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Mona Lisa Vito’s expert testimony


DizRotus

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My Cousin Vinny is one of those movies I can watch, at least certain parts, repeatedly.  Last night it was on AMC, so I recorded it to watch the expert testimony.  As great as Marisa Tomei/Mona Lisa Vito’s testimony was, it has inaccuracies.

 

Mona Lisa Vito: The car that made these two, equal-length tire marks had positraction. You can't make those marks without positraction, which was not available on the '64 Buick Skylark!

Vinny Gambini: And why not? What is positraction?

Mona Lisa Vito: It's a limited slip differential which distributes power equally to both the right and left tires. The '64 Skylark had a regular differential, which, anyone who's been stuck in the mud in Alabama knows, you step on the gas, one tire spins, the other tire does nothing.

[the jury members nod, with murmurs of "yes," "that's right," etc]

Vinny Gambini: Is that it?

Mona Lisa Vito: No, there's more! You see? When the left tire mark goes up on the curb and the right tire mark stays flat and even? Well, the '64 Skylark had a solid rear axle, so when the left tire would go up on the curb, the right tire would tilt out and ride along its edge. But that didn't happen here. The tire mark stayed flat and even. This car had an independent rear suspension. Now, in the '60's, there were only two other cars made in America that had positraction, and independent rear suspension, and enough power to make these marks. One was the Corvette, which could never be confused with the Buick Skylark. The other had the same body length, height, width, weight, wheel base, and wheel track as the '64 Skylark, and that was the 1963 Pontiac Tempest.

Vinny Gambini: And because both cars were made by GM, were both cars available in metallic mint green paint?

Mona Lisa Vito: They were!

Vinny Gambini: Thank you, Ms. Vito. No more questions. Thank you very, very much.

[kissing her hands]

Vinny Gambini: You've been a lovely, lovely witness.

 

An often noted inaccuracy is the failure to note the Chevy Corvair as a third American car then available with limited slip differential (LSD) and independent rear suspension  (IRS).  The Corvair and Tempest had swing axles, which are not exactly the same as the true IRS on the 63 and later Corvette, as well as 65-69 Corvair.  The screenwriter,  Dale Launer, acknowledged the Corvair omission, but, understandably, did so as to not clutter the dialogue.  A practical issue with the testimony involves the dual parallel tire marks.  Only the most powerful versions of the 63 Tempest, or Corvair, would have been able to lay down those marks.

 

Another inaccuracy in her testimony regards the comparison of the dimensions of a 63 Tempest to a 64 Skylark.  Contrary to her testimony, the 64 Skylark is larger in most dimensions than the 63 Tempest.  The dimensions of a 64 Tempest and 64 Skylark are similar, but 63s are smaller than 64s.  They could have put the characters in a 63 Skylark convertible, which is the same size as a 63 Tempest, but was not available with IRS.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Tempest

 

Other movies that stop me while flipping channels are: Twelve Angry Men, Shawshank Redemption and Planes, Trains & Automobiles. I stop to watch a bit, and, before I know it, the credits are rolling.  What movies do that to you?

 

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Some courtroom drama movies in the closet--ones that get to stay:

 

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) - the "greatest film hero of the 20th century"--Atticus Finch as played by Gregory Peck.  He gave the performance of his life for this role.
12 Angry Men (1957) - all 12 actors in this film needed to share the Academy Best Actor award.  The Myers-Briggs typing for each role is a study in interpersonal dynamics.

Inherit the Wind (1960) - who can deny the talent of Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow?

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) - Burt Lancaster as the tragic Dr. Ernst Janning, Spencer Tracy as the reasoned Judge Dan Haywood, and Maximilian Schell as defense attorney Hans Rolfe nevertheless trying to present his case.

Presumed Innocent (1990) - Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich, Brian Dennehy as Raymond Horgan, Paul Winfield as Judge Larren Lyttle, and Raúl Juliá as Alejandro "Sandy" Stern.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959) - James Stewart as Paul Biegler and George C. Scott as Claude Dancer go at it in not-so-nice terms.

The Verdict (1982) - the defining film role for Paul Newman, IMHO.

My Cousin Vinny (1992) - the comic relief is a bit over the top at times but definitely worth watching, especially to see the early morning train wake-up scenes again.  It feels familiar from time to time.

 

There are, of course other movies that could qualify as favorite courtroom dramas in the closet, but the above are the ones that keep these movies around to watch when the spirit moves me to pull them out and watch them.

 

Chris

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Those are excellent movies Chris @Chris A.  I especially like Anatomy of a Murder for its Michigan connections.  

 

The author of the book, Robert Traver (pen name for John D. Voelker) was a Michigan Supreme Court Justice.  The story was based upon a real case from his days as a UP prosecutor and then criminal defense attorney   Jimmy Stewart was, essentially, playing a young Voelker.  Like Stewart’s character, Voelker would rather be fly fishing than lawyering.  In contrast to most ponderously written legal opinions, Voelker’s are well written, contain humor and are a pleasure to read.

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3 hours ago, DizRotus said:

My Cousin Vinny is one of those movies I can watch, at least certain parts, repeatedly.  Last night it was on AMC, so I recorded it to watch the expert testimony.  As great as Marisa Tomei/Mona Lisa Vito’s testimony was, it has inaccuracies.

 

Last fall we rode our motorcycles to the Sack of Suds bought a couple of beers and took a few pics, sat and drank at the river.  This was on our way home from the Allman Brothers big house museum and lunch at H&H.  Not too far to do in a day from Athens.

 

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Accuracy in films/tv rarely exists. For me what ruins most productions are character trait failures. Notably all modern actors/actresses have blinding white and perfect dentition which seriously conflicts with historical context and usually is shown w/o any consideration for context authenticity. Characters that are supposed to be heavy laborers with manicured fingernails destroys the presentation. Having grown up in west Los Angeles I have little respect for that industry. The recent relevations of sexual abuse is absurd. Doors to opportunity in hollywierd never open because of an actors talent/skills and they haven’t since films became big business. 

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7 hours ago, DizRotus said:

...I especially like Anatomy of a Murder for its Michigan connections...The author of the book, Robert Traver (pen name for John D. Voelker) was a Michigan Supreme Court Justice.  The story was based upon a real case from his days as a UP prosecutor and then criminal defense attorney...In contrast to most ponderously written legal opinions, Voelker’s are well written, contain humor and are a pleasure to read.

I was also impressed by the casting of Joseph N. Welch as Judge Weaver--the real life attorney that shut down Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army--McCarthy hearings. He didn't really strike me much as a judge in the film (the criminal judges that I've known are typically not the kind of people I'd spend a lot of time around), but Welch did strike me as a attorney and as such gave the production an air of authenticity.  I'm not terribly surprised at the real-life basis of the screenplay because every time I watch the movie, it's clear that the story itself strangely hangs together.

 

One movie that has me coming back again and again includes the documentary Side by Side, which I've watched many times and each time seeing things that I completely missed beforehand during the interviews.  This film explores the effects of newly introduced technology (i.e., digital film making) on notable people within the industry, and the real-life effects of its technology disruption (analog film) on the participants the new technology's inevitable takeover.  [This is a subject of interest in my past career of engineering totally new systems into existence--and the problems with people in the process that hang on to the older technology--irrationally.]

 

Some movies that keep me returning to watch again include Arrival (2016) and several Spielberg films such as Bridge of Spies (2015), and Lincoln (2012).  Others like the Julian Fellowes' Gosford Park (2001) also have notably deep screenplays and able directors.  Really well-done sci-fi and adventures (albeit without much violence), I'm always a sucker for. 

 

Chris

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58 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

Anything on the Hallmark Channel, especially during the Christmas holidays.....it's simply magical.

At Christmas for the last 3 years my Mom has asked me, "do you have the Halmark Channel"?

I give the Same answer every time "I dont know"

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5 hours ago, DizRotus said:

My Cousin Vinny is one of those movies I can watch, at least certain parts, repeatedly.  Last night it was on AMC, so I recorded it to watch the expert testimony.  As great as Marisa Tomei/Mona Lisa Vito’s testimony was, it has inaccuracies.

Thanks for the factual trivia additions. I just PURCHASED that movie from Amazon about a month ago because it was so entertaning and Marisa Tomei is such a doll to watch (even nowadays,  playing Spider Man's Aunt May). Also it was Fred Gwynnes last role before he died (He was in Car 54 in the late 50's and played Herman Munster in the Munsters TV show and Singular Movie, with Yvonne DeCarlo as his wife).

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2 hours ago, Ceptorman said:

The movie The Wrestler is a great flick. It is a perfect role for Mickey Rourke, plus Marisa Tomei gets naked 😀

Yes, whenever you need a low life looking scuzbag, Mickey is your go to guy! Look at Iron Man 2: "Looks like you got friends in low places."...............Tony Stark.

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