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By Bill Altreuter

"My Cousin Vinny" is number 3 on the ABA list of Top 25 Legal Movies, behind "Mockingbird" and "12 Angry Men". On its face this seems like a peculiar choice for the ABA, which isn't really known for its sense of humor, but I think if you dig into it a little it makes sense. "Vinny" is a favorite of a lot of lawyers, and one of the things that people like about it, aside from its easy-going humor, is that a lot of the courtroom stuff rings true. There is some first rate cross-examination going on there, and that's hard to do. What we tend to see in lawyer movies is either cross-examination that is really arguing with the witness, or cross-examination that has gone wrong because the questioner has asked the Question Without Knowing The Answer. In "Vinny" we are even shown the right way and the wrong way. The stuttering public defender asks one witness about his glasses, and learns that they are reading glasses. The witness can see just fine, and can even tell what color the defendants' eyes are as they sit at counsel table. Vinny has prepared, however, and is able to build an effective cross of the nearsighted old lady, including a persuasive demonstration:

Q: Mrs. Reilly, when you saw the defendants, were you wearing your glasses?
A: Yes, I was.
Q: Over here, dear. Would you mind putting your glasses on for us, please?
(She puts on her glasses.) Whoa, how long you been wearing glasses?
A: Since I was six.
Q: Have they always been that thick?
A: Oh, no, they got thicker over the years.
Q: So as your eyes have gotten more and more out of wack as you've gotten older, how many different levels of thickness do you think you've gone through?
A: Oh, I don't know, over sixty years, maybe 10 times?
Q: Maybe you're ready for a thicker set?
A: Oh, no, I think they're okay.
Q: I think we should make sure. Let's check it out. Now how far were the defendants from you when you saw them entering the Sack O' Suds?
A: About a hundred feet.
Q: About a hundred feet. Would you hold this please? (Running a tape measure). Sorry, excuse me, excuse me, sorry, sorry. Okay. This is fifty feet. That's half the distance. How many fingers am I holding up? (He hold up two fingers.)
Judge: Let the record show that the counselor is holding up two fingers.
Q: Your Honor, please, huh?
J: Oh. Sorry.
Q: Now, Mrs. Reilly, and only Mrs. Reilly, how many fingers am I holding up now?
(He holds up two fingers)
A: Four.
Q: What do you think now, dear?
A: I'm thinking of getting thicker glasses.
Gambini: Thank you.

The thing that makes "My Cousin Vinny" so unusual goes beyond just trial technique though. This is a lawyer movie in which there is no bad guy. The judge is tough, but fair. The prosecutor doesn't cut any corners, or hold anything back. There are no liars on the stand-- just people who are unsure about what they think they are sure of. The only scoundrel in the movie, really, is Vinnie himself, and he does the things a lawyer is supposed to do. He goes out and interviews witnesses. He takes the case seriously. He works hard, and he cares.

"My Cousin Vinny" is a lawyer movie that believes in lawyers and the legal system. A just result-- the correct result-- is reached, and it ends that way because the defendants' lawyer, Vinny, did his job. That's a good reason to put it on anybody's list of great lawyer movies, and congratulations to the ABA for getting it.

Full post as published by Outside Counsel on November 11, 2009 (boomark / email).