The Accused

Only a riveting performance by Jodie Foster lifts THE ACCUSED above the level of a television movie. The story, which bears some resemblance to a much-publicized 1983 incident in Massachusetts, centers on the case of Foster, a tough, sexy young woman who is gang-raped in a neighborhood bar before a crowd of cheering onlookers. District attorney McGillis takes the case. She agrees to a plea bargain in which the rapists admit to reckless endangerment, because she fears her client's sordid past will destroy her credibility in court. After Foster castigates McGillis for selling her out, McGillis devises a new strategy--to put the crowd of onlookers on trial for "crimin...