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Fails the Bechdel test

Bad Lieutenant

1992. Directed by Abel Ferrara, written by Zoë Lund and Abel Ferrara.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    11 women characters. 2 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 Bad Lieutenant

The film

A police Lieutenant goes about his daily tasks of investigating homicides, but is more interested in pursuing his vices. He has accumulated a massive debt betting on baseball, and he keeps doubling to try to recover. His bookies are beginning to get agitated. The Lieutenant does copious amounts of drugs, cavorts with prostitutes, and uses his status to take advantage of teenage girls. While investigating a nun's rape, he begins to reflect on his lifestyle.

Released
17 Dec 1992
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated
NC-17
IMDb
7 / 10
Metascore
70 / 100
Awards
2 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Lt 139 lines, man
  2. Ariane 30 lines
  3. Lite 20 lines, man
  4. Nun 12 lines, woman
  5. Elderly Black Woman 8 lines, woman
  6. Jc 8 lines, man
  7. Fence 7 lines
  8. Jesus 7 lines, man
  9. Bet Cop 6 lines, man
  10. Large 6 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
  • Harvey Keitel as LT
  • Peggy Gormley as LT's Wife
  • Stella Keitel as LT's Daughter
  • Victor Argo as Bet Cop
  • Paul Calderon as Cop #1
  • Leonard L. Thomas as Cop #2
  • Vincent Laresca as JC
  • Frankie Thorn as The Nun
  • Brian McElroy as LT's Son #1
  • Frankie Acciarito as LT's Son #2
  • Dana Dee as LT's Baby Girl
  • Anthony Ruggiero as Lite
  • Robin Burrows as Ariane
  • Victoria Bastel as Bowtay
  • G. Elvis Phillips as Young Cop
  • Stephen Chen as Korean Store Owner
  • Shawn McClean as Korean Store Hood #1
  • John Steven Jones as Korean Store Hood #2
  • Fernando Vélez as Julio
  • Joseph Micheal Cruz as Paulo
  • Frank Adonis as Large
  • Paul Hipp as Jesus
  • Lambert Moss as Veronica
  • Nicholas De Cegli as Limelight Guide
  • Larry Mullane as Detective Larry
  • Michael A. Fella as Detective Mike
  • Michael N. Ciravolo as Detective Michael
  • Zoë Lund as Zoe
  • Bo Dietl as Detective Bo
  • Gene Canfield as Detective Gene
  • Heather Bracken as Nurse
  • Penelope Allen as Doctor
  • Eddie Daniels as Jersey Girl - Driver
  • Bianca Hunter as Jersey Girl - Passenger
  • Ed Kovens as Monsignor
  • Jaime Sánchez as Priest
  • Minnie Gentry as Elderly Woman
  • Iraida Polanco as Mamacita
  • Chris 'Mad Dog' Russo as Radio Announcer #1 (voice)
  • John Clohessy as Radio Announcer #2 (voice)
  • Bruce Murray as Radio Announcer #3 (voice)
  • Bob Murphy as Play-by-Play Announcer (voice)
  • Warner Fusselle as Play-by-Play Announcer (voice)
  • Phil Neilson as Left Turn
  • Darryl Strawberry as Self - Baseball Player (archive footage) (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 19% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 46

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 101
2 to 200
3 to 306
4 to 402
5 to 506
6 to 608
7 to 708
8 to 802
9 to 900
10 to 1000
11 to 11011
12 to 1201
13 to 1301
14 to 1414
15 to 1500
16 to 1607
17 to 17031
18 to 1822
19 to 1910
20 to 20012
21 to 2137
22 to 2200
23 to 2325
24 to 2400
25 to 2508
26 to 2685
27 to 2700
28 to 2800
29 to 2900
30 to 3000
31 to 31024
32 to 3200
33 to 3300
34 to 3407
35 to 3500
36 to 36029
37 to 37823
38 to 3800
39 to 3942
40 to 4007
41 to 4100
42 to 4204
43 to 4302
44 to 4402
45 to 4500
46 to 4600

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, 11 are women's.

29 lines from women, 227 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

11 women and 15 men in the cast. 2 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 64 of 316. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 78 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 22% of the words (1,062), men 78% (3,815). Women have 11% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Abel Ferrara (man)
Written by
Zoë Lund (woman), Abel Ferrara (man)
Produced by
Edward R. Pressman (man), Mary Kane (woman)
Shot by
Ken Kelsch (man)
Edited by
Anthony Redman (man)
Music by
Joe Delia (man)
Production design by
Charles M. Lagola (man)
Costumes by
David Sawaryn (gender not listed)
Cast by
Meredith Jacobson Marciano (woman), Kimba Hills (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    7 women, 8 men, 18 not listed

  • Sound

    2 women, 5 men, 15 not listed

  • Other crew

    1 women, 6 men, 12 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 6 men, 2 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 3 men, 7 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 1 men, 7 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 17 on average. Men: 40 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Stella Keitel 6, Frankie Thorn 28

Men

Vincent Laresca 18, Leonard L. Thomas 31, Paul Calderon 40, Harvey Keitel 53, Victor Argo 58

Exhibit G: the money

It made 2.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$1 million
Box office
$2 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 46 scenes and 316 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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