My Cousin Vinny is a
1992The year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
AmericanThe cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
comedy filmComedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
written and produced by
Dale LaunerDale Launer is an American comedy screenwriter. His best known films include Ruthless People, Blind Date, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and My Cousin Vinny....
, directed by
Jonathan LynnJonathan Lynn is an English actor, comedy writer and director. He is best known for being the co-writer of Yes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister.-Personal life:...
and starring
Joe PesciJoseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
,
Ralph MacchioRalph George Macchio is an American actor, best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series, Bill Gambini in My Cousin Vinny, and Johnny Cade in The Outsiders. He is also known to American television audiences for his season five recurring role as Jeremy Andretti on the...
,
Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
,
Mitchell WhitfieldMitchell Whitfield is an American actor.He guest-starred in several episodes of Friends as Dr. Barry Farber, Rachel's orthodontist ex-fiancé whom Rachel left at the altar on their wedding day. He also appeared in Dharma & Greg; Murder, She Wrote; Diagnosis Murder and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
,
Lane SmithWalter Lane Smith III was an American actor. Some of his well known roles included portraying collaborator entrepreneur Nathan Bates in the NBC television series V, Mayor Bates in the film Red Dawn, newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,...
,
Bruce McGillBruce Travis McGill is an American actor who has an extensive list of credits in film and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jack Dalton on the television series MacGyver and as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in National Lampoon's Animal House.-Early life:McGill was born in San...
and
Fred GwynneFrederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles: Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny...
. The film was
Fred GwynneFrederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles: Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny...
’s final film appearance before his death on July 2, 1993 of
pancreatic cancerPancreatic cancer refers to a malignant neoplasm of the pancreas. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, accounting for 95% of these tumors is adenocarcinoma, which arises within the exocrine component of the pancreas. A minority arises from the islet cells and is classified as a...
.
The film deals with two young New Yorkers traveling through rural Alabama who are put on trial for a murder they did not commit, and the comic attempts of a cousin, Vincent Gambini, a newly minted lawyer, to defend them.
Much of the humor comes from the contrasting personalities of the brash Italian American New Yorkers, Vinny and his fiancée Mona Lisa, and the more laid back Southern townspeople. Despite being a comedy, the film also touches on some serious subjects such as perjury, contempt of court, bias and mistrials.
Pesci and Tomei received critical praise for their performances, and Tomei won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
. Fred Gwynne also received acclaim for his performance as Judge Chamberlain Haller. In the August 2008 edition of the
American Bar AssociationThe American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...
Journal,
My Cousin Vinny was rated #3 in their cover story listing of "The 25 Greatest Legal Movies", after
To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee's novel of the same name directed by Robert Mulligan. It stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch....
and
12 Angry Men.
Plot
While driving through the fictional Beechum County, Alabama, New Yorkers Bill Gambini (
Ralph MacchioRalph George Macchio is an American actor, best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series, Bill Gambini in My Cousin Vinny, and Johnny Cade in The Outsiders. He is also known to American television audiences for his season five recurring role as Jeremy Andretti on the...
) and his friend Stan Rothenstein (
Mitchell WhitfieldMitchell Whitfield is an American actor.He guest-starred in several episodes of Friends as Dr. Barry Farber, Rachel's orthodontist ex-fiancé whom Rachel left at the altar on their wedding day. He also appeared in Dharma & Greg; Murder, She Wrote; Diagnosis Murder and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
) accidentally neglect to pay for a can of
tunaTuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...
after stopping at a convenience store. After they leave the store, the clerk is shot and killed, and Billy and Stan, who match the descriptions of the murderers given by witnesses, are then pulled over and detained in connection with the murder. Due to circumstantial evidence and a series of miscommunications based on the boys’ assumption that they have merely been detained for shoplifting, Billy ends up being charged with murder, and Stan is charged as an accessory. The pair call Billy's mother, who tells her son that there is an
attorneyA lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
in the family, Billy's cousin, Vincent LaGuardia "Vinny" Gambini (
Joe PesciJoseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
), who travels to Beechum County accompanied by his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito (
Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
). Unfortunately, although he is willing to take the case, Vinny is a
personal injury lawyerA personal injury lawyer is a lawyer who provides legal representation to those who claim to have been injured, physically or psychologically, as a result of the negligence or wrongdoing of another person, company, government agency, or other entity....
from Brooklyn, New York, newly admitted to the bar (after six attempts and six years) with no trial experience.
Although Vinny manages to fool the trial judge, Chamberlain Haller (
Fred GwynneFrederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles: Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny...
), about being experienced enough to take the case, his ignorance of basic court procedures and abrasive, disrespectful attitude towards the judge gets him into trouble immediately. Much to his clients' consternation, Vinny does not cross-examine any of the witnesses in the
probable causeIn United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which an officer or agent of the law has the grounds to make an arrest, to conduct a personal or property search, or to obtain a warrant for arrest, etc. when criminal charges are being considered. It is also used to refer to the...
hearingWithin some criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecutor, to determine whether there is enough evidence to require a trial...
. As their claims go unquestioned, it appears that the district attorney, Jim Trotter III (
Lane SmithWalter Lane Smith III was an American actor. Some of his well known roles included portraying collaborator entrepreneur Nathan Bates in the NBC television series V, Mayor Bates in the film Red Dawn, newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,...
) has an airtight case that will inevitably lead to a conviction at the trial. After Vinny's poor showing at the hearing, Billy and Stan decide to fire him and use the public defender (
Austin PendletonAustin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
), but Vinny asks for one more chance to prove himself. The trial then opens with Vinny representing his cousin and the public defender representing Stan. Despite some further missteps, including wearing a gaudy secondhand tuxedo to court and sleeping through Trotter's opening statement, Vinny shows that he can make up for his ignorance and inexperience with an aggressive, perceptive questioning style. While the public defender is shown to have a debilitating
stammerStuttering , also known as stammering , is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases, and involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the stutterer is unable to produce sounds...
, Vinny quickly and comprehensively discredits the testimony of the first witness. Billy's faith is rewarded, and Stan develops newfound respect and confidence for Vinny, firing the public defender.
Vinny's cross-examinations of the remaining eyewitnesses are similarly effective, but Trotter produces a surprise witness, George Wilbur, an FBI analyst who testifies that his chemical analysis of the tire marks left at the crime scene shows that they are identical to the tires on Billy's
Buick SkylarkThe Buick Skylark was a passenger car produced by the Buick division of General Motors. The model was made in six production runs. In each run, the car design varied dramatically due to changing technology and tastes, as well as new standards implemented over the years.-1953–1954:Introduced to mark...
. With only a brief recess to prepare his cross-examination and unable to come up with a particularly strong line of questions, Vinny becomes frustrated and lashes out at Lisa by taunting her about the usefulness of her wide-angle photographs of the tire tracks. She storms out, leaving Vinny alone. However, he later realizes that that photo actually holds the key to the case: the flat and even tire marks going over the curb reveal that Billy's car could not have been used for the getaway, since Billy's Skylark does not have a suspension system that would do this. Vinny needs Lisa, an expert in automobiles, to testify to this. He drags her into court, and during Vinny's questioning, they patch up their differences. Vinny then recalls the FBI analyst, who concurs with Lisa that Billy's car did not produce the tracks. Next, Vinny calls the local sheriff, who has run a records check at Vinny's request. The sheriff testifies that two men resembling Billy and Stan were arrested driving a stolen
Pontiac TempestThe Pontiac Tempest was an entry-level compact produced by the Pontiac Motor Division of General Motors, introduced in September 1960 for the 1961 model year....
, a car very similar in appearance and color to Billy's Skylark, and in possession of a gun of the same caliber used to kill the clerk. Trotter then respectfully moves to dismiss all the charges.
Throughout the film, Vinny and Judge Haller play a game of cat-and-mouse over Vinny's qualifications. Haller first discovers that, despite Vinny's claims that he tried "quite a few" murder cases, there exist no records of anybody named Vincent Gambini trying any case in New York State. Vinny then claims that he had his name changed during a previous career as a stage actor and continued to use the name when he opened a law practice. Vinny, believing that he should give the judge the name of someone with the kind of resume he claimed to have, supplies the name of a prominent New York attorney, Jerry Gallo. Unfortunately, Lisa later tells Vinny that Gallo died the previous week, and when Haller learns this, Vinny claims that Haller misheard "Gallo" when Vinny actually said "Callo". Finally, Lisa gets Vinny off the hook by calling his mentor, Judge Malloy from New York, who responds to Haller's request by claiming that Jerry Callo has a long and impressive trial history.
The film concludes with Haller apologizing for doubting Vinny and praising his skills as a litigator. Vinny and Lisa then drive off together, bickering about their future wedding plans.
Cast
- Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
as Vincent LaGuardia “Vinny” Gambini
- Marisa Tomei
Marisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
as Mona Lisa Vito
- Ralph Macchio
Ralph George Macchio is an American actor, best known for his roles as Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid series, Bill Gambini in My Cousin Vinny, and Johnny Cade in The Outsiders. He is also known to American television audiences for his season five recurring role as Jeremy Andretti on the...
as Bill Gambini
- Mitchell Whitfield
Mitchell Whitfield is an American actor.He guest-starred in several episodes of Friends as Dr. Barry Farber, Rachel's orthodontist ex-fiancé whom Rachel left at the altar on their wedding day. He also appeared in Dharma & Greg; Murder, She Wrote; Diagnosis Murder and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation...
as Stan Rothenstein
- Fred Gwynne
Frederick Hubbard "Fred" Gwynne was an American actor. Gwynne was best known for his roles in the 1960s sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? and The Munsters, as well as his later roles: Pet Sematary and My Cousin Vinny...
as Judge Chamberlain Haller
- Lane Smith
Walter Lane Smith III was an American actor. Some of his well known roles included portraying collaborator entrepreneur Nathan Bates in the NBC television series V, Mayor Bates in the film Red Dawn, newspaper editor Perry White in the ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,...
as Jim Trotter III
- Bruce McGill
Bruce Travis McGill is an American actor who has an extensive list of credits in film and television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Jack Dalton on the television series MacGyver and as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day in National Lampoon's Animal House.-Early life:McGill was born in San...
as Sheriff Dean Farley
- Austin Pendleton
Austin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Life and career:...
as John Gibbons
- Chris Ellis
Chris Ellis is an American film and television actor who was born April 14, 1956 in Dallas, Texas.Ellis always wanted to be an actor because of television...
as J.T.
- James Rebhorn
James Robert Rebhorn is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 television shows, feature films and plays.-Personal life:...
as George Wilbur
- Maury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
as Sam Tipton
- Paulene Myers as Constance Riley
- Raynor Scheine
Raynor Scheine is an American actor who has appeared in films for three decades dating back to 1979, including My Cousin Vinny and Fried Green Tomatoes. His name is a play on the phrase "rain or shine".-Broadway performances:...
as Ernie Crane
- Michael Simpson
Michael Simpson or Mike Simpson may refer to:* Michael Simpson , record producer and member of the electronic group Dust Brothers* Michael Simpson , footballer...
as Neckbrace
- Lou Walker as Grits Cook
- Kenny Jones as Jimmy Willis
Filming locations
Sac-O-Suds convenience store is located on
Georgia State Route 16State Route 16 begins at SR 100 in Haralson County, just south of I-20, and ends at U.S. 278 in Warrenton.-Major junctions:...
in
Jasper County, GeorgiaJasper County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 11,426. The 2007 Census Estimate shows a population of 13,660...
, which is east of
Jackson, GeorgiaJackson is a city in Butts County, Georgia, United States. The population was 3,934 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Butts County. The center of population of Georgia is located in Jackson. The community was named after President Andrew Jackson. Founded in 1826, Jackson began as...
. The courthouse is still in the town square of
Monticello, GeorgiaMonticello is the largest city and the county seat of Jasper County, Georgia , United States. The population was 2,428 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Monticello is located at ....
. Dave's Barbecue and Sea Food (where Vinny and Lisa get in a fight near the end of the movie) is adjacent to the town square.
Shooting took place in and around Jasper and
Putnam County, GeorgiaPutnam County is a county located in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of 2000, the population was 18,812. The 2007 Census Estimate showed a population of 21,251...
. Putnam General Motel where they first stay the night and then learn about
gritsGrits are a food of American Indian origin common in the Southern United States and mainly eaten at breakfast. They consist of coarsely ground corn, or sometimes alkali-treated corn . They are also sometimes called sofkee or sofkey from the Muskogee language word...
in the morning is located on
Highway 441U.S. Route 441 is a spur route of U.S. Route 41. It currently runs for 939 miles from U.S. Route 41 in Miami, Florida to U.S. Route 25W in Lake City, Tennessee. Between its termini, US 441 passes through the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee...
North in Putnam County outside of the town of Eatonton. The motel is still open but the restaurant is now closed and has been for a few years. The actual lumber plant that is supposed to be across the street from the Motel in the movie is actually the Georgia Pacific Plant in Jasper County Georgia. Sheriff Farley mentions that the two boys arrested in the Tempest were arrested in Jasper County, Georgia. Sheriff Farley also mentions Sheriff Tillman of Jasper County Georgia as being the Sheriff that did the arrest. Sheriff Tillman was the actual Sheriff of Jasper County Georgia at the time of the movie.
Reception
The film received general critical acclaim by critics, holding a score of 86% with 32 positive reviews out of 37 on
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
With a budget of $11 million,
My Cousin Vinny was
more successful than any had anticipatedA sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
, grossing $52,929,168 domestically and $11,159,384 in the foreign markets, bringing its overall total to $64,088,552.
Marisa TomeiMarisa Tomei is an American stage, film and television actress. Following her work on As The World Turns, Tomei came to prominence as a supporting cast member on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World in 1987...
won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting ActressPerformance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, the film's sole nomination, at the
65th Academy AwardsThe 65th Academy Awards were presented March 29, 1993 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. This was the fourth consecutive show hosted by Billy Crystal.Unforgiven won four Oscars out of nine nominations including Best Picture.-Awards:...
in 1993.
Album
Pesci later reprised the Vincent LaGuardia Gambini character for his album,
Vincent LaGuardia Gambini Sings Just for You, which contains the song "Hey, Cousin Vinny." The album cover portrays Pesci in a red suit similar to the "ridiculous" suit he wore in the film.
External links