Fails the Bechdel test
16 Blocks
2006. Directed by Richard Donner, written by Richard Wenk.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
"All they had to do was get across town." For aging NYPD detective Jack Mosley, this should've been his last assignment before a well-deserved retirement. The job was simple: transport Edward "Eddie" Bunker, a reluctant African-American witness, all the way to the New York State Supreme Court Building 16 blocks from the police department. Until it wasn't. Now Jack and Eddie are on the run from a group of corrupt and dirty cops, led by officer Frank Nugent, who will do anything in their power to stop them from reaching the Supreme Court. It's a race against time that may cost Jack everything he's devoted his job to.
- Released
- 03 Mar 2006
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 63 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jack 215 lines, man
- Eddie 173 lines, man
- Nugent 61 lines, man
- Sheehan 14 lines, man
- Diane 13 lines, woman
- Shaquille 11 lines, man
- Wagner 9 lines, man
- Father Connelly 7 lines, man
- Kincaid 7 lines, man
- Gruber 5 lines, man
Full cast, 85 people
- Bruce Willis as Jack Mosley
- Yasiin Bey as Eddie Bunker
- David Morse as Frank Nugent
- Jenna Stern as Diane Mosley
- Casey Sander as Captain Dan Gruber
- Cylk Cozart as Jimmy Mulvey
- David Zayas as Robert Torres
- Robert Racki as Jerry Shue
- Patrick Garrow as Touhey
- Sasha Roiz as Kaller
- Conrad Pla as Ortiz
- Hechter Ubarry as Maldonado
- Richard Fitzpatrick as Deputy Commissioner Wagner
- Peter McRobbie as Mike Sheehan
- Michael F. Keenan as Ray Fitzpatrick
- Robert Clohessy as Cannova
- Jess Mal Gibbons as Pederson
- Tig Fong as Briggs
- Brenda Pressley as ADA MacDonald
- Kim Chan as Sam
- Carmen López as Gracie
- Scott McCord as Lieutenant Kincaid
- David Sparrow as Holding Cell Officer
- Eduardo Gomez as Holding Cell Prisoner
- Sam Kung as Chinese Man
- Angela Seto as Chinese Wife
- Bernie Henry as Man with Caddy
- Nick Alachiotis as Russian
- Danny Lima as Russian
- Claudio Masciulli as Dominic Forlini
- Efosa Otuomagie as Bus Driver
- Christina Orjalo as Little Girl on the Bus
- Richard Wenk as ADA's Detective
- Derek Hoffman as Carl - EMT
- Brian Read as UPS Delivery Man
- Ryan Wulff as DA's Clerk
- Steve Kahan as Resturant Owner
- Paul Tuerpe as Diane's Boyfriend
- Cece Neber Labao as Restaurant Waitress
- Jim Chong as Bus Passenger
- Betty Chong as Bus Passenger
- Sam Moses as Bus Passenger
- Kathy Imrie as Bus Passenger
- Jason Burke as Bus Passenger
- Tom Wlaschiha as Bus Passenger
- Scott Douglas as Bus Passenger
- J.D. Nicholsen as Man in Gray Suit
- Kameron Louangxay as Communications Tech
- Victoria Mitchell as Woman in Apartment
- Cecil Phillips as MTA Cop
- Rob Wiethoff as Court Officer
- Jimmy Campbell as Court Officer
- Richard Collier as Court Officer
- Aaron Ferguson as Court Officer
- Bradley Paterson as Brad - EMT
- Paul J.Q. Lee as Asian Store Owner
- Heather Dawn as The Juror
- Daryl Dismond as Man in Suit
- Jim Lavin as Car Key Detective
- Beatriz Yuste as Subway Commuter
- David Talbolt as Subway Commuter
- Toni Ellwand as Subway Commuter
- Rolando Alvarez Giacoman as Subway Commuter
- Brian G. Andersson as Detective (uncredited)
- Robert Bizik as Construction Worker (uncredited)
- Ed Cuffe as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Joseph DeBona as Detective (uncredited)
- Richard Donner as Man Holding a Birthday Cake (uncredited)
- Marshall Factora as Juror (uncredited)
- Victor Formosa as Businessman (uncredited)
- Eli Harris as Cab Driver (uncredited)
- Kevin P. McCarthy as Person in Cab (uncredited)
- Beshoy Mehany as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Khalid Rivera as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Joe Rosario as Juror #4 (uncredited)
- Talia Russo as Young Bride
- Joseph Siravo as District Attorney Haynes (uncredited)
- Brian Smyj as Sniper (uncredited)
- Lana Titov as Waitress (uncredited)
- Joshua Tolby as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Schuster Vance as Detective (uncredited)
- Sonny Vellozzi as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Emerson Wong as Alleyway Chinese Cook (uncredited)
- William S. Wong as Delivery Man (uncredited)
- Jason McLean as Stand-in
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 173
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 21 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 23 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 1 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 15 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 27 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 21 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 13 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 9 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 11 |
| 61 to 64 | 1 | 21 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 28 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 19 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 2 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 4 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 36 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 12 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 25 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 4 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 40 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 2 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 22 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 1 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 16 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 10 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 23 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 7 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 1 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 6 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 4 |
| 141 to 144 | 7 | 28 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 14 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 6 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 1 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 6 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 24 |
| 169 to 172 | 5 | 13 |
| 173 to 173 | 0 | 2 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 4 are women's.
20 lines from women, 535 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
13 women and 51 men in the cast. 3 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 169 of 574.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 180 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 4% of the words (254), men 96% (6,562).
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
62
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 18 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Richard Donner (man)
- Written by
- Richard Wenk (man)
- Produced by
- Jim Van Wyck (man), Avi Lerner (man), John Thompson (man), Randall Emmett (man), Arnold Rifkin (man)
- Shot by
- Glen MacPherson (man)
- Edited by
- Steve Mirkovich (man)
- Music by
- Klaus Badelt (man)
- Production design by
- Arvinder Greywal (man), Leslie Bloom (man)
- Costumes by
- Vicki Graef (woman), Courtney Aura Freeman (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Louis DiGiaimo (man), Robin D. Cook (woman), Sarah Halley Finn (woman), Randi Hiller (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
9 women, 21 men, 17 not listed
-
Other crew
6 women, 15 men, 18 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 16 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 10 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 7 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jenna Stern 38
Men
Yasiin Bey 32, Sasha Roiz 32, David Zayas 43, Casey Sander 49, Cylk Cozart 49, Bruce Willis 50, David Morse 52
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $55 million
- Box office
- $65.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 173 scenes and 574 lines of dialogue. How the test works
