The Accused (1988 film)

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The Accused
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJonathan Kaplan
Written byTom Topor
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRalf D. Bode
Edited by
  • O. Nicholas Brown
  • Gerald B. Greenberg
Music byBrad Fiedel
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • October 14, 1988 (1988-10-14) (United States)
Running time
111 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$13 million[1]
Box office$32.1 million

The Accused is a 1988 American legal drama film directed by Jonathan Kaplan and written by Tom Topor, loosely based on the 1983 gang rape of Cheryl Araujo in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Starring Jodie Foster, Kelly McGillis, Bernie Coulson, Leo Rossi, Ann Hearn, Carmen Argenziano, Steve Antin, and Tom O'Brien, the film follows Sarah Tobias (Foster), a young waitress who is gang raped by three men at a local bar. With the help of District Attorney Katheryn Murphy (McGillis), she sets out to prosecute the rapists as well as the men who helped induce the assault. Principal photography began in Vancouver on April 27, 1987, and concluded on June 22.

The Accused premiered at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival, where it competed for the Golden Bear, and was theatrically released in the United States on October 14, 1988. The film was highly controversial upon release due to its graphic portrayal of gang rape. Despite this, it received widespread acclaim from critics, with many praising the performances of the cast and authentic portrayal of its subject matter. It was also a commercial success, grossing $32.1 million worldwide against its $13 million budget, and was chosen by the National Board of Review as the 3rd best film of the year. The film was credited for being one of the first mainstream films to deal with the horrors of rape and its aftermath on a victim's life. Foster's performance marked her breakthrough into adult roles, earning numerous accolades including the Academy Award for Best Actress at the 61st Academy Awards.[2][3]

Plot

Sarah Tobias is brutally gang-raped by three men at a local bar while several patrons watch and cheer. District Attorney Katheryn Murphy is assigned to the case. Although there is strong physical evidence corroborating Sarah's rape, Katheryn feels that Sarah will not make a credible witness due to her checkered past and flirtatious behavior with the men before her attack. She agrees to a plea bargain, allowing the three rapists to plead guilty to the lesser offense of reckless endangerment, a felony without a sexual offense, and serve nine months in prison. Sarah is angered and feels betrayed by Katheryn's decision, as she wants the chance to tell her story.

Several months later, Sarah is harassed in a parking lot by one of the men who watched and encouraged her rape. In response, she drives her car into his truck, resulting in her hospitalization. Katheryn feels guilty for not giving Sarah the choice to take her case to trial and offering her rapists a plea deal. She decides to prosecute the men who clapped and cheered during Sarah's assault for criminal solicitation. If convicted, the rape will go on record, nullifying the plea deal, and her rapists will serve 5 years in prison.

As the case goes to trial, Sarah is finally able to testify about what happened the night of her attack. Meanwhile, Katheryn pores over evidence and comes across a tape of a 911 call in which a young man reports Sarah's rape. She discovers the caller is Kenneth Joyce, a college student who was present that night at the bar. Reluctant at first, he agrees to testify for the prosecution, recounting how the accused men cheered and goaded the rapists on as they brutalized Sarah. The three men are found guilty of criminal solicitation, and as a result, the rapists will serve additional time in prison. Sarah leaves the courtroom triumphant with Katheryn.

The film closes with a title stating, "In the United States a rape is reported every six minutes. One out of every four rape victims is attacked by two or more assailants".

Cast

Themes

It is loosely based on the 1983 gang rape of

slut shaming, victim blaming and women's empowerment
.

Production

Development

"Jonathan and I looked at a lot of old films, and we couldn't find one that had explored the subject. There were almost no movies where the subject of the movie is rape. There are many movies that have a rape incident in them, but The Accused is about rape. There's no other subject. And it's about two women; there's no man who comes to rescue them. It's a very tough subject."

—Topor explaining the importance of making the film[6]

Screenwriter

Stanley Jaffe from Paramount Pictures were subsequently signed on to produce the film. Topor interviewed 30 rape victims and numerous rapists, prosecutors, defense attorneys and medical professionals.[6] Jonathan Kaplan
met with Steel and discussed the possibility of making a film on the subject. The original draft of the script mainly focused on the lawyer's story. However, Kaplan wanted the rape victim to be as prominent as the lawyer; the script also featured a pool table (reflecting the real life incident), but the producers were concerned with being sued, so it was changed to a pinball machine.

Following the test screenings, the film received the lowest scores in the history of Paramount. According to Lansing, "The audience thought that Jodie's character deserved the rape."[6] Studio executives wanted to put the film on the shelf and were looking for ways to prevent it from being released. Lansing asked for another screening with just women, which was far more successful. Of the 20 women in the room, 18 had experience with rape — either they or someone they knew had been raped. When tested again months later, it was given one of the highest scores in the studio's history.[6]

Casting

Due to its hard-edged themes and graphic screenplay, the studio was already skeptical about making the film, and it was essential for the producers to cast a bankable actress in the role of Sarah Tobias. Numerous actresses were offered or considered for the part including

Yale
and didn't make any successful films during her time at school, wasn't the prime choice for the producers. Following numerous auditions as well as rejection from various established actresses, she was finally cast in the part.

Kelly McGillis was initially offered to play Sarah Tobias, but instead took the role of Katheryn Murphy.

Jane Fonda was initially attached to play attorney Katheryn Murphy but left the project as she found the script exploitative and poorly written.[8] Ellen Barkin, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sigourney Weaver, Debra Winger, Meryl Streep and Geena Davis were also considered for the part. Kelly McGillis, who had just experienced commercial success with the action film Top Gun (1986), was cast for the bankable prospects of the film.[6] McGillis was initially offered to play Sarah but declined, citing her personal experience.[9] She acknowledged at the time of the film's release that she herself had survived a violent attack and rape in 1982 when two men broke into her apartment. Based on her experience, she took on the role of Murphy.

Foster viewed the film as a last ditch effort to give her acting career a much needed boost. She had taken a sabbatical from Hollywood to attend Yale and had experienced a bit of a dry spell upon her return to acting. Most of her films had a lukewarm response both with critics and at the box office. She stated that she would have retired from acting had The Accused followed suit. Ultimately, the film's success revitalized her career.

Filming

Complex ranked the rape scene from the film #16 on its list of "The 53 Most Hard-To-Watch Scenes in Movie History".[12]

Soundtrack

No.TitleArtistLength
1."I'm Talking Love"Vanessa Anderson3:35
2."At This Moment"
House of Schock
1:50
8."Mojo Boogie"Johnny Winter2:50

Release

The Accused was released in

limited theatres in North America on October 14, 1988. Although it was supposed to be released in April, it was deferred to October due to the Writers Guild of America's strike. The film premiered at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival in 1989, where it competed for the Golden Bear.[13]

Box office

In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, The Accused was number one at the box office, grossing $4.3 million in 796 theaters. The film grossed a total of $32.1 million.[14]

Critical response

Jodie Foster's performance received widespread critical acclaim, earning her the Academy Award for Best Actress.

The Accused received positive reviews from critics upon its release, with Foster's performance receiving widespread acclaim. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 93% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10.[15] On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 65 out of 100 indicating "generally favourable reviews".[16]

In a positive review, writing of the two criminal prosecutions in the film, Roger Ebert finds that the lesson of the trial "may be the most important message this movie has to offer...that verbal sexual harassment, whether crudely in a saloon back room or subtly in an everyday situation, is a form of violence - one that leaves no visible marks but can make its victims feel unable to move freely and casually in society. It is a form of imprisonment."[17] Rob Beattie from Empire, gave the film five out of five stars, calling it phenomenal and called the controversial rape scene "devastating, harrowing and utterly convincing".[18] Judy Steed of The Globe and Mail called it "An experience that is sometimes unbearable and always riveting". Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "A consistently engrossing melodrama, modest in its aims and as effective for the clichés it avoids as for the clear eye through which it sees its working-class American lives".[19]

Marjorie Heins, in the 1998 book The V-Chip Debate: Content Filtering from Television to the Internet, said that educators worried that the film would "receive V ratings and be subject to at least a presumption against curricular use in many public schools."[20]

Accolades

At the

Premiere's 100 Greatest Film Performances of all-time.[21]

Award/Festival Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
Academy Awards Best Actress Jodie Foster Won [22]
Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Jonathan Kaplan Nominated [23]
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actress Jodie Foster Runner-up [24]
British Academy Film Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated [25]
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Actress Nominated [26]
David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Actress Won
Golden Globe Awards Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Won[a] [29]
Jupiter Awards Best International Actress Nominated
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actress Won [30]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best Actress Runner-up [31]
National Board of Review Awards Top Ten Films 3rd Place [32]
Best Actress Jodie Foster Won
New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Actress Runner-up [33]
People's Choice Awards Favourite Dramatic Motion Picture Actress Nominated
Political Film Society Awards Human Rights Nominated

Notes

  1. ^ Tied with Shirley MacLaine for Madame Sousatzka and Sigourney Weaver for Gorillas in the Mist.[27][28]

References

  1. ^ "AFI|Catalog". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved November 15, 2021.
  2. ^ "1989 | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". Oscars.org. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  3. ^ "Jodie Foster Wins Best Actress: 1989 Oscars". Retrieved March 14, 2023 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ "Cheryl Araujo's Sexual Assault, Revisited in Netflix's 'Trial By Media,' Put Victim Blaming in the Spotlight". Esquire.com. May 18, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  5. ^ Raga, Pippa (May 13, 2020). "'The Accused' Is Actually Based on This 'Trial by Media' Case". Distractify.com. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Ford, Rebecca (January 16, 2014). "'The Accused' Oral History: A Brutal Rape Scene, Traumatized Actors and Producers' Fights to Make the Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  7. ISBN 9780786420179
    .
  8. Victoria Advocate
    . Jane Fonda bowed out of the part for which McGillis has now been set.
  9. ^ Kelly McGillis, as told to Kristin McMurran (14 November 1988). "Memoir of a Brief Time in Hell". People. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  10. ^ van Meter, Jonathan (January 6, 1991). "Child of the Movies". The New York Times. Retrieved February 4, 2015.
  11. ^ Hollinger 2012, p. 46
  12. complex.com
    . Retrieved July 6, 2018.
  13. ^ "Berlinale: 1989 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2011-03-09.
  14. ^ "The Accused (1988)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  15. ^ "The Accused". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  16. ^ "The Accused Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  17. ^ Roger Ebert (October 14, 1988). "The Accused", Chicago Sun-Times
  18. ^ Beattie, Rob (October 14, 2015). "The Accused Review". Empire. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  19. ^ Canby, Vincent (October 14, 1988). "The Accused Review". The New York Times. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
  20. ^ Marjorie Heins, "Three Questions About Television Ratings," in The V-Chip Debate: Content Filtering from Television to the Internet, ed. Monroe E. Price. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers (1998): 54
  21. ^ "100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine". Filmsite.org. April 2006. Retrieved July 6, 2016.
  22. ^ "The 61st Academy Awards (1989) Nominees and Winners". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
  23. ^ "PRIZES & HONOURS 1989". Berlin International Film Festival. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  24. ^ "BSFC Winners: 1980s". Boston Society of Film Critics. July 27, 2018. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  25. ^ "BAFTA Awards: Film in 1990". British Academy Film Awards. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  26. ^ "1988–2013 Award Winner Archives". Chicago Film Critics Association. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  27. ^ "Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver & Shirley Maclaine Win Actress Motion Picture - Golden Globes 1989". Retrieved March 14, 2023 – via YouTube.
  28. ^ "Winners & Nominees 1989". Golden Globes. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  29. HFPA
    . Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  30. ^ "KCFCC Award Winners – 1980-89". December 14, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  31. ^ "The 14th Annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards". Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  32. ^ "1988 Award Winners". National Board of Review. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  33. ^ "1988 New York Film Critics Circle Awards". New York Film Critics Circle. Retrieved April 3, 2023.

Further reading

  • Aquino, John T. (2005). "Big Dan's Tavern Rape Trial (1983) / Film: The Accused (1988)," in Truth and Lives on Film: The Legal Problems of Depicting Real Persons and Events in a Fictional Medium. McFarland. pp. 140–143.
    ISBN 0786420448
    .

External links

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