Vernon, Florida

Vernon, Florida (1981)

Errol Morris intersplices random chatter he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word 'Therefore', and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the 'gobblers' he likes to track down and kill.

Date of release
1981-10-08
TMDB
6.8 / 10 (55)
Runtime
55m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Errol Morris

Casting

Interesting facts

Vernon, Florida is a 1981 American documentary film produced and directed by Errol Morris profiling various residents living within the town of Vernon, Florida. Originally titled Nub City, this follow-up to Gates of Heaven initially focused on residents of the Southern town who cut off their own limbs as a way to collect insurance money. After Morris's life was threatened by the subjects of the film, he re-worked Nub City into Vernon, Florida.

Background and "Nub City" controversy

After reading an article about the citizens of Vernon, Florida's propensity for collecting insurance money after losing limbs in accidents, Errol Morris, with financial help from filmmaker Werner Herzog, spent most of a year living in the town. During this time, he tried to interview the residents about these accidents and was met with hostility, even receiving a death threat.

In 1980, following the release of his first film Gates of Heaven, Morris secured funding from WNET and ZDF and returned to Vernon with the intention to make the "Nub City" documentary. After receiving further threats from the residents, including an incident in which someone tried to hit his cinematographer with a truck, Morris decided to abandon the "Nub City" angle, electing instead to produce a documentary about the eccentricities of the town.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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