Fails the Bechdel test
Commando
1985. Directed by Mark L. Lester, written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman and Steven E. de Souza.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
A retired special agent named John Matrix led an elite unit and has left the armed forces to live in a secluded mountain home with his daughter Jenny. But now he is forced out of retirement when his daughter is kidnapped by a band of thugs intent on revenge. Unbeknownst to Matrix, the members of his former unit are being killed one by one. Even though Matrix' friend General Franklin Kirby gives Matrix armed guards, attackers manage to kidnap Matrix and Jenny. Matrix learns that a warlord called Arius wishes to lead a military coup in his home country. If Matrix refuses to help him out, Jenny will die.
- Released
- 04 Oct 1985
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 51 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Matrix 104 lines, man
- Cindy 58 lines, woman
- Kirby 13 lines, man
- Bennett 12 lines, man
- Arius 11 lines, man
- Jenny 11 lines, woman
- Sully 10 lines, man
- Cooke 5 lines, man
- Forrestal 5 lines, man
- X 5 lines
Full cast, 47 people
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as John Matrix
- Rae Dawn Chong as Cindy
- Dan Hedaya as Arius
- Vernon Wells as Bennett
- James Olson as Major General Franklin Kirby
- David Patrick Kelly as Sully
- Alyssa Milano as Jenny Matrix
- Bill Duke as Cooke
- Drew Snyder as Lawson
- Sharon Wyatt as Leslie
- Michael Delano as Forrestal
- Bob Minor as Jackson
- Michael Adams as Harris
- Gary Carlos Cervantes as Diaz
- Lenny Juliano as Soldier
- Charles Meshack as Henriques
- Chelsea Field as Vicky the Western Flight Attendant
- Julie Hayek as Susan the Western Flight Attendant
- Hank Calia as Latin Man
- Walter Scott as Cates
- Greg Wayne Elam as Biggs
- George Fisher as Mall Security Guard
- Phil Adams as Officer in Galleria
- Ava Cadell as Girl in Bed at Motel
- Mikul Robins as Boy in Bed at Motel
- Branscombe Richmond as Vega
- Matt Landers as Fred
- Peter DuPont as Daryl
- Tom Simmons as Kirby's Driver
- Bill Paxton as Intercept Officer
- Richard D. Reich as Intercept Officer
- John Reyes as Val Verde Heavy
- Billy Cardenas as Val Verde Heavy
- Eddie Reyes as Val Verde Heavy
- Vivian Daily as Woman Officer
- Thomas Rosales Jr. as Young Guerrilla
- Ronald C. McCarty as Guerrilla
- Jim Painter as Police Officer
- Nick Dimitri as Guerrilla Guarding Plane (uncredited)
- Dick Warlock as Officer in Mall (uncredited)
- Tony Brubaker as Man Arius (uncredited)
- Larry Holt as 2nd Mall Security Guard (uncredited)
- Danny Nero as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Rick Sawaya as Island Guerrilla (uncredited)
- Adrian Tafoya as Commuter in Airport (uncredited)
- Fernando Verdugo as Airport Commuter (uncredited)
- Tom Willett as Airport Commuter (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 25% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 161
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 | 8 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 to 16 | 9 | 17 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 5 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 17 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 5 |
| 29 to 32 | 6 | 3 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 44 | 2 | 4 |
| 45 to 48 | 7 | 8 |
| 49 to 52 | 2 | 1 |
| 53 to 56 | 2 | 1 |
| 57 to 60 | 4 | 12 |
| 61 to 64 | 1 | 2 |
| 65 to 68 | 2 | 0 |
| 69 to 72 | 4 | 2 |
| 73 to 76 | 5 | 19 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 84 | 8 | 10 |
| 85 to 88 | 2 | 9 |
| 89 to 92 | 10 | 13 |
| 93 to 96 | 3 | 2 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 1 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 1 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 6 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 7 | 12 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 0 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 1 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 0 |
| 157 to 160 | 3 | 14 |
| 161 to 161 | 0 | 0 |
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, 31 are women's.
81 lines from women, 182 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 33 men in the cast. 7 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 14 of 352.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 33 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 30% of the words (1,339), men 70% (3,177). Women have 31% 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
1
Two men
14
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mark L. Lester (man)
- Written by
- Steven E. de Souza (man)
- Story by
- Matthew Weisman (man), Jeph Loeb (man), Steven E. de Souza (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man)
- Shot by
- Matthew F. Leonetti (man)
- Edited by
- John F. Link (man), Glenn Farr (man), Mark Goldblatt (man)
- Music by
- James Horner (man)
- Production design by
- John Vallone (man)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 63 men, 22 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 20 men, 12 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 6 men, 11 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 6 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 5 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 23 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alyssa Milano 12, Rae Dawn Chong 24, Sharon Wyatt 32
Men
David Patrick Kelly 34, Arnold Schwarzenegger 38, Vernon Wells 39, Drew Snyder 39, Bill Duke 42, Dan Hedaya 45, James Olson 54
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $57.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 161 scenes and 352 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
