My Cousin Vinny
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.
Language	English
Budget	$11,000,000
IMDb profile

My Cousin Vinny is a 1992 American movie, released on Friday, 13 March, starring Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. Tomei won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance, and Fred Gwynne received critical acclaim for his performance as Judge Chamberlain Haller. The cast included Ralph Macchio, Lane Smith and Bruce McGill. Image File history File links MyCousinVinny. ... Jonathan Lynn (born April 3, 1943), is a British actor and comedy writer. ... Dale Launer is an American comedy screenwriter. ... Dale Launer is an American comedy screenwriter. ... Joseph Eliot Pesci (born February 9, 1943), best known as Joe Pesci, is an American Academy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer who is often typecast as a violent mobster, grouchy funnyman, or both. ... Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress. ... This article is about the actor. ... Mitchell Whitfield is an American actor, who starred as a guest actor in F.R.I.E.N.D.S - the famous American TV Sitcom. ... Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was a 6 ft 5 in (1. ... Related articles FOX Television Network Fox Searchlight Pictures Fox Entertainment Group List of Hollywood movie studios List of movies Variant of current 20th Century Fox logo External links 20th Century Fox Movies official site Twentieth Century Fox is also the punning title of a song by The Doors on their... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... March 13 is the 72nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (73rd in leap years). ... Joseph Eliot Pesci (born February 9, 1943), best known as Joe Pesci, is an American Academy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer who is often typecast as a violent mobster, grouchy funnyman, or both. ... Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress. ... Academy Award The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are the most prominent and most watched film awards ceremony in the world. ... The Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was a 6 ft 5 in (1. ... This article is about the actor. ... Lane Smith, full name Walter Lane Smith (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was a U.S. character actor. ... Bruce McGill Bruce Travis McGill was born on July 11, 1950 in San Antonio, Texas. ...

Plot

While driving through the fictional Beechum County, Alabama, Billy Gambini (Ralph Macchio) and his friend Stan Rothenstein (Mitchell Whitfield) accidentally neglect to pay for a can of tuna fish after stopping at the 'Sac-o-Suds' convenience store. After they leave the store, the clerk is shot and killed. Billy and Stan are then pulled over and detained in connection with the murder. They are taken to the fictional town of Wazoo. However, Billy and Stan assume they were detained for shoplifting, so they behave guiltily and manage to indirectly implicate themselves in the shooting. Due to circumstantial evidence and a series of miscommunications, Billy ends up being charged with murder, and Stan is charged as an accessory to the crime. The pair call Billy's mother, who tells her son that there is an attorney in the family, who would be willing to take the case. Unfortunately, Billy's cousin Vincent LaGuardia Gambini (Joe Pesci), better known as Vinny, is a neophyte personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn, New York, newly admitted to the bar (after six attempts and six years) and has no trial experience. Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ... This article is about the actor. ... Mitchell Whitfield is an American actor, who starred as a guest actor in F.R.I.E.N.D.S - the famous American TV Sitcom. ... Species Thunnus alalunga Thunnus albacares Thunnus atlanticus Thunnus maccoyii Thunnus obesus Thunnus orientalis Thunnus thynnus Thunnus tonggol Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Wazoo may refer to: Wudu, in Arabic WaZOO, Warp Zillion Opus-to-Opus. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Circumstantial evidence is lesbian sex with a huge glass dildo unrelated facts that, when considered together, can be used to infer a conclusion about something unknown. ... An attorney is someone who represents someone else in the transaction of business: For attorney-at-law, see lawyer, solicitor, barrister or civil law notary. ... Joseph Eliot Pesci (born February 9, 1943), best known as Joe Pesci, is an American Academy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer who is often typecast as a violent mobster, grouchy funnyman, or both. ... A personal injury occurs when a person has suffered some form of injury, either physical or psychological, as the result of an accident. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In legal parlance, a trial is an event in which parties to a dispute present information (in the form of evidence) in a formal setting, usually a court, before a judge, jury, or other designated finder of fact, in order to achieve a resolution to their dispute. ...

Although Vinny manages to fool the trial judge, Chamberlain Haller (Fred Gwynne) about being experienced enough to take the case, his actual ignorance of basic court procedures gets him into trouble immediately, much to his clients' consternation. For example, after appearing before the judge at the arraignment in a leather jacket and without a tie, Vinny is thrown into jail for contempt of court after failing to enter a plea and behaving disrespectfully toward the judge. On his second appearance in court, Vinny does not even bother to cross-examine any witnesses in the probable cause hearing. To make things worse, the three eyewitnesses turn out to be stupid, incompetent, or liars, who swear that they saw Billy and Stan at the crime scene. Sheriff Dean Farley also testifies that Billy confessed, but Billy had merely been incredulous at the suggestion that he was suspected in a murder when he said, "I shot the clerk?!" As these claims go unquestioned, it appears that the prosecution has an airtight case that will inevitably lead to a conviction at the trial. Meanwhile, Vinny's inability to get a good night's sleep at the poor accommodations he finds, coupled with his own stubborn and proud refusal to accept the help of his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei), further impairs his performance. Frederick Hubbard Gwynne (July 10, 1926 – July 2, 1993) was a 6 ft 5 in (1. ... Arraignment is a common law term for the formal reading of a criminal complaint, in the presence of the defendant, to inform him of the charges against him. ... Contempt of court is a court ruling which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, deems an individual as holding contempt for the court, its process, and its invested powers. ... In United States criminal law, probable cause refers to the standard by which a police officer may make an arrest, conduct a personal or property search or obtain a warrant. ... Within some criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing (evidentiary hearing) is a meeting, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecutor, to determine whether, and to what extent, criminal charges and civil cause of actions will be heard (by a court), what evidence will be admitted, and what... Marisa Tomei (born December 4, 1964) is an Academy Award-winning American film and stage actress. ...

After Vinny's poor showing at the hearing, Billy and Stan decide to fire Vinny and use the public defender, John Gibbons (Austin Pendleton). Vinny asks his cousin for one more chance to prove himself in court, and Billy reluctantly agrees. The trial then opens with Vinny representing Billy and the Gibbons representing Stan. Vinny manages to again draw the ire of the judge by showing up late and wearing a gaudy second-hand suit (because his new suit accidentally fell in the mud). After again being cited for contempt, Vinny sleeps through the prosecutor's opening statement. With nothing prepared and no idea what the jury has already heard, Vinny makes a brief statement: "Everything that guy just said is bullshit. Thank you." The DA, Jim Trotter III (Lane Smith) objects on the ground that Vinny's entire statement is argumentative. Judge Haller sustains the objection and strikes everything but "thank you" from the record. However, it turns out that Stan's attorney suffers from a serious case of stage fright and delivers an inept, stuttering opening statement. He again missteps when cross-examining Sam Tipton (Maury Chaykin), the first prosecution witness. Gibbons asks questions that Tipton easily answers, which serves to strengthen the case against Billy and Stan. Vinny at last manages to do something right, as he asks a devastating series of questions that discredit Tipton's prior testimony while presenting an alternate theory of the crime: that two other men, driving a similar car, committed the murder after Billy and Stan had left the scene. After Tipton admits that what he saw was consistent with Vinny's theory and that he "may have been mistaken" in what he said during the direct examination, Stan dismisses the public defender and declares that he wants Vinny to represent him. In addition, Vinny finally gets some sleep when he decides not to be bailed out and stays overnight at the prison, where the loud noises mimic the Brooklyn streets that he is used to. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Austin Pendleton (born on 27 March 1940 in Warren, Ohio, USA) is an American movie, television and stage actor. ... A used item is one that is not new or a resource that has been partially or completely depleted. ... An opening statement is generally the first occasion that the trier of fact (jury or judge) has to hear from counsel in a trial, aside from (depending on jurisdiction) questioning during voir dire. ... Lane Smith, full name Walter Lane Smith (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was a U.S. character actor. ... Stage fright refers to an anxiety, fear or persistent phobia related to performance in front of an audience. ... In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by ones opponent. ... Maury Chaykin (born July 27, 1949 in Brooklyn, New York) is a Canadian actor. ... Direct examination (also called examination in chief) is the questioning of a witness by the party who called him or her, in a trial in a court of law. ...

As the trial goes on, Vinny continues to expose the weaknesses in the district attorney's case. The second witness, Ernie Crane (Raynor Scheine), swears he recognized the defendants and their car even though he was looking through several obstacles. After calling attention to the "rusty, dusty, dirty" screen on Crane's window and the large amount of foliage in the middle of his view of the convenience store, Vinny gets the witness to acknowledge that he may have merely noticed "two guys in a green convertible," consistent with Vinny's theory that the crime was perpetrated by two similar-looking men in a similar car. The third witness, Constance Riley (Paulene Myers), has severely impaired vision yet still swears that she recognized the defendants as the murderers. However, after Vinny shows that she can't see well enough to tell how many fingers he is holding up across the courtroom, half the distance from her house to the crimescene, she admits that she wasn't able to see well enough to positively identify the defendants. A promotional photo of Raynor Scheine Raynor Scheine is a veteran actor who has appeared in films for three decades dating back to 1979, including My Cousin Vinny and Fried Green Tomatoes. ...

However, Trotter has one more surprise witness, FBI analyst George Wilbur (James Rebhorn), who testifies that his analysis of the tire marks left at the crimescene shows that they are identical to the tires on Billy's car. 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. A hurt and angry Lisa leaves him to work alone. But finally, in the courtroom, Vinny looks at the photos again and realizes that they hold the key to the case: Billy's car could not have produced the flat and even marks because of the technology used to make its suspension. Vinny, however, needs Lisa to testify to this, and she has been avoiding him since he lashed out at her. Vinny finds Lisa outside the courtroom and forces her inside as an expert witness to rebut the testimony of George Wilbur. The D.A. then voir dires Ms. vito where he finds she is a credible expert witness, and is then examined by Vinny where she triumphantly confirms Vinny's theory that the car at the crime scene was definitely not Billy's 1964 Buick Skylark, but a 1963 Pontiac Tempest, the only car resembling the former and able to produce the marks at the crimescene. Vinny then calls Wilbur again, who confirms that it would be impossible for Billy's car to have made the marks at the crimescene. Sheriff Farley then testifies that two men resembling Billy and Stan were arrested in Georgia for possession of a stolen Pontiac Tempest and a .357 Magnum revolver, the same caliber bullet that was used to murder the victim in this case. Trotter then drops all the charges against Billy and Stan. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... James Rebhorn (born September 1, 1948) is an American character actor who has appeared in over one hundred television shows, feature films, and plays. ... The phrase voir dire derives from Middle French; in modern English it is interpreted to mean speak the truth and generally refers to the process by which prospective jurors are questioned about their backgrounds and potential biases before being invited to sit on a jury. ... Motor Life magazine cover, showing rear view of 1961 Pontiac Tempest chassis, with rear transaxle. ... .357 Magnum Colt Python revolver .357 Magnum ammunition. ...

External links

• My Cousin Vinny at the Internet Movie Database
• My Cousin Vinny at Movie Tome
• Transcript of the trial proceedings