Fails the Bechdel test
Black Rain
1989. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Craig Bolotin and Warren Lewis.
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. In Japan, however, he manages to escape. As they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game the Japanese way.
- Released
- 22 Sep 1989
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 56 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 1 win & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Nick 272 lines, man
- Ich 114 lines, man
- Charlie 74 lines, man
- Joyce 53 lines, woman
- Kobo 24 lines, man
- Sugai 23 lines, man
- Ohashi 22 lines, man
- Oliver 21 lines, man
- Connie 7 lines, woman
- Techie 5 lines
Full cast, 53 people
- Michael Douglas as Nick Conklin
- Andy Garcia as Charlie Vincent
- Ken Takakura as Masahiro
- Kate Capshaw as Joyce
- Yūsaku Matsuda as Sato
- Shigeru Kōyama as Ohashi
- John Spencer as Oliver
- Yuya Uchida as Nashida
- Guts Ishimatsu as Katayama
- Tomisaburō Wakayama as Sugai
- Miyuki Ono as Miyuki
- Luis Guzmán as Frankie
- John Costelloe as The Kid
- Stephen Root as Berg
- Richard Riehle as Crown
- Bruce Katzman as Yudell
- Tim Kelleher as Bobby
- Edmund Ikeda as Japanese Businessman
- Tomo Nagasue as Japanese Translator
- Clem Caserta as Abolofia
- George Kyle as Farentino
- Vondie Curtis-Hall as Detective
- Joe Perce as Detective
- Louis Cantarini as Detective
- Doug Yasuda as Japanese / American Translator
- Toshio Sato as Japanese Embassy Official
- Jun Kunimura as Yashimoto
- Roy K. Ogata as Sato's Man
- Shirô Oishi as Sato's Man
- Professor Toru Tanaka as Sugai's Man
- Rikiya Yasuoka as Sugai's Man
- Jôji Shimaki as Sugai's Man
- Gorō Sasa as Ohashi's Man
- Taro Ibuki as Ohashi's Man
- Daisuke Awaji as Ohashi's Man
- Keone Young as Karaoke Singer
- Jim Ishida as Escort Officer
- Shōtarō Hayashi as Mediator
- Toshishiro Obata as Mediator
- Michiko Tsujima as Noodle Woman
- Linda Gillen as Peggy
- John Gotay as Danny
- Matthew Porac as Patrick
- Ken Kensei as Masahiro's Son
- Josip Elic as Joe, the Bartender
- Mitchell Bahr as Friend
- Ken Enomoto as Detective
- Nathan Jung as Sato's Yakuza Enforcer
- Al Leong as Sato's Yakuza Assassin
- Bruce Locke as Sato's Man
- Chris Nelson Norris as Motorcyclist
- Dennis Y. Takeda as Newspaper Reporter
- Celia Xavier as Nori, Bar Hostess
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 125
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 3 | 0 | 19 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 19 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 30 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 3 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 12 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 20 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 32 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 29 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 19 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 26 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 10 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 29 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 7 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 8 | 20 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 16 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 7 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 7 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 8 |
| 61 to 63 | 5 | 13 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 4 |
| 67 to 69 | 1 | 8 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 13 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 21 |
| 76 to 78 | 5 | 21 |
| 79 to 81 | 10 | 5 |
| 82 to 84 | 5 | 7 |
| 85 to 87 | 2 | 2 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 31 |
| 91 to 93 | 2 | 8 |
| 94 to 96 | 6 | 6 |
| 97 to 99 | 2 | 2 |
| 100 to 102 | 2 | 10 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 23 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 12 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 10 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 15 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 11 |
| 121 to 123 | 2 | 6 |
| 124 to 125 | 0 | 11 |
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, 10 are women's.
64 lines from women, 562 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 41 men in the cast. 1 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 47 of 654.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 169 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 9% of the words (433), men 91% (4,200). Women have 10% 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
73
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ridley Scott (man)
- Written by
- Craig Bolotin (man), Warren Lewis (man)
- Produced by
- Stanley R. Jaffe (man), Sherry Lansing (woman)
- Shot by
- Jan de Bont (man)
- Edited by
- Tom Rolf (man)
- Music by
- Hans Zimmer (man)
- Production design by
- Norris Spencer (man)
- Costumes by
- Ellen Mirojnick (woman)
- Cast by
- Dianne Crittenden (woman), Nobuaki Murooka (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 28 men, 13 not listed
-
Production
10 women, 9 men, 14 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 15 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 13 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 7 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 9 men, 9 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kate Capshaw 35
Men
Andy Garcia 33, Yūsaku Matsuda 40, Guts Ishimatsu 40, John Spencer 42, Michael Douglas 44, Yuya Uchida 49, Ken Takakura 58, Shigeru Kōyama 60, Tomisaburō Wakayama 60
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $134 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 125 scenes and 654 lines of dialogue. How the test works
