Michael_Elliott
Vernon, Florida (1981)*** (out of 4) Errol Morris' second features takes a look at some of the strange folks living in Vernon, Florida. From what I've read originally Morris went to this town due to its high insurance fraud rate but once there he decided to put his camera on the people. We meet people including a turkey hunter who does nothing but talk turkey (wonder if the shrimp from FORREST GUMP was inspired by this guy), an old man and his "pets," a policeman who sits and waits for speeders while then admitting he doesn't have his radar gun because it's at the shop and several other locales. I'd read several reviews that attacked this movie for being mean-spirited but I didn't find that to be the case at all. Something like GREY GARDENS had me questioning if the only reason the filmmakers were filming the subject were to show how crazy they were. Morris here doesn't fall into the same feeling. I thought going into the picture that it was going to be exploiting this somewhat backwoods folks but that wasn't the case at all. It really does seem as if Morris is interested in what these people have to say about their passions and just lets them go on talking. This is especially true for the turkey hunter who goes through just about every avenue in regards to hunting. I can't say I've ever hunted a turkey but after listening to this guy I really do believe I could go out and do it on my own and know what I was doing. Even the old man with his pets gets confused about what he's talking about but not once did I ever get the impression that Morris was laughing at him or showing the old man to embarrass him. Perhaps others will see this differently but I found the stories here to be entertaining and they kept me involved, although I will admit I'm not sure why they did.
ronjaffe
I collect and watch weird movies. Not just "B" movies, mind you. Those are fun, but most of them have acquired "B" status by merely having been made decades ago with low budgets, compared to today's multi-million dollar blockbusters. But it's the movies that are made with interesting back stories that catch my eye. So it was that while perusing Netflix's recommended movies, that I came across an obscure movie made in 1981 called Vernon, Florida. Now I've seen other documentaries made decades ago about old Florida towns, and having grown up here, I could always relate to the people and places, including the unmistakable wood frame houses surrounded by endless acres of sandy roads, Florida scrub and stands of palmettos. Vernon, Florida looked like such a movie, and with a running time of an hour, I decided to sit down and watch it.Sure enough it showed a small Florida town, located in the panhandle of Florida and included numerous interviews from the people there, where they just rambled about the town, giving anecdotal accounts of things that happened to them in their lives. I instantly related these folks to the countless small town Floridians I had known over the years and with whom I had spent so much time talking and hearing similar stories. The deep southern drawls were quite intelligible since I had grown up here, and I wondered how much trouble others would have understanding. I also wondered how weird the movie would seem to those not from the south. Certainly to them it would be a comedy, but in reality that's the way things were and still are in some places here. But it wasn't until the movie abruptly an hour later that I did a little research and found out the interesting back story to this movie, and to the town known affectionately back then as "Nub City." "Nub City," I thought. That's a strange nick-name. After a little more research, I found out where the name came from. Apparently, during the 1950s and 1960s, the Florida panhandle area accounted for ⅔ of the insurance claims in the whole country for people who had lost limbs and body parts due to accidents, and Vernon, Florida was apparently the epicenter. One insurance agent's list of clients included the following: a man who sawed off his left hand at work, a man who shot off his foot while protecting chickens, a man who lost his hand while trying to shoot a hawk, a man who somehow lost two limbs in an accident involving a rifle and a tractor, and a man who bought a policy and then, less than 12 hours later, shot off his foot while aiming at a squirrel. Nearly 50 men in Vernon and surrounding areas collected insurance for these "accidents" and none were ever convicted of fraud. An insurance investigator later reported, "to sit in your car on a sweltering summer evening on the main street of Nub City, watching anywhere from eight to a dozen cripples walking along the street, gives the place a ghoulish, eerie atmosphere." Suddenly, it made sense. This is what director, Errol Morris intended to do a documentary on when he rolled into town in 1981. The problem was that his subjects threatened to murder him if he reported their secret. So in response, he retooled his film to be merely a documentary full of interviews of local residents.Today, Vernon, like many of Florida's small towns, is facing the challenges of growth and urban sprawl. It's main street has been widened into a four-lane road and many of its historic buildings have been demolished. Most of those with peg legs or claw hands are gone as well, as commercial chains worm their way in, transforming Vernon into the stereotypical "Anytown, USA" that is so prevalent across our country today. But alas, thanks to the contributions of directors who seek out the weird, and those subjects who are happy to share their stories, at least one more small town is recorded on film for history to remember her by. If you have a Netflix account, you can either get the DVD or watch it instantly. Knowing the back story, it will be much more interesting, I promise you!
valis1949
The overwhelming majority of comedians could sharpen their technique and analyze for decades and not come anywhere close to the unintentional hilarity of these 'regular folks'. At only fifty-five minutes, this is a side-splitting tour de force. Each and every 'interview' contains a nugget of cracked wisdom and haphazard idiocy that made me want to grab a pen and paper. There are so many favorites, that I am at a loss to declare the funniest moment in the film. However, the fishing incident involving the dead mule, the "expanding sand", and the prolix philosophy of The Turkey Hunt are all comedic gems. Rarely does a film which is merely a random collection of 'talking heads' leave you wishing for more.
