You voted and the winner was My Cousin Vinny! In what seemed like a lifetime ago I was given a homework assignment by one of my High School English Professors to bring in a clip from our favorite movie. In 1993, that movie was My Cousin Vinny and I elected to share the following clip with my class. WARNING: These clips are from a Rated R movie and may contain potty language unsuitable for children.
For this week’s Finger Food I wanted to share some cinematic connective tissue with you. The video clip I shared in the fan vote post over a week ago had several actors sharing time on the silver screen. For those of you who didn’t catch the vote, or have yet to watch this wonderful film I have included that clip again here:
Joe Pesci played the lead role as Vinny. Joe has a very interesting filmography which includes a role in the Movie Moonwalker. Moonwalker is billed as a sequel to Captain EO and stars the late Michael Jackson and is basically a collection of music videos from his Bad album. Pesci plays the role of Mr. Big and shares time on the screen with a kid by the name of Sean Lennon. Yeah, Sean Lennon is John’s son and although he hasn’t done much in the way of movies he did end up in this role.
The Karate Kid, I mean Ralph Macchio, has been in several movies over the years. In 2009 he ended up in the film, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Undead, which is a weird movie that attempts to connect vampires to Shakespeare and the Holy Grail and was met with similar reviews as Moonwalker. Macchio found himself in a film which was scored by none other than Sean Lennon.
Marisa Tomei did an amazing job in this film and took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Tomei, like Macchio and Pesci ended up in a variety of roles over the years but is connected to Sean Lennon in a very different way. Tomei’s father, a trial attorney much like Vinny, filed a 10-million-dollar lawsuit against Sean Lennon because a tree on his property caused damage to their home. A few other interesting tidbits? Yeah why not!?
Mitchell Whitfield played the role as Macchio’s friend in the film. The two have an interesting dynamic and banter back and forth throughout the film. The two men are different but it is the similarities which make the dialogue work. Whitfield played his part well as you can see from the scene above but i bet you would be shocked to find out who else was up for the same part in the movie, none other than Will Smith. Can you imagine this film Getting’ Jiggy With It?
Fred Gwynne plays the role of the Judge in My Cousin Vinney and is seen in two of the clips above. Gwynne is best known for his role on the Musters. I will always remember him for a book he wrote and illustrated in 1970 which was aptly titled, The King Who Rained. Gwynne used homophones and idioms to delight children for decades. The librarian from my elementary school read this book to my 3 grade glass and I wasn't able to stop laughing at how silly each page seemed.
Check back next week to see what P.S. McKay has cooked up for the next edition of Finger Food