Fails the Bechdel test
Breakdown
1997. Directed by Jonathan Mostow, written by Jonathan Mostow and Sam Montgomery.
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Jeff and Amy Taylor are moving to California and must drive across the country. When they find themselves stranded in the middle of a desert with hardly anyone or anything around, their trip comes to a sudden halt. Amy had taken a ride with a friendly trucker to a small diner to call for help, but after a long time, Jeff becomes worried. He finds that no one in the diner has seen or heard from his wife. When he finds the trucker who gave Amy the ride, the trucker swears he has never seen her. Now Jeff must attempt to find his wife, who has been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. But who can he trust?
- Released
- 02 May 1997
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 74 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jeff 242 lines, man
- Red 93 lines, man
- Amy 75 lines, woman
- Earl 41 lines, man
- Sheriff Boyd 39 lines, man
- Billy 23 lines, man
- Bartender 16 lines, man
- Deke 13 lines, man
- Calhoun 11 lines, man
- Al 9 lines, man
Full cast, 19 people
- Kurt Russell as Jeff Taylor
- J.T. Walsh as Warren 'Red' Barr
- Kathleen Quinlan as Amy Taylor
- M.C. Gainey as Earl
- Jack Noseworthy as Billy
- Rex Linn as Sheriff Boyd
- Ritch Brinkley as Al
- Moira Sinise as Arleen Barr
- Kim Robillard as Deputy Len Carver
- Thomas Kopache as Calhoun
- Jack McGee as Bartender
- Vincent Berry as Deke Barr
- Helen Duffy as Flo
- Ancel Cook as Barfly
- Gene Hartline as Tow Truck Driver
- Steve Waddington as Cowboy In Bank
- Rick Sanders as Truck Stop Trucker
- Alitzah as Spanish Girl (uncredited)
- Rick Zieff as Producer (uncredited)
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 156
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 | 3 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 4 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 to 20 | 14 | 7 |
| 21 to 24 | 4 | 7 |
| 25 to 28 | 2 | 2 |
| 29 to 32 | 9 | 24 |
| 33 to 36 | 25 | 40 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 44 | 1 | 21 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 36 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 42 |
| 57 to 60 | 1 | 22 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 24 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 18 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 42 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 22 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 25 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 9 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 6 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 5 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 10 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 1 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 2 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 4 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 14 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 9 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 10 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 8 |
| 141 to 144 | 1 | 35 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 26 |
| 149 to 152 | 2 | 4 |
| 153 to 156 | 15 | 21 |
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, 14 are women's.
82 lines from women, 513 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 13 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 604.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 182 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 (583), men 90% (4,981). Women have 14% 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
40
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jonathan Mostow (man)
- Written by
- Jonathan Mostow (man), Sam Montgomery (man)
- Story by
- Jonathan Mostow (man)
- Produced by
- Dino De Laurentiis (man), Martha De Laurentiis (woman)
- Shot by
- Douglas Milsome (man)
- Edited by
- Kevin Stitt (man), Derek Brechin (man)
- Music by
- Basil Poledouris (man)
- Production design by
- Victoria Paul (woman)
- Cast by
- Carol Lewis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 29 men, 19 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 13 men, 29 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 15 men, 15 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 18 men, 12 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 14 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 7 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 43 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kathleen Quinlan 42, Moira Sinise 43
Men
Jack Noseworthy 32, Rex Linn 40, Kim Robillard 41, Kurt Russell 46, M.C. Gainey 49, Thomas Kopache 51, J.T. Walsh 53, Ritch Brinkley 53
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $36 million
- Box office
- $50.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 156 scenes and 604 lines of dialogue. How the test works
