My Cousin Vinny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| My Cousin Vinny | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Jonathan Lynn |
| Produced by | Dale Launer, Paul Schiff |
| Written by | Dale Launer |
| Starring | Joe Pesci Marisa Tomei Ralph Macchio Mitchell Whitfield Fred Gwynne |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | March 13, 1992 (US premiere) |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $64,088,552 |
| IMDb profile | |
My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn; starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. Pesci gained strong praise for his comedic lead role while Tomei won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance and Fred Gwynne (in his final performance) received critical acclaim for his performance as Judge Chamberlain Haller. The cast also included Ralph Macchio, Lane Smith and Bruce McGill.
[edit] Plot
While driving through the fictional Beechum County, Alabama, New Yorkers Billy Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and his friend Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) accidentally neglect to pay for a can of tuna after stopping at a convenience store. After they leave the store, the clerk is shot and killed, and Billy and Stan 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 attorney in the family, Billy's cousin, Vincent LaGuardia Gambini (Joe Pesci), who travels to Beechum County accompanied by his girlfriend, Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei). Unfortunately, although he is willing to take the case, Vinny is a neophyte personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn, New York, newly admitted to the bar (after six attempts and six years) with no trial experience whatsoever.
Although Vinny manages to fool the trial judge, Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne), 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 even bother to cross-examine any witnesses in the probable cause hearing, and as their claims go unquestioned, it appears that the prosecution 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, 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 suit to court (his new suit fell in the mud) and sleeping through the District Attorney'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 stutters through a line of ill-prepared questions that appear to bolster the case against the boys, Vinny quickly and comprehensively discredits the testimony of the first witness. Billy's faith is rewarded, and Stan yells out in court that he wants to retain Vinny after all.
Vinny's cross-examinations of the remaining eyewitnesses are similarly effective, but the DA produces a surprise witness, 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 Skylark. 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 photos actually hold the key to the case: the flat and even tire marks reveal that the killers' car had a different suspension than Billy's. Vinny needs Lisa, an expert in automobiles, to testify to this. He drags her into the courtroom, where she is forced into testifying. Over the course of the examination, she and Vinny patch up their differences, and Lisa uses her encyclopedic knowledge of cars to prove Vinny's theory correct. She says that the killers actually drove a Pontiac Tempest because it is the only car that could both have made the tire tracks, due to its use of positraction, and could have been confused for Billy's Skylark since both cars were GM bodies and painted with metallic mint green paint. 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 Tempest and in possession of a gun of the same caliber used to kill the clerk. The DA then moves to dismiss all the charges against Bill and Stan.
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 reveals the source of Gallo's most recent publicity: he died the week before. When Haller confronts him over this, Vinny claims that Haller misheard "Gallo" when Vinny actually said "Callo". Finally, Lisa gets Vinny off the hook by calling his mentor, a New York judge, and having him respond 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.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Joe Pesci | Vincent Laguardia "Vinny" Gambini |
| Ralph Macchio | William Robert "Billy" Gambini |
| Marisa Tomei | Mona Lisa Vito |
| Fred Gwynne | Judge Chamberlain Haller |
| Mitchell Whitfield | Stanley Marcus "Stan" Rothenstein |
| Lane Smith | Jim Trotter III |
