Adithya Siva There are so many rapes which take place in every country around the world, every minute. Many people hardly do anything about it, and this movie focuses on that. It explores a lot of themes, mainly, that instigators are just as responsible for rape, as the actual perpetrators are. The complexity of the lead character, and her lawyer are commendable, being that this was among the very first movies which dealt with rape on a huge basis. Towards the end, there is the recounting of the rape, which might be highly disturbing for some to see, but this is what happens around us, and many of us hardly do anything about it. Jodie Foster is exceptional in her truly well deserved Oscar performance here. Kelly McGillis, herself a rape victim, plays a lawyer with tremendous character. This is high intensity drama at its best, and explores situations where the woman is put the blame upon for wearing over-revealing clothes, or behaving in a certain way so as to attract males, which is false, of course. Flirtatious, or being over-friendly does not account for the woman saying yes to her opposite sex, which many males mistake even today. And this ends up in rape, and leads to disgusting "reasoning" for their actions. It is highly imperative that all of us watch this movie, and learn a lesson.

Davis P The accused truly is one of the best pieces of film I've ever seen in my life. First of all, Jodie foster just absolutely shines in her starring role. Jody really brings the emotion and the raw realness, I mean there is absolutely no doubt that her character was raped in the movie, her performance is so focused and it is absolutely heartbreaking, you will most definitely need to bring tissues if you decide to view this film. Kelly is amazing here too, she works absolutely tirelessly for Jodie and her case, and you can see the clear dedication in her character to bring true, honest justice. The dialogue and the script is so top notch and it really brings the entire movie to life. The movie also brings the issue of rape to life, it shine some light on rape victims and the entire issue of rape and how it affects the victims. It also shows that no participant should ever be let off the hook or get away, because truthfully, even if you don't physically rape someone if you cheer them on, then you are participating, and you are just as guilty as the actual rapist(s). This movie depicts that rather graphically in one scene, which was 100% needed and necessary for the movie, it needed to depict and show the actual assault in order for the audience to get the full/entire affect of that occurred. I definitely recommend the accused to mature audiences that can handle the tough subject matter and want to see a fantastic drama.

Jackson Booth-Millard The female leading star deserved her (second) Oscar for playing the famous Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs, and I had always wanted to see the film that she won her first Oscar, because I heard about what it was about, and I definitely didn't miss out on it. Based on true events, the film opens at a bar, young woman Sarah Tobias (Oscar and Golden Globe winning, and BAFTA nominated Jodie Foster) is running out frantically, while a young man is calling from a telephone box on the opposite side of the road to call the police about an incident, and going to the nearest hospital she is covered in blood and severe bruises, she confirms that she was raped while other drunk spectators cheered it on. District attorney Kathryn Murphy (Top Gun's Kelly McGillis) is assigned to defend her in her case, and off-screen she is successful in putting the gang of rapists, but after this the case is dropped after a plea bargain is made with the guilty men, but this only angers the young woman. Sarah is enraged by this deal, and more specifically because she has not spoken to a court room with her witness statement, but, after a car accident involving one of the men who was cheering in the bar, the case is reignited to attempt the prosecution of the three men who were cheering and solicited the rape. Sarah's friend Sally Fraser (Ann Hearn) works as a waitress at the bar and gives her witness statement in court, that she was aware that a rape was going on but feared to intervene, but she confirms the identities of the men who were cheering it on Kurt (Kim Kondrashoff), Danny (Woody Brown) and Bob Joiner (Steve Antin), they have three attorneys to defend them. Sarah is then called in and questioned by Kathryn to give her personal recollection of the night where she was gang raped, describing in graphic detail what the men penetrating and restraining her and her being helpless to stop it or call for help, and of course recalling the men who cheered it all on. Then the key witness Kenneth 'Ken' Joyce (Bernie Coulson), the young man who called from the telephone box and a supposed friend of the accused men, is called to stand, and as he describes his version of events a flashback shows the entire night as it happened, from beginning to end (the point where the film opened), where Sarah was dressed rather provocatively, held down on the pinball machine, and one at a time raped by three or so men while those accused watched. The testimony from the defence is given to try and convince the jury to allow three "innocent" men to go free, but of course Kathryn fights hard to make it clear that what happened to Sarah cannot be called "nothing", do everything she can to convince them that the young woman was raped and that the men did indeed watch, laugh and encourage it to happen unwatched by the other bar occupants, and in the end the three men are all found guilty and not given parole, so Sarah and Kathryn happy justice is served. Also starring Leo Rossi as Cliff 'Scorpion' Albrect, Carmen Argenziano as D.A. Paul Rudolph, Tom O'Brien as Larry, Peter Van Norden as Attorney Paulsen and Terry David Mulligan as Lieutenant Duncan. McGillis is pretty good as the lawyer who is at first resilient but then determined to get to the bottom of the rape case and prove the truth, but of course the film is all about Foster who is absolutely superb as the young woman abused by both hideous sexual assault and the law system but comes through as a moving and equally determined victim. The story is well written, performed and paced, the court room scenes are as gripping as any I have seen before in other films of a similar standard, and the subject matter means that there are some disturbingly explicit hard to watch moments, but this all combined makes it a distinctive and compelling drama. Jodie Foster was number 23 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars. Very good!

pabald9480 This movie was brilliantly acted, by Jodie Foster and Kelly McGillis, at least. However, it's also very hard to watch at times, not to mention infuriating, esp. the rape scene. On the other hand, certain scenes involving the justice system, are pretty angering as well. Don't get me wrong, it is a good movie and very powerful, but anyone-male or female, with any compassion for rape victims regardless of the circumstances, and this "she was asking for it" doesn't fly well with me, either, only a chauvinist would think that! Well, once again, I'm obviously wrong because a lot of men think with the head below the waist instead of their brain. For the record, 98% of the time, I have little to no compassion for rapists, but I do believe slow-minded people can be forced into things, but that is clearly not the case in this film. These men knew exactly what they were doing, and didn't care, that infuriated me!