Fails the Bechdel test

Blade Runner

1982. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples and Philip K. Dick.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    7 women characters. 3 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

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

Poster for Blade Runner

The film

In the early twenty-first century, the Tyrell Corporation, during what was called the Nexus phase, developed robots, called "replicants", that were supposed to aid society, the replicants which looked and acted like humans. When the superhuman generation Nexus 6 replicants, used for dangerous off-Earth endeavors, began a mutiny on an off-Earth colony, replicants became illegal on Earth. Police units, called "blade runners", have the job of destroying - or in their parlance "retiring" - any replicant that makes its way back to or created on Earth, with anyone convicted of aiding or assisting a replicant being sentenced to death. It's now November, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. Rick Deckard, a former blade runner, is called out of retirement when four known replicants, most combat models, have made their way back to Earth, with their leader being Roy Batty. One, Leon Kowalski, tried to infiltrate his way into the Tyrell Corporation as an employee, but has since been able to escape. Beyond following Leon's trail in hopes of finding and retiring them all, Deckard believes part of what will help him is figuring out what the replicants wanted with the Tyrell Corporation in trying to infiltrate it. The answer may lie with Tyrell's fail-safe backup mechanism. Beyond tracking the four, Deckard faces a possible dilemma in encountering a fifth replicant: Rachael, who works as Tyrell's assistant. The issue is that Dr. Elden Tyrell is experimenting with her, to provide her with fake memories so as to be able to better control her. With those memories, Rachael has no idea that she is not human. The problem is not only Rachael's assistance to Deckard, but that he is beginning to develop feelings for her.

Released
25 Jun 1982
Genres
Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Rated
R
IMDb
8.1 / 10
Metascore
84 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 2 Oscars. 16 wins & 22 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Deckard 222 lines, man
  2. Batty 103 lines, man
  3. Rachael 84 lines, woman
  4. Sebastian 66 lines, man
  5. Tyrell 43 lines, man
  6. Leon 40 lines, man
  7. Pris 33 lines, woman
  8. Holden 25 lines, man
  9. Bryant 20 lines, man
  10. Esper 16 lines
Full cast, 32 people
  • Harrison Ford as Deckard
  • Rutger Hauer as Batty
  • Sean Young as Rachael
  • Edward James Olmos as Gaff
  • M. Emmet Walsh as Bryant
  • Daryl Hannah as Pris
  • William Sanderson as Sebastian
  • Brion James as Leon
  • Joe Turkel as Tyrell
  • Joanna Cassidy as Zhora
  • James Hong as Chew
  • Morgan Paull as Holden
  • Kevin Thompson as Bear
  • John Edward Allen as Kaiser
  • Hy Pyke as Taffey Lewis
  • Kimiko Hiroshige as Cambodian Lady
  • Bob Okazaki as Sushi Master
  • Carolyn DeMirjian as Saleslady
  • Ben Astar as Abdul Ben Hassan
  • Dawna Lee Heising as Showgirl (uncredited)
  • Alexis Rhee as Geisha #1 (uncredited)
  • Judith Burnett as Ming-Fa (uncredited)
  • Leo Gorcey Jr. as Louie - Bartender (uncredited)
  • Sharon Hesky as Bar Patron (uncredited)
  • Kelly Hine as Showgirl (uncredited)
  • Tom Hutchinson as Bartender (uncredited)
  • Charles Knapp as Bartender (uncredited)
  • Rose Mascari as Bar Patron (uncredited)
  • Jiro Okazaki as Policeman (uncredited)
  • Steve Pope as Policeman (uncredited)
  • Robert Reiter as Policeman (uncredited)
  • Doug Benson as Police Officer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 129

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 3024
4 to 600
7 to 9011
10 to 12019
13 to 1500
16 to 1800
19 to 2107
22 to 24014
25 to 27919
28 to 301020
31 to 3313
34 to 361855
37 to 3901
40 to 4202
43 to 45026
46 to 4800
49 to 5122
52 to 542012
55 to 57010
58 to 6001
61 to 63022
64 to 661619
67 to 69049
70 to 72518
73 to 7515
76 to 78843
79 to 812051
82 to 84812
85 to 8700
88 to 9007
91 to 93041
94 to 961433
97 to 9900
100 to 10210
103 to 10501
106 to 10800
109 to 111019
112 to 11401
115 to 11704
118 to 120012
121 to 12300
124 to 12602
127 to 12901

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, 19 are women's.

133 lines from women, 566 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 19 men in the cast. 3 women and 12 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 82 of 744. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 81 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 16% of the words (960), men 84% (5,092). Women have 19% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 16 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
David Webb Peoples (man), Hampton Fancher (man)
From the novel by
Philip K. Dick (man)
Produced by
Michael Deeley (man), Run Run Shaw (man)
Shot by
Jordan Cronenweth (man)
Edited by
Marsha Nakashima (woman), Terry Rawlings (man), Gillian L. Hutshing (woman)
Music by
Vangelis (man)
Production design by
Lawrence G. Paull (man)
Costumes by
Michael Kaplan (man), Charles Knode (man)
Cast by
Jane Feinberg (woman), Mike Fenton (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    8 women, 22 men, 7 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 9 men, 7 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 12 men, 3 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 8 men, 6 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 6 men, 2 not listed

  • Production

    3 women, 5 men, 3 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Editing

    2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 26 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Daryl Hannah 21, Sean Young 22, Joanna Cassidy 36

Men

Edward James Olmos 35, Brion James 37, Rutger Hauer 38, William Sanderson 38, Harrison Ford 39, M. Emmet Walsh 47, Joe Turkel 54

Exhibit G: the money

It made 1.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$28 million
Box office
$41.7 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 129 scenes and 744 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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