The Accused [Blu-ray]

Director: Jonathan Kaplan Jonathan Kaplan

Overview

Simultaneously gut-wrenching and provocative, The Accused follows the struggle of a young woman to find justice after she is publicly gang-raped in a local tavern. While it seems a straightforward enough case, there are some complicating issues involving the character and intent of the victim herself and also the culpability amongst those who witnessed the crime and did nothing to stop it. Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster in a mesmerizing Oscar-winning turn) is a hard-living sexy little fireball who loves to party with her friends. The night of the rape, she had a fight with her boy friend and so goes to the bar to blow off a little steam. In the dark back room where the pool tables sit and pinball machines flash dimly against the walls, Sarah begins casually flirting, dancing around, drinking a bit and the next thing she knows she is tossed upon a pinball machine being brutally ravaged with guys lined up to have their way with her while other patrons stand around cheering. Badly beaten and traumatized, she ends up in the DA's office facing attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) who listens and takes the case. But as Murphy learns more about Sarah, she becomes less pleased, for Sarah has a long, checkered past of drugs, booze and casual acquaintances that the defense can easily use to destroy her character. Rather than risk that, Murphy goes for a plea bargain that grants the guilty light sentences and frees them from having to admit that they committed rape. Sarah goes ballistic when she hears about the trial and harshly derides Murphy. The lawyer seems unsympathetic at first, but then she sees first hand the devastation the rape has wrought upon Sarah's life and decides to defy her bosses and continue fighting for justice using an entirely new tack. This time, instead of going after the rapists, she is going after the "passive" onlookers who may or may not have encouraged the crime. The Accused is loosely based upon the true story of a much-publicized 1983 case from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/15/2022
UPC:	0191329215326
Original Release:	1988
Rating:	R
Source:	Paramount
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	12,446

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jodie Foster	Actor
Kelly McGillis	Actor
Bernie Coulson	Actor
Leo Rossi	Actor
Ann Hearn	Sally Frazer
Steve Antin	Bob Joiner
Tom O'Brien	Larry
Allan Lysell	Al Massi
Carmen Argenziano	Paul Rudolph
Terry David Mulligan	Det. Duncan
Woody Brown	Danny Rudkin
Peter Van Norden	Ted Paulson
Andrew Kavadas	Defendant Matt Haines
Tom McBeath	Defendant Stu Holloway
Rose Weaver	Nurse
Linda Darlow	Rape Center Woman
Veena Sood	Woman Orderly
Antony Holland	Plea Bargain Lawyer,Plea Bargain Lawyer
Kevin McNulty	Plea Bargain Lawyer
Jerry Wasserman	Plea Bargain Lawyer
Barney O'Sullivan	Trial Judge
Christianne Hirt	Angela
Stephen E. Miller	Actor
Frances Flanagan	Mrs. Albrect
Kim Kondrashoff	Actor
Mike Winlaw	TV Commentator
Scott Paulin	Actor
Pamela Martin	TV Commentator
Wally Marsh	Bail Hearing Judge
Deryl Hayes	Court Officer
Dana Still	Jury Foreman
Babs Chula	Woman Lawyer
Rebecca Toolan	911 Operator
Stephen Dimopoulos	Complaining Customer
David Sheridan	Sally's Son
Denalda Williams	Voices,Sarah's Mother on Phone
Freda Perry	Receptionist
Gary Chalk	Courthouse Reporter
Garwin Sanford	Courthouse Reporter
Gloria Lee	Courthouse Reporter
Michelle Goodger	Courthouse Reporter
Thomas Heaton	Bartender Jesse
Brad Fiedel	Composer

Technical Credits

Tom Topor

Stanley R. Jaffe	Producer
Jonathan Kaplan	Director
Sherry Lansing	Producer
Tom Topor	Screenwriter
Andy Aaron	Sound Effects
Louis Bertini	Sound Effects
Kristine Bulakowski	Sound Effects
Randall Coleman	Sound Effects
Marko A. Costanzo	Sound Effects
Gary Paller	Special Effects
Kerrie Cullen	Stunts
Sally Dennison	Casting
Michelle Allen	Casting
Julie Selzer	Casting
Rob Young	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Jonathan Kaplan's fact-based drama, one of the most thoughtful examinations of the crime of rape on film, features an Academy award-winning performance by Jodie Foster. An account of the gang rape of a free-living waitress (Foster) by some of the male patrons of a dive bar, the film exposes the manner in which the pre-feminist blame-the-victim attitude toward rape victims, still predominant in many areas, is also hard-wired into the legal system. A more subtle secondary theme concerns the role of social class, and the difficulty experienced by the working-class victim in being heard, especially by her well-bred attorney (Kelly McGillis). When, driven by her client's rage, the lawyer finally brings the rape's bystanders to trial, the film means to implicate a society which has always maintained an unwritten code which would shrug off such behavior. Tom Topor's low-key script largely avoids melodrama, following the waitress' case through the various stages of the victim services and legal grievance system, where the perfunctory treatment she's accorded explains her growing anger, and desire for retribution. While McGillis seems a bit slow and stolid to be playing a litigator, Foster is brilliant as this troubled, nearly inarticulate woman who slowly gains an awareness that nothing she did could possibly have justified the ordeal she was forced to endure.