For the month of July, Video Days piles in a vehicle and for those who can’t take a vacation, journeys to unfamiliar places with four comedies about strangers in strange lands.
MY COUSIN VINNY (1992) is wonderful for reasons that aren’t apparent from its very modest concept: Two college grads tried for murder while passing through Alabama are defended by the title character, a practicing New York attorney for six weeks, mostly personal injury cases settled out of court. What the movie builds toward slowly, at times, clumsily, is a delightful situation comedy about men and women, as well as, surprisingly, the most accurate movie about criminal court procedure ever made and perhaps made since.
Dale Launer was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but little more than a year old, settled in Southern California, in the San Fernando Valley. His father Saul John Launer had been active in Cleveland theater, and visiting his brother in Los Angeles, booked an appearance on an episode of the TV series Gang Busters. Credited as “S. John Launer” and often cast as authority figures, he’d work steadily in television, playing three different judges over thirty-three episodes of Perry Mason. In 1970, his son would enroll in nearby California State University Northridge, in no hurry to finish and possibly receive a draft notice as a graduation present, taking twelve credits a semester and remaining undecided on a major. At 19, Launer went backpacking in Europe, where he met two young women from L.A. One of the ladies—Andi— had a fiancé at home studying for the bar exam. When Launer returned to California, he met Andi’s fiance Fred and out of curiosity, asked him what happened to people who failed the bar. They can take it again, he was told. And what if you fail a second time, Launer asked. You can take it over and over until you pass. Launer asked Fred what the record was for attempts at passing the bar and was told, “Thirteen,” as if every law student knew the story. Launer wondered what would happen if he committed a crime and his defense was the guy who took the bar thirteen times.
Then Launer asked himself, what if he was being defended for murder by someone who took the bar thirteen times? In the wake of Easy Rider (1969), Launer wondered what if he was on trial for murder in the Dixie South being defended by someone who took the bar thirteen times? He filed the idea away. Launer had seen standup comedian Woody Allen’s first real film as a writer/ director–Take the Money and Run (1969)--and didn’t think it was very good or even funny, ultimately leading him to believe writing or directing movies himself might be possible. Dropping out of school, Launer wrote ten screenplays over eight years, working as a stereo salesman at Federated Group to make ends meet while he worked on his next script. In 1984, producers Joanna Lancaster & Richard Wagner were developing potential projects in America for Sylvia Kristel when they read sixty pages of a comedy about kidnappers who realize the businessman they’re seeking to extort is thrilled that his abducted wife may never come home. Launer had disliked his last sixty pages and only submitted the first half as a writing sample. Dark and funny, the producers commissioned him to finish it. Titled Ruthless People, the script would not only be produced with Danny DeVito and Bette Midler as the vindictive couple, but become one of the biggest hits of 1986, Launer receiving sole credit as writer, another rarity.
Looking for a comedy he could star in with David Bowie, Mick Jagger had his people contact Launer to pitch them his ideas. Not really wanting the job, Launer proposed the musicians team for a remake of the David Niven-Marlon Brando con man comedy Bedtime Story (1964). Enticed by the idea, Launer would both write and produce Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) with Steve Martin and Michael Caine ultimately starring. Launer was offered an overall deal at Twentieth Century Fox, then being run by chairman Joe Roth and president Roger Birnbaum. The first pitch he sold was Love Potion #9 (1992), which moved forward with Launer writing and directing. Owing the studio two more pitches, Launer proposed an action comedy titled Joe Safety and a comedy about a murder trial in the south in which the defense has flunked the bar exam more times than thought possible. Roth and Birnbaum liked Joe Safety, but after more thought, Launer elected to write the courtroom comedy instead. He had no story yet. A fan of comedian Sam Kinison, Launer’s initial thought was that his script’s attorney might be a wild man known for annihilating witnesses on the stand. On Fox’s dime, he flew to New Orleans, rented a Ford Probe and drove through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Among the writer/ producer’s experiences in the South were losing control of his rental car over new asphalt on a divided highway and needing to be pulled out of a flooded median, finding out mud can get inside a tire and throw the wheel alignment off. Phoning his friend, actor Carole Davis, from the road with a report, Launer remembered her remark that the Chinese food must be terrible. Stopping in Butler, Alabama for the night, Launer dined at a greasy spoon with three items on the menu: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, no further explanation. Seeking more material, he entered a local grocery store, where Launer discovered an entire section devoted to grits. Back in L.A., Launer met with his friend Doug Knoll, a California attorney who’d gone to the same high school he had. Asking him questions, the screenwriter was amazed to learn that court procedure isn’t taught in law school, that young attorneys either learn the ropes from the firm that hires them, or by attending trials. This confirmed for Launer that without either, his main character would be completely over his head in court, even after passing the bar. With his research compiled, Launer wrote a first draft of My Cousin Vinny in about six weeks in 1989.
In his script, Launer described Vincent LaGuardia Gambini as an ex-boxer, a thug who at 6’4” would stick out anywhere, particularly in a courtroom. Meeting with Roth, Birnbaum and senior VP of production Riley Ellis, Launer was congratulated on the script by Birnbaum, who as the writer remembers it, opened by asking him if he could cut Vinny’s girlfriend Mona Lisa Vito, giving her many great lines to Vinny instead. Launer responded that the character of Lisa was the best thing in the script. The screenwriter won that argument, but when it came to casting, Launer was overruled on his first choice: Robert DeNiro, who while not necessarily tall, could be physically intimidating. Birnbaum argued that DeNiro had never been funny and that his dramas weren’t much more successful at the box office than Midnight Run (1988) had been. Launer met with Danny DeVito (4’10”) to discuss the possibility of him both starring and directing, but the actor and filmmaker didn’t express much enthusiasm for the script as written, nor did Launer to rewrite it. Jim Belushi had signed a pay-or-play deal to play Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own (1992) while the comedy was in development at Fox, or earn his full fee if the movie didn’t happen, and when the project did fall apart, the studio offered him My Cousin Vinny. Belushi kept the money and turned down the offer to play Vincent Gambini.
One actor Fox thought was not only funny but could make a commercially viable picture was Joe Pesci, who’d played irritating accountant Leo Getz in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989). Pesci had since reunited with DeNiro and their Raging Bull (1980) director Martin Scorsese for a new mob picture titled GoodFellas (1990) that Launer hadn’t seen yet, but he had a hunch that Pesci could be passably intimidating. Pesci accepted the part. Joining Dale Launer as producer was Paul Schiff, who’d been mentored by Joe Roth while working for the production company Roth had co-founded, Morgan Creek, serving as an associate producer on Roth’s debut as a director, Streets of Gold (1988) and producing Roth’s follow-up, Coupe de Ville (1990). Launer’s screenplay with its courtroom dialogue ran long for a drama, even more so for a comedy. Whether Roth was dubious that Launer, prepping Love Potion #9, would be available for production rewrites or inclined to make the trims Fox wanted if he was, the studio sought a writer/ director to take over.
Jonathan Lynn had earned an MA in law from Cambridge University, placating his parents but choosing to focus on his passion, having joined a drama club at school and acting in campus productions. Appearing on British television led to Lynn writing (with Antony Jay) the sitcoms Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. With political farce on his CV, Lynn earned an offer in the States to write Clue (1985) and when John Landis couldn’t find it in his schedule, to direct as well. The board game adaptation’s poor critical and commercial reception had not led to offers for more work in America, but writing and directing the Eric Idle-Robbie Coltrane farce Nuns on the Run (1991), which Fox distributed in the U.S., compelled Roth to offer Lynn My Cousin Vinny. Lynn loved courtroom dramas–counting Anatomy of a Murder (1959), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and The Verdict (1982) among his favorites–but hadn’t seen a courtroom comedy yet. With Pesci already on board, the search began for an actor to play Mona Lisa Vito. Lorraine Bracco was mentioned. Seeking a star, Fox approached Geena Davis and to Lynn’s relief, she passed, the director preferring an Italian American in the part. None of the candidates proposed were clicking when Lynn paid a visit to Paramount Studios, where John Landis was shooting his new picture, Oscar (1991). Lynn took notice of a young actor playing Sylvester Stallone’s daughter, a Jazz Age flapper, and asked Landis who she was.
Marisa Tomei had been a cast member on season one of the TV series A Different World, exiting the college sitcom after Debbie Allen rebooted the series without Lisa Bonet in season two, and Oscar was Tomei’s break in motion pictures. Landis agreed she was terrific and offered to run Lynn dailies featuring Tomei. Lynn told David Rubin, casting director of My Cousin Vinny, about her, and among the three finalists they’d arrived on to play Mona Lisa Vito and screen tested for the part, Tomei was not only Lynn’s choice, but Joe Pesci’s as well. Fox picked one of the other candidates, but once Lynn reported that Pesci wanted Marisa Tomei for the role, the studio dropped their objections. Pesci continued to exercise input over the cast, putting in a word for his friend Bruce McGill, of National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) and Silkwood (1983), to play Sheriff Farley. For the role of Vinny’s adversary, Judge Chamberlain Haller, Pesci wanted Wilford Brimley for the part, Brimley about as no-nonsense and “rural” as they came. Perhaps seeking someone with situation comedy experience, Fred Gwynne was cast instead. He was joined by Lane Smith (as district attorney Jim Trotter III), Maury Chakin, James Rebhorn and Austin Pendelton. Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield were cast as Vinny’s clients, chosen over Ben Stiller and Will Smith, who both auditioned, but depicting Jewish and African American college boys being arrested in Alabama would’ve given the movie considerable historic baggage to unload.
On a budget of $11.9 million, My Cousin Vinny commenced filming in February 1991. Lacking the infrastructure to support a film production, Alabama was bypassed in favor of shooting the entirety of the movie in neighboring Georgia. Using the town of Greensboro–halfway between Atlanta and Augusta–as a hub, cast and crew were housed at a lakefront golf resort (now Reynolds Lake Oconee) under construction. Much of the exterior filming took place in the town of Monticello, where Jasper County Courthouse stood in for the outside of the “Wazoo” town courthouse. Sac-o-Suds, where the movie’s murder occurs (off-screen), was a real convenience store between the towns of Monticello and Jackson, since renovated and turned into a tourist attraction, on Hwy 16 at the Ocmulgee River Bridge. Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto accommodated cast and crew for exteriors and interiors of the film’s prison, but unable to commandeer a working courtroom for a month, nor shoot angles that would make those sequences interesting, court scenes were shot in a warehouse in Covington that had been used by the TV series In the Heat of the Night for similar purposes.
Halfway through production, Joe Pesci flew to Los Angeles to attend the Academy Awards ceremony, where he not only won Best Supporting Actor for GoodFellas, but issued one of the shortest acceptance speeches on record (“It’s my privilege. Thank you.”) At the same moment, a comedy Pesci had shot after GoodFellas titled Home Alone (1990) was on its way to becoming one of the highest grossing motion pictures of all time. Pesci was now a star. My Cousin Vinny opened a year later, in March 1992, on 1,506 screens in the U.S. Critical reaction leaned positive. On their syndicated television program, Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert split. Siskel praised Dale Launer’s script for having qualities similar to Ruthless People, filling the cast with smart characters instead of fools, Vinny and Lisa worthy opponents for the Southern judge and district attorney. Ebert couldn’t quite give the film his recommendation, liking the performances including Fred Gwynne’s, but unable to care about the Ralph Macchio character or the crime he’d been accused of. Writing in the New York Times, Vincent Canby commented, “My Cousin Vinny is easily the most inventive and enjoyable American film farce in a long time, even during those extended patches when it seems to be marking time or when it continues with a running gag that can’t stay the distance.”
At the box office, five weeks wasn’t enough time for My Cousin Vinny to avoid the juggernaut that was Wayne’s World (1992), but positive word of mouth held a spot for it among the top ten grossing films for seven of ten weekends in release. A year later, in what came as a shock to the entertainment press, Marisa Tomei won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress as Mona Lisa Vito. Producer Paul Schiff would credit the Academy for sending out screeners on videocassette (for only the second year), enabling voters who would have normally avoided a comedy titled My Cousin Vinny to delight over Tomei’s performance at home. The film’s popularity prompted Joe Roth to commission Dale Launer to write a sequel. The story Launer concocted involved Vinny and Lisa marrying in England, where she stands trial for murder and he defends her, complete with barrister’s wig. With Pesci and Tomei on board to reprise their roles, Launer traveled to the U.K. for research, finding a loophole that would’ve made his comic conceit possible in British court. Before Launer could finish the script, Tomei changed her mind about making a sequel. Launer proposed to Fox they recast her part, a move that had precedence. Roth counter-offered that the screenwriter create a new fiancée for Vinny instead. Launer objected—for the second time—to cutting Lisa from his script. The studio farmed the sequel out to another writer, and according to Launer, Joe Pesci disliked the new script even more than Launer did. Even without a sequel, the film’s reputation blossomed. Interviewed on the podcast So, How’d You Get Here? in 2023, Launer declared, “Several judges have said to me that it’s the only Hollywood trial movie where everything is correct. Nothing is wrong.”
The weakest sections of My Cousin Vinny are its crime and the two characters accused of it. This may have not only been unavoidable, but necessary. Even at 120 minutes–the similarly themed Pauly Shore comedy Son-In-Law (1993) would go down south and back in 95 minutes–there wasn’t time to build a twisty murder mystery, with the real culprits at large and complexities examined between the accused. Ralph Macchio and Mitchell Whitfield, who in a comedy like Stir Crazy (1980) would’ve played the main characters, are in the way of a better movie, and director Jonathan Lynn cuts them loose. The better movie is about Vinny and his fiancée Lisa. On what initially appears to be a completely different track from the courtroom intrigue, their scenes are about men trying to perform an insurmountable task and women who are able to help and anxious to help, but need to be asked. Vinny and Lisa are portrayed like a real couple, not a comic couple, Launer understanding every question we could have about them. There’s a lot that Vinny and Lisa don’t know, but being from New York, and Italian American to boot, they love to argue, even using it in foreplay. In one of the film’s best scenes, they argue about a dripping faucet, not because they’re trying to hurt each other, or because either of them cares about water conservation, but because debate excites them. This gives them a puncher’s chance of forcing the state to dismiss the charges against their clients. Because he can’t dig them out of prison, Vinny has to learn criminal court procedure, and this is the other track the movie excels on.
My Cousin Vinny is a courtroom movie for the layman because the main character is a layman, and we’re learning how to defend a capital case with him. We learn what an arraignment is, how to depose witnesses, and what happens if a judge holds an attorney in contempt. We learn about disclosure, and how the prosecution and defense are more often than not simply members of the loyal opposition: cordial and clubby, considering they work together every day. Released six weeks before the 1992 Los Angeles riots and Rodney King’s televised plea for everyone to get along, My Cousin Vinny, without trying to solve any major societal problems, offered its own solution. While Dale Launer’s writing is masterful in the way it intersects its relationship comedy with a movie about legal procedure, Lynn deserves credit for the performances–Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei pop with movie star energy, while Fred Gwynne, perhaps cast by virtue of being a foot taller than Pesci, alternates between moments of grave solemnity and lovable sympathy–but also for the film’s heart. A British citizen, Lynn doesn’t paint northerners as good and southerners as bad. They’re Americans as far as he’s concerned. In an example of how the film’s most pleasurable laughs are built, Vinny finally gets a good night’s sleep in Alabama by spending the night in prison, where instead of a steam whistle, hogs or a freight train, the sounds of New York comfort him. My Cousin Vinny doesn’t pretend people are all alike, but imagines that we’re capable of engaging in debate in which both parties win.
Video rental category: Comedy
Special interest: Stranger In a Strange Land
Another excellent review, Joe! Bill and I had another long drive, and enjoy reading your reviews aloud and then discussing them. I haven't seen My Cousin Vinny in a while but I really enjoyed it, and recently saw a video channel assess it in terms of how well it portrayed the relationship. Between that and now your review, I *really* want to see it again -- now that I have so many more details you've pointed out for me to catch. And as always, I love hearing about the process of creating, and what other actors were considered.
Joe, another great deep dive and fascinating piece. It’s been a while for me to comment but yet again… you choose a movie filmed in my state of Georgia :). Can’t wait to revisit this film armed with so much more context and background than when I watched it during its original release era with my family while vacationing in Arizona…
Wonderful work.