Film

Vernon, Florida

Name: Vernon, Florida
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1981
Cast: Albert Bitterling, Roscoe Collins, George Harris

Errol Morris's second film has almost no plot, no narration, and no argument to make. It's just the residents of one small Florida town talking — about turkey hunting, the meaning of the word 'therefore', a man who lost a leg to a train — filmed dead straight so their strangeness speaks for itself. Fifty-five minutes, endlessly rewatchable, funnier and sadder than you expect.

TMDb rating

6.8

If you liked this

Gates of Heaven1978

Morris's first film, made three years before this one, applies the same patient, deadpan camera to pet cemetery owners and their customers. Even stranger monologues, same total absence of judgment.

But If you've just watched Vernon, the technique will feel familiar rather than fresh — this is the drier, earlier draft.

Grey Gardens1976

The Maysles brothers turn their camera on a reclusive mother and daughter in a decaying Hamptons mansion and just let them be. It's the gold standard for letting real people be more interesting than any script.

But More claustrophobic and emotionally raw than Vernon's loose small-town wander — this one sits inside a house and a fraught relationship.

American Movie1999

A Wisconsin man's doomed quest to finish a horror film becomes an accidental portrait of blue-collar Midwestern life, full of the same unselfconscious, quotable weirdness as Vernon's residents.

But Has an actual narrative arc and a central character to root for, so it's a warmer, more conventional watch than Morris's plotless mosaic.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Land Without Bread1933no page yet

Nearly fifty years before Vernon, Buñuel pioneered the deadpan-narration-over-real-oddity approach that Morris made his signature — same engine, wildly different century.

Buñuel's early documentary about an impoverished Spanish region uses the same trick Morris would rediscover decades later: a calm, matter-of-fact tone laid over material that's genuinely strange and sometimes disturbing, letting the gap do the work.

But Its detached, almost clinical narration over real poverty and suffering can feel uncomfortable rather than funny to modern eyes.

Crumb1995

A portrait of cartoonist Robert Crumb and his even stranger brothers, told with the same unblinking patience — people so odd you couldn't invent them, filmed until they reveal themselves.

But Considerably darker and more disturbing than anything in Vernon; this is family dysfunction, not small-town eccentricity.

The Thin Blue Line1988

Morris's breakthrough, seven years later, aims the same interview style at a wrongful murder conviction and ends up freeing an innocent man. Proof of how far this technique can go.

But A real true-crime investigation with stakes and a case to solve — nothing like Vernon's plotless, low-stakes ramble.

Waiting for Guffman1997

Christopher Guest's mockumentary about a small-town musical imagines fictional versions of exactly the people Morris filmed for real — same affection for local color and delusion.

But It's scripted comedy playing for laughs, which is a much softer, safer version of what Vernon does with actual human beings.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters2007

A documentary about obsessive Donkey Kong players that finds the same vein of gentle, ridiculous American obsession Morris found in turkey hunters and preachers.

But Has heroes and villains and a competitive arc — much more conventionally structured than Vernon's meandering portraiture.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters poster

Winnebago Man2010no page yet

A search for the foul-mouthed man behind a viral outtake reel turns into an unexpectedly tender character study, echoing Morris's knack for finding depth in throwaway footage.

But Built around internet-era irony before it pivots to sincerity — a different cultural moment than Vernon's pre-viral world.

Trekkies1997

A tour through Star Trek fandom's most devoted corners, filmed with the same straight-faced curiosity Morris brings to gobbler hunters — everyone gets to explain themselves fully.

But Broader and more overtly comic than Vernon, aimed at getting laughs from fandom rather than sitting quietly with strangeness.

Cops1989

Same raw material — unscripted, real people, real accents, real strangeness — but shifted from arthouse documentary into trashy, long-running reality TV.

Unscripted, handheld, and full of ordinary Americans talking themselves into trouble on camera, this reality TV staple shares Vernon's raw fascination with regional voices and unpolished self-presentation — just aimed at a squad car instead of a front porch.

But It's exploitative in ways Vernon never is, filming people at their worst rather than their most charmingly odd, with none of Morris's affection.

Harlan County U.S.A.1976

Same unpolished small-town American voices and patient camera Morris uses for comedy — turned instead toward a life-or-death labor struggle, showing how far the register can swing.

A documentary about a coal miners' strike that shares Vernon's commitment to letting rural, unglamorous Americans speak for themselves at length — but here the stakes are wages, violence, and survival, not turkey hunting.

But Genuinely intense and occasionally frightening; it demands your attention as a serious piece of advocacy journalism, not a wry character study.