Fails the Bechdel test
Alien Nation
1988. Directed by Graham Baker, written by Rockne S. O'Bannon.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
2 women characters. 2 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
A few years from now, Earth will have the first contact with an alien civilisation. These aliens, known as Newcomers, slowly begin to be integrated into human society after years of quarantine but are victims of a new type of discrimination. When the first Newcomer police officer, Sam Francisco is assigned his new partner, he is given Matthew Sykes , a mildly racist veteran, the animosity between them soon gives way to respect as they investigate the Newcomer underworld, and especially Newcomer leader William Harcourt.
- Released
- 07 Oct 1988
- Genres
- Action, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 45 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sykes 220 lines, man
- Jetson 146 lines, man
- Harcourt 33 lines, man
- Cassandra 18 lines, woman
- Winter 14 lines, man
- Fedorchuk 12 lines, man
- O'Neal 11 lines, man
- Tuggle 11 lines, man
- Warner 10 lines, man
- Kipling 8 lines, man
Full cast, 16 people
- James Caan as Matthew Sykes
- Mandy Patinkin as Samuel 'George' Francisco
- Terence Stamp as William Harcourt
- Kevyn Major Howard as Rudyard Kipling
- Leslie Bevis as Cassandra
- Peter Jason as Fedorchuk
- Conrad Dunn as Quint
- Jeff Kober as Joshua Strader
- Roger Aaron Brown as Bill Tuggle
- Francis X. McCarthy as Captain Warner
- Brian Thompson as Trent Porter
- Tony Perez as Alterez
- Tony Simotes as Wiltey
- Jade Calegory as Mark
- Angela O'Neill as Kristin Sykes
- Lawrence Kopp as Human Cop #1
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 174
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 | 1 | 10 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 18 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 6 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 14 |
| 21 to 24 | 1 | 34 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 44 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 24 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 8 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 23 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 49 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 18 |
| 49 to 52 | 8 | 7 |
| 53 to 56 | 3 | 4 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 1 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 19 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 37 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 12 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 16 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 17 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 31 |
| 89 to 92 | 7 | 8 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 4 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 28 |
| 101 to 104 | 4 | 23 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 5 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 8 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 22 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 1 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 1 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 0 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 0 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 3 |
| 173 to 174 | 1 | 6 |
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, 5 are women's.
28 lines from women, 507 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 14 men in the cast. 2 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 572.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 213 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (538), men 92% (6,135). Women have 5% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
Two women
0
Two men
66
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Graham Baker (man)
- Written by
- Rockne S. O'Bannon (man)
- Produced by
- Richard Kobritz (man), Gale Anne Hurd (woman)
- Shot by
- Adam Greenberg (man)
- Edited by
- Kent Beyda (man)
- Music by
- Curt Sobel (man)
- Production design by
- Jack T. Collis (man)
- Costumes by
- Erica Edell Phillips (woman)
- Cast by
- Karen Rea (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
3 women, 17 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Leslie Bevis 34
Men
Kevyn Major Howard 32, Jeff Kober 34, Mandy Patinkin 35, Roger Aaron Brown 39, Peter Jason 44, Francis X. McCarthy 46, James Caan 48, Terence Stamp 50
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $16 million
- Box office
- $32.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 174 scenes and 572 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
