Passes the Bechdel test

Assassins

Name: Assassins
Released: 1995

1995. Directed by Richard Donner, written by Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski and Brian Helgeland.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 182.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Robert Rath is a seasoned hitman who just wants out of the business with no back talk. But, as things go, it ain't so easy. A younger, peppier assassin named Bain is having a field day trying to kill said older assassin. Rath teams up with a computer hacker named Electra to defeat the obsessed Bain.

Released: 06 Oct 1995
Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.3 / 10
Awards: 2 wins & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Rath 356 lines, man
Electra 250 lines, woman
Bain 117 lines, man
Contractor/Screen 36 lines
Ketcham 31 lines, man
Escort 21 lines
Rath/Screen 13 lines, man
Official 9 lines, man
Jennifer 8 lines, woman
Woman 6 lines, woman

Full cast, 61 people

Sylvester Stallone as Robert Rath
Antonio Banderas as Miguel Bain
Julianne Moore as Electra
Anatoli Davydov as Nicolai Tashlinkov
Muse Watson as Ketcham
Steve Kahan as Alan Branch
Kelly Rowan as Jennifer, Electra's Neighbor
Reed Diamond as Bob
Kai Wulff as Remy
Kerry Skalsky as Buyer with Remy
James Douglas Haskins as Buyer with Remy
Stephen Liska as Cop
Edward J. Rosen as Cemetery Caretaker
Christina Orchid as Dowager
Bruce R. Orchid as Cabbie
Sue Carolyn Wise as Obnoxious Woman in Elevator
James Oliver as Customs Officer
Ron Ben Jarrett as Maintenance Man at Marriott Hotel
Marian Collier as Eugene & Danny's Pet Supply Lady
Dave Young as Male Guard
Ragna Sigrun as Female Guard
Mark Woodford as Room Service Waiter
Anibal O. Lleras as Cabbie
Marta Labatut as Cemetery Woman
Choco Orta as Cemetery Woman
Ivonne Piazza as Bank Teller
Ángel Vázquez as Bank Official
Axel Anderson as Bank President
David Dollase as Bodyguard
Jim Graham as Bodyguard
Wally Dalton as Priest
Paul Tuerpe as Reporter #1
John Procaccino as Reporter #2
Nerissa E. Williams as Reporter #3
Juan Manuel Lebrón as Puerto Rican Cafe Waiter
Eddie Bellaflores as Fruit Vendor
Thomas Helgeland as Soloist
James W. Gavin as Police Helicopter Pilot
Scott Stuber as Parking Attendant at Marriott Hotel
Richard Blum as Watcher
Michael DeCourcey as Cabbie
Whitey Shapiro as Cop
Stefan Enriquez as Cop
Fulvio Cecere as Cop
Shirley Oliver as Cop
Eric Sather as Cab Customer
Wally Gudgell as Upset Passenger
J. Mills Goodloe as Newlywed Man
Peter Sebastian Lackaff as Singer
John Lamar as Money Hungry Man
Ernie Hall as Cop
Calli Medved as Cop
Robert Sanders as Monorail Driver
Rhonda J. Osborne as Police Dispatcher
Christina Herrera as Pro Choice Woman
Cary Sanchez as Bank Receptionist
Frank R. Jimenez Jr. as Towel Boy
Jeff F. King as Helicopter Pilot
David "Shark" Fralick as Buyer with Remy
Bob Minor as Cop
John Harms as Cop

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 182

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	75
5 to 8	0	10
9 to 12	0	4
13 to 16	0	3
17 to 20	0	3
21 to 24	0	2
25 to 28	0	5
29 to 32	0	5
33 to 36	0	2
37 to 40	5	96
41 to 44	13	0
45 to 48	0	13
49 to 52	3	1
53 to 56	1	0
57 to 60	1	0
61 to 64	1	1
65 to 68	1	2
69 to 72	1	1
73 to 76	0	3
77 to 80	14	21
81 to 84	12	4
85 to 88	0	1
89 to 92	30	31
93 to 96	0	0
97 to 100	47	41
101 to 104	12	19
105 to 108	2	6
109 to 112	3	0
113 to 116	17	13
117 to 120	3	2
121 to 124	7	6
125 to 128	77	74
129 to 132	1	4
133 to 136	1	8
137 to 140	1	2
141 to 144	1	7
145 to 148	0	2
149 to 152	8	11
153 to 156	0	8
157 to 160	0	18
161 to 164	2	0
165 to 168	1	4
169 to 172	0	8
173 to 176	0	4
177 to 180	0	3
181 to 182	0	21

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

JENNIFER: Would you please leave? ELECTRA: Mmm, smell that, Nikita? ELECTRA: I hope she saves some for us.

JENNIFER: Hi, Mom, it's me. Ken and I just had a big fight. ELECTRA: Crap.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.

265 lines from women, 544 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 28 men in the cast. 3 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 234 of 878. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 233 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 25% of the words (1,832), men 75% (5,393). Women have 33% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

6 of the 19 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Richard Donner (man)
Written by: Lilly Wachowski (woman), Lana Wachowski (woman), Brian Helgeland (man)
Story by: Lilly Wachowski (woman), Lana Wachowski (woman)
Produced by: Joel Silver (man), Andrew Lazar (man), Jim Van Wyck (man), Richard Donner (man), Raynold Gideon (man), Bruce A. Evans (man)
Shot by: Vilmos Zsigmond (man)
Edited by: Richard Marks (man), Lawrence Jordan (man)
Music by: Mark Mancina (man)
Production design by: Thomas E. Sanders (man)
Costumes by: Elizabeth McBride (woman)
Cast by: Marion Dougherty (woman)