Fails the Bechdel test
Apocalypse Now
1979. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by John Milius and Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Herr.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
It is the height of the war in Vietnam, and U.S. Army Captain Willard is sent by Colonel Lucas and a General to carry out a mission that, officially, 'does not exist - nor will it ever exist'. The mission: To seek out a mysterious Green Beret Colonel, Walter Kurtz, whose army has crossed the border into Cambodia and is conducting hit-and-run missions against the Viet Cong and NVA. The army believes Kurtz has gone completely insane and Willard's job is to eliminate him. Willard, sent up the Nung River on a U.S. Navy patrol boat, discovers that his target is one of the most decorated officers in the U.S. Army. His crew meets up with surfer-type Lt-Colonel Kilgore, head of a U.S Army helicopter cavalry group which eliminates a Viet Cong outpost to provide an entry point into the Nung River. After some hair-raising encounters, in which some of his crew are killed, Willard, Lance and Chef reach Colonel Kurtz's outpost, beyond the Do Lung Bridge. Now, after becoming prisoners of Kurtz, will Willard & the others be able to fulfill their mission?
- Released
- 15 Aug 1979
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, War
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 94 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 21 wins & 33 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Willard 341 lines, man
- Kilgore 95 lines, man
- Chef 66 lines, man
- Chief 63 lines, man
- Kurtz 51 lines, man
- Lance 49 lines, man
- Gaston 28 lines, man
- Agent 25 lines, man
- Clean 23 lines, man
- Roxanne 23 lines, woman
Full cast, 50 people
- Martin Sheen as Captain Benjamin Willard
- Marlon Brando as Colonel Walter Kurtz
- Frederic Forrest as Jay 'Chef' Hicks
- Albert Hall as Chief Phillips
- Laurence Fishburne as Tyrone 'Clean' Miller
- Sam Bottoms as Lance B. Johnson
- Robert Duvall as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
- G.D. Spradlin as General Corman
- Harrison Ford as Colonel
- Jerry Ziesmer as Jerry, Civilian
- Scott Glenn as Lieutenant Richard M. Colby
- Kerry Rossall as Mike from San Diego
- James Keane as Kilgore's Gunner
- Tom Mason as Supply Sergeant
- Cynthia Wood as Playmate of the Year
- Dennis Hopper as Photojournalist
- Colleen Camp as Miss May
- Linda Carpenter as Playmate
- Aurore Clément as Roxanne Sarrault
- Jack Thibeau as Soldier in Trench
- Glenn Walken as Lieutenant Carlsen
- Damien Leake as Machine Gunner
- Marc Coppola as AFRS Announcer
- Bill Graham as Agent
- Herb Rice as Roach
- Jerry Ross as Johnny from Malibu / Mike from San Diego
- Charles Robinson as Soldier with Colby (uncredited)
- Nick Nicholson as Soldier (uncredited)
- Don Gordon Bell as Soldier (uncredited)
- R. Lee Ermey as Eagle Thrust Seven Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
- Jim Gaines as Extra (uncredited)
- Vittorio Storaro as TV Photographer (uncredited)
- Evan A. Lottman as Soldier (uncredited)
- Francis Ford Coppola as Director of TV Crew (uncredited)
- Henry Strzalkowski as Bit Part (uncredited)
- William Upton as Spotter
- George Cantero as Soldier with Suitcase
- Joe Estevez as Captain Benjamin L. Willard (voice) (uncredited)
- Bo Byers as MP Sergeant #1
- Christian Marquand as Hubert de Marais
- Michel Pitton as Phillippe de Marais
- David Olivier as Christian de Marais
- Chrystel Le Pelletier as Claudine
- Roman Coppola as Francis de Marais
- Gian-Carlo Coppola as Gilles de Marais
- Robert Julian as The Tutor
- Yvon LeSeaux as Sergeant le Fevre
- Daniel Kiewit as Major from New Jersey
- Hattie James as Cleans Mother (voice)
- Frank Villard as Gaston de Marais (Redux and Final Cut versions only)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 65
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 2 | 0 | 10 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 23 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 94 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 74 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 5 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 6 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 14 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 84 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 50 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 12 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 63 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 4 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 58 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 90 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 38 | 6 | 29 |
| 39 to 40 | 12 | 8 |
| 41 to 42 | 1 | 0 |
| 43 to 44 | 4 | 3 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 16 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 34 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 68 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 30 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 17 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 16 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 13 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 20 |
| 61 to 62 | 1 | 2 |
| 63 to 64 | 11 | 9 |
| 65 to 65 | 0 | 0 |
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.
35 lines from women, 859 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 37 men in the cast. 1 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 675 of 969.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 674 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 3% of the words (338), men 97% (9,878). Women have 4% 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
Two women
0
Two men
65
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 14 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 9% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Written by
- John Milius (man), Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- From the novel by
- Joseph Conrad (man)
- Produced by
- Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Shot by
- Vittorio Storaro (man)
- Edited by
- Lisa Fruchtman (woman), Gerald B. Greenberg (man), Walter Murch (man)
- Music by
- Carmine Coppola (man), Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Production design by
- Dean Tavoularis (man)
- Cast by
- Terry Liebling (gender not listed), Vic Ramos (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 14 men, 25 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 21 men, 15 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 13 men, 24 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 9 men, 9 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 12 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
Laurence Fishburne 17, Sam Bottoms 23, Harrison Ford 36, Martin Sheen 38, Jerry Ziesmer 39, Albert Hall 41, Frederic Forrest 42, Robert Duvall 48, Marlon Brando 55, G.D. Spradlin 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $31.5 million
- Box office
- $150 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 65 scenes and 969 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
