching someone change a tire...then I realized that it was filmed 20 years earlier, and most may have passed away. I shot photos and went on my way. Trust me, Vernon, Florida is a classic.