Fails the Bechdel test
BlacKkKlansman
2018. Directed by Spike Lee, written by Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is hired as the first Black officer in the Colorado Springs, Colorado Police Department. Stallworth is initially assigned to work in the records room, where he faces racial slurs from his coworkers. Stallworth requests a transfer to go undercover, and is assigned to infiltrate a local rally at which national civil rights leader Kwame Ture (birth name Stokely Carmichael) is to give a speech. At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas, the president of the black student union at Colorado College. While taking Ture to his hotel, Patrice is stopped by patrolman Andy Landers, a corrupt, racist officer in Stallworth's precinct, who threatens Ture and sexually assaults Patrice.
- Released
- 10 Aug 2018
- Genres
- Biography, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 46 wins & 215 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ron Stallworth 307 lines, man
- Flip 159 lines, man
- Felix 125 lines, man
- Patrice 77 lines, woman
- Chief Bridges 55 lines, man
- Devin Davis 54 lines, man
- Walter 51 lines, man
- Ivanhoe 27 lines, man
- Connie 26 lines, woman
- Walker 26 lines, man
Full cast, 37 people
- John David Washington as Ron Stallworth
- Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman
- Topher Grace as David Duke
- Laura Harrier as Patrice Dumas
- Alec Baldwin as Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard
- Jasper Pääkkönen as Felix Kendrickson
- Corey Hawkins as Kwame Ture
- Paul Walter Hauser as Ivanhoe
- Ryan Eggold as Walter Breachway
- Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Mr. Turrentine
- Robert John Burke as Chief Bridges
- Brian Tarantina as Officer Clay Mulaney
- Arthur J. Nascarella as Officer Wheaton
- Ken Garito as Sergeant Trapp
- Frederick Weller as Master Patrolman Andy Landers
- Michael Buscemi as Jimmy Creek
- Damaris Lewis as Odetta
- Ato Blankson-Wood as Hakeem
- Dared Wright as Officer Cincer
- Faron Salisbury as Officer Sharpe
- Ashlie Atkinson as Connie Kendrickson
- Victor Colicchio as Steve
- Paul Diomede as Jerry
- Elise Hudson as Librarian
- Danny Hoch as Agent Y
- Nicholas Turturro as Walker
- Ryan Preimesberger as Jesse Nayyar
- Harry Belafonte as Jerome Turner
- Gina Belafonte as Gina B.
- Ernest Rayford as Josh the Waiter
- James Campbell as Waiter
- Jared Johnston as CSPD Officer Brickhouse
- Michael J. Burg as CSPD Officer Myers
- Jeremy J. Nelson as Records Room Officer
- Nichelle Bolden as Student Activist
- David Duke as Self (archival footage)
- Donald Trump as Self (archival footage)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 162
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 | 38 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 37 |
| 9 to 12 | 7 | 46 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 10 | 17 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 57 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 69 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 8 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 14 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 15 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 50 |
| 49 to 52 | 13 | 34 |
| 53 to 56 | 6 | 8 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 17 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 27 |
| 65 to 68 | 1 | 4 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 43 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 21 |
| 77 to 80 | 16 | 24 |
| 81 to 84 | 6 | 46 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 10 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 2 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 34 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 20 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 20 |
| 105 to 108 | 10 | 26 |
| 109 to 112 | 12 | 54 |
| 113 to 116 | 2 | 23 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 11 |
| 121 to 124 | 1 | 3 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 9 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 4 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 56 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 7 |
| 149 to 152 | 4 | 24 |
| 153 to 156 | 8 | 42 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 10 |
| 161 to 162 | 4 | 3 |
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.
104 lines from women, 959 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 29 men in the cast. 3 women and 26 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 108 of 1,078.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 238 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 10% of the words (1,079), men 90% (9,819).
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
86
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Spike Lee (man)
- Written by
- Charlie Wachtel (man), David Rabinowitz (man), Kevin Willmott (man), Spike Lee (man)
- Produced by
- Jason Blum (man), Spike Lee (man), Raymond Mansfield (man), Sean McKittrick (man), Jordan Peele (man), Shaun Redick (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Chayse Irvin (man)
- Edited by
- Barry Alexander Brown (man)
- Music by
- Terence Blanchard (man)
- Production design by
- Curt Beech (man)
- Costumes by
- Marci Rodgers (woman)
- Cast by
- Kim Taylor-Coleman (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 11 men, 8 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 15 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 5 men, 10 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 4 men, 1 non-binary, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 9 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Non-binary
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Laura Harrier 28
Men
Corey Hawkins 29, Paul Walter Hauser 31, Ryan Eggold 33, John David Washington 34, Adam Driver 34, Jasper Pääkkönen 38, Topher Grace 40, Alec Baldwin 60, Isiah Whitlock Jr. 63
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $93.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 162 scenes and 1,078 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
