Vernon, Florida

Vernon, Florida is far and away the most creative documentary i have ever seen. Errol Morris manages to let the people do the talking and doesn't get involved at all, so what you see is what you get, no silly people asking questions or prying for details. where else can you see a preacher do a 10 minute sermon on the word "therefore"? only one place, Vernon,FL. This film is getting more and more difficult to find, if anyone out there knows how I can obtain a copy of this classic, please write me at craiggae@excite.com

I think it is so funny that the small town from which I grew up has its very own DVD. The funny thing is the people are really like that in Vernon. I know Snake and Henry and they are some of the best people you will ever meet. The thing that was very amusing is they only showed talked with people who are kind of "out there" so to speak. But I think the movie is great. It reminds me of all the great times that I had in that town.You cherish times and places in life and Vernon is truly a place thats one of a kind. My parents still live there and own a Farm Supply Store in which they bring in a lot of customers from surrounding areas. Thanks to the producer and his team for making the movie.

This documentary of a Smalltown, USA in rural Florida is a one-of-a-kind true comedy. Morris' choosing of the particular characters recorded and the events chronicled are genius. A quirky preacher who shares with us and his congregation his logic on semantics; a hunter who "specializes" in turkey gobblers; and an elderly man who likes to catch and keep wild critters all add to the deliciously funny charm of this documentary of rural life. His style of letting the characters speak for themselves is truly a work of art in this film. Watching "Vernon, Florida" is the equivalent of reading the "Foxfire" journals with a similar dose of the arcane knowledge that only rural, American, small-town residents possess. Definitely worth watching more than once.

Wow, I viewed this film for the first time last night and I felt like I was sitting in my favorite local bar. Watching it, I could almost smell the mosquito spray that was shown in the opening scene and taste that invasive red dirt. I think I even saw ol' Uncle Pete somewhere in the background.

I was fortunate when it came to viewing Vernon, Florida. It's a very small world in Hollywood and outside of that circle it seems you're lucky to know anybody. In documentary film-making I'd imagine that world shrinks even further with the film maker's and assistants spread out few and far between. While studying film production in West Palm, Florida I was lucky enough to have a teach who was a former student of Errol Morris. My opinion must have been in favor of thumbs up for Vernon - simply because our class was given more insight. An average viewer might shrug and scoff "Vernon" for being just an hour or so worth of candid interviews with crazy local yocals who have such a distorted view of reality their opinions just seem ludicrous. With a small introduction by Morris himself and highlights of Vernon by our teacher Mike -- the experience was more nostalgic, like watching embarrassing home movies of people you know. There's more behind "Vernon" then I think people realize, And much more explicitness to the likings of Snake the turkey hunter and others. The real crime here is that almost no one will ever know about it. The subtext sort of hangs in limbo because there's no narration and only so much we can learn about these people that they're not willing to reveal on their own. Still, this is the early work of a master docu film maker. It's the earliest example of how Morris' favorite angle for the depiction of society is through the wormhole everyone seems to hide the dark side. Something he explained with almost shocking tenacity in Mr. Death - perhaps his best work. Vernon, Florida is a freakfest, a splash of cold water that reality doesn't look the way you think it does. It's flat and unblinkingly straightforward and best of all... like it's characters, it doesn't seem to care in making much of a point, which ironically is the point itself.