Filmed in Georgia: 'My Cousin Vinny' brings the mob to Alabama, a.k.a. Jasper County, Ga.

Filmed in Georgia is a weekly column by Frank Hotchkiss. Contact Frank with recommendations at online@savannahnow.com.

Hundreds of films have been shot in Georgia, which does its best to bring Hollywood east to the Peach State. One of the most successful is "My Cousin Vinny," the Oscar-winning comedy which pretends to be set in Alabama. In fact, the entire 1992 movie was filmed in Jasper County in central Georgia.

The plot reveals a lot about this film — a culture clash of Yankees (not the baseball team but downhome, blue collar types) and the traditional South — grits, collards, lard and all.

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Two New Yorkers heading for college in California take a Southern, scenic route. At a convenience store in Alabama (but really Georgia) they inadvertently pocket a can of tuna, and only realize their shoplifting error when a cop pulls them over. “Out of the car with your hands up,” the shotgun wielding officer demands. "Hey, it’s the South where 10 is the legal age for execution," one of the guys quips.

Gradually they learn they’ve been arrested not for shoplifting but for murdering the clerk at the convenience store they just left, the Sac-O-Suds. Horrified, they enlist the cousin of one of the boys, Vincent Gambini. "New Yawka" Vinny is the only lawyer they can afford — because he’s free.

What follows is a comedy of errors as Vinny stumbles through the “Alabama” court system, and slowly puts on a defense that eventually wins for the innocent defendants. Along the way are some wonderful performances by the eye witnesses who claim to have seen the defendants enter and leave the store when the clerk was killed.

One by one Vinny trips them up by pointing out inconsistencies in their testimony.

Jane Fishman: Cheerful and upbeat, a man called Grasshopper feels right out of the movies — and he is.

Among the finest portrayals is stut-stuttering public defender Austin Pendleton briefly enlisted to take over defense of one of the accused. Pendleton in fact had been a stutterer all his life. He should have won an Oscar for his dithering portrayal. “Ladies and gentlemen of the j-j-j-jury,” he begins, and it only gets worse from there. “I’m getting better,” he offers his horrified client when he finishes, and then is summarily fired.

My Cousin Vinny was filmed in Monticello, Georgia — the Deer Capital of Georgia — and its environs. The historic neo-classical Jasper County Courthouse with its hexagonal cupola clock tower is featured in the film’s exterior shots but most of the courtroom scenes, presided over by one-time Munster Fred Gwynne as Judge Chamberlain Haller in his final film role, were created on a set built in a warehouse that made filming impossible during rainstorms because of the thunderous downpour on the tin-roof.

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The Sac-O-Suds, the convenience store at the heart of the story, is reportedly still operating in Monticello. The prison featured throughout the film is actually Lee Arrendale State Prison in Alto. Even the hotel scenes were filmed at actual hotels located in Eatonton and Bostwick, respectively.

Marisa Tomei won Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1993 for her brash Brooklyn broad portrayal. For now-retired Joe Pesci, Vinny was one of his best performances – and meatiest parts -- in his storied career.

Vinny is a film that still resonates after 30 years. It’s known for its courtroom veracity used for law school training of how to win a case with cross-examination. Director Jonathan Lynn, after all, was an attorney.

"My Cousin Vinny" can be found in the Live Oak Public Libraries system and is streaming on HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Hulu and The Roku Channel.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Movies filmed in Georgia: My Cousin Vinny found a home in Monticello