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Fails the Bechdel test

Absolute Power

1997. Directed by Clint Eastwood, written by David Baldacci and William Goldman.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    7 women characters. 6 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. 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.

Poster for Absolute Power

The film

Inspired by David Baldacci's novel, and the ruthlessness of people in power. President Alan Richmond believes that everything he does is beyond reproach, including an affair or two. That leads to murder and everyone around him is involved. There is only one witness, a thief named Luther Whitney. They are sure he'll talk, but when? The Secret Service is determined to keep him quiet, but catching a thief isn't always easy.

Released
14 Feb 1997
Genres
Action, Crime, Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
6.7 / 10
Metascore
52 / 100
Awards
1 nomination total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Luther 112 lines, man
  2. Seth 102 lines, man
  3. Kate 61 lines, woman
  4. Richmond 48 lines, man
  5. Russell 39 lines, woman
  6. Walter Sullivan 37 lines, man
  7. Burton 32 lines, man
  8. Collin 15 lines, man
  9. Laura 12 lines, woman
  10. Valerie 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 24 people
  • Clint Eastwood as Luther Whitney
  • Gene Hackman as President Richmond
  • Ed Harris as Seth Frank
  • Laura Linney as Kate Whitney
  • Judy Davis as Gloria Russell
  • Scott Glenn as Bill Burton
  • Dennis Haysbert as Tim Collin
  • E.G. Marshall as Walter Sullivan
  • Melora Hardin as Christy Sullivan
  • Kenneth Welsh as Sandy Lord
  • Penny Johnson Jerald as Laura Simon
  • Richard Jenkins as Michael McCarty
  • Mark Margolis as Red
  • Elaine Kagan as Valerie
  • Alison Eastwood as Art Student
  • Yau-Gene Chan as Waiter
  • George Orrison as Airport Bartender
  • Charles McDaniel as Medical Examiner
  • John Lyle Campbell as Repairman
  • Kimber Eastwood as White House Tour Guide
  • Eric Dahlquist Jr. as Oval Office Agent
  • Jack Stewart Taylor as Watergate Doorman
  • Joy Ehrlich as Reporter
  • Robert Harvey as Cop

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 7 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 327

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 734
8 to 1400
15 to 2100
22 to 2810
29 to 3500
36 to 4200
43 to 4900
50 to 5615
57 to 63119
64 to 7002
71 to 7700
78 to 8400
85 to 9100
92 to 9802
99 to 10500
106 to 11201
113 to 1191320
120 to 126712
127 to 133033
134 to 140710
141 to 1472151
148 to 154040
155 to 161016
162 to 16889
169 to 1752122
176 to 18221
183 to 18903
190 to 19602
197 to 20300
204 to 21058
211 to 21700
218 to 22401
225 to 23100
232 to 23800
239 to 24500
246 to 2522542
253 to 25900
260 to 266214
267 to 27300
274 to 28004
281 to 28700
288 to 29400
295 to 30101
302 to 308114
309 to 315040
316 to 32200
323 to 32757

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, 26 are women's.

133 lines from women, 373 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 13 men in the cast. 6 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 59 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 24% of the words (1,487), men 76% (4,596). Women have 26% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Clint Eastwood (man)
Written by
William Goldman (man)
From the novel by
David Baldacci (man)
Produced by
Clint Eastwood (man), Karen S. Spiegel (gender not listed)
Shot by
Jack N. Green (man)
Edited by
Joel Cox (man)
Music by
Lennie Niehaus (man)
Production design by
Henry Bumstead (man)
Cast by
Phyllis Huffman (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    1 women, 9 men, 4 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 2 men, 5 not listed

  • Other crew

    3 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed

  • Production

    1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 4 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 4 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 34 on average. Men: 59 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Melora Hardin 29, Laura Linney 33, Judy Davis 41

Men

Dennis Haysbert 42, Ed Harris 46, Kenneth Welsh 54, Scott Glenn 58, Clint Eastwood 66, Gene Hackman 67, E.G. Marshall 82

Exhibit G: the money

It made 1.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$50 million
Box office
$50.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 327 scenes and 516 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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