My Cousin Vinny

Two New York college students, Bill Gambini and Stan Rothenstein, are driving through rural Alabama when they stop at a convenience store. After Bill shoplifts a can of tuna, they leave, and the store clerk is robbed and murdered. The boys are arrested for murder, and Bill's cousin, Vincent Gambini, a loudmouth Brooklyn lawyer who just passed the bar on his sixth try, comes to defend them. He brings his sharp fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito, a hairdresser from a family of auto mechanics.

Vinny is completely out of his element in the small Southern town. He clashes with the stern Judge Chamberlain Haller, fumbles courtroom procedures, and faces a confident prosecutor. But as the trial progresses, Vinny's street smarts and Mona Lisa's automotive expertise become the keys to unraveling the prosecution's case. [edit]

Bill Gambini and Stan Rothenstein are driving from New York to their university in the South. On a back road in Alabama, they pull into the Sac-O-Suds convenience store. Bill grabs a can of tuna without paying, and they leave. Moments later, the store clerk is shot dead during a robbery. The police pull the boys over for a broken taillight and arrest them for murder. At the station, Bill confesses to shoplifting the tuna, which the police interpret as a confession to the murder.

Unable to afford a good lawyer, Bill calls his cousin Vinny Gambini, a personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn who has never tried a case. Vinny and his fiancée Mona Lisa drive to Alabama in a rusted car. Vinny's first appearance in court is a disaster: he arrives in a leather jacket, mispronounces legal terms, and fails to enter a proper plea. Judge Haller threatens him with contempt and demands proof that he is a lawyer.

Vinny struggles to adapt. He borrows a suit, studies procedure, and tries to interview witnesses. The prosecution's case seems airtight: an elderly eyewitness, Constance Riley, claims she saw the boys leave the store after hearing a gunshot. A forensic expert, George Wilbur, testifies that the tire tracks at the scene match Bill and Stan's 1964 Buick Skylark, and that the bullet came from a gun found in the boys' car. Vinny's cross-examinations are clumsy at first, but he begins to find his footing. He gets Constance Riley to admit her eyesight is poor and that she only saw two young men in a car, not the shooting.

Meanwhile, Mona Lisa, who has been studying the evidence, notices inconsistencies. She photographs the tire tracks outside their motel and the motel's grits, which Vinny later uses to discredit the prosecution's timeline. Vinny realizes the murderers' car must have a Positraction rear differential, which leaves different tire marks than a standard differential. He calls Mona Lisa to the stand as an expert witness. Despite the prosecutor's objections, Judge Haller allows her testimony after Vinny establishes her extensive knowledge of cars.[edit]