The Accused (1988 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Accused | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for The Accused |
|
| Directed by | Jonathan Kaplan |
| Produced by | Stanley R. Jaffe Sherry Lansing |
| Written by | Tom Topor |
| Starring | Kelly McGillis Jodie Foster |
| Music by | Brad Fiedel |
| Cinematography | Ralf D. Bode |
| Editing by | O. Nicholas Brown Gerard B. Greenberg |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 14, 1988 |
| Running time | 111 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Accused is a 1988 dramatic film starring Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis, directed by Jonathan Kaplan. The film was written by Tom Topor. The original music score is composed by Brad Fiedel. Foster was awarded the 1988 Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for her performance.
Based on the real-life gang rape of Cheryl Araujo that occurred at Big Dan's Bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts on March 6, 1983,[1] this film was one of the first Hollywood films to deal with rape in a direct manner.
The film is marketed with the tagline "The first scream was for help. The second is for justice."
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The story is about a working-class woman, Sarah Tobias (played by Foster), labeled as promiscuous. One night in a bar, she is viciously gang-raped by several drunk bar patrons. A district attorney, Kathryn Murphy (played by McGillis), is assigned to the rape case, but she is convinced to let the rapists plead guilty to reckless endangerment and get sentence that allows parole in less than a year. Sarah is angered by the deal because she considers it a light punishment and because she did not get to tell her story in court.
After Sarah rams her car into a man's pickup truck in a parking lot, Kathryn decides to prosecute the men who cheered the rape for criminal solicitation. Sarah's friend Sally picks three men out of a line-up, and they get three different attorneys for the ensuing trial. Sarah testifies she was raped, while Kenneth Joyce testifies to watching the rape prior to making a 911 call. After Kathryn's closing statement and a single summation from the three defense lawyers, the jury deliberates for a long time, asking several times for Ken's testimony to be reread to them. At the end, they find the three men guilty.
[edit] Main cast
- Kelly McGillis - A.D.A. Kathryn Murphy
- Jodie Foster - Sarah Tobias
- Bernie Coulson - Kenneth Joyce
- Leo Rossi - Cliff "Scorpion" Albrect
- Ann Hearn - Sally Fraser
- Carmen Argenziano - D.A. Paul Rudolph
- Steve Antin - Bob Joiner
- Tom O'Brien - Larry
- Peter Van Norden - Attorney Paulsen
- Terry David Mulligan - Lieutenant Duncan
- Woody Brown - Danny
- Scott Paulin - Attorney Ben Wainwright
[edit] See also
- Aestheticization of violence, an article which includes a discussion of Kaplan's use of a violent rape scene in The Accused.
- List of films based on actual events
[edit] In popular culture
- In both Wedding Crashers and in The Break Up, Vince Vaughn plays characters who experience rape and physical violence, and who say they feel like Jodie Foster's character in this film.
