Fails the Bechdel test

Con Air

Name: Con Air
Released: 1997

1997. Directed by Simon West, written by Scott Rosenberg.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 6 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 2 out of 3.

The film

Cameron Poe, a highly decorated Army Ranger, comes home to Alabama to his wife Tricia, only to run into a few drunken regulars at the bar where she works. Cameron accidentally kills one of the drunks, and is sent to a federal penitentiary for involuntary manslaughter for seven years. He becomes eligible for parole and can now go home to his wife and daughter. Unfortunately, Cameron has to share a prison airplane with some of the country's most dangerous criminals, who take control of the plane and are now planning to escape the country. Cameron has to find a way to stop them while playing along. Meanwhile, United States Marshal Vince Larkin is trying to help Cameron get free and stop the criminals, led by Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom.

Released: 06 Jun 1997
Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 52 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. 7 wins & 11 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Poe 140 lines, man
Larkin 138 lines, man
Cyrus The Virus 116 lines, man
Malloy 49 lines, man
Bishop 34 lines, man
Diamond Dog 34 lines, man
Billy Bedlam 32 lines, man
Chief Devers 27 lines, man
Baby-O 20 lines, man
Garland White 19 lines, man

Full cast, 89 people

Nicolas Cage as Cameron Poe
John Cusack as Agent Vince Larkin
John Malkovich as Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom
Ving Rhames as Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones
Mykelti Williamson as "Baby-O" O'Dell
Dave Chappelle as "Pinball" Parker
Colm Meaney as Agent Duncan Malloy
Monica Potter as Tricia Poe
Landry Allbright as Casey Poe
Rachel Ticotin as Guard Sally Bishop
Steve Buscemi as Garland Greene - "The Marietta Mangler"
Nick Chinlund as William "Billy Bedlam" Bedford
M.C. Gainey as "Swamp Thing"
Danny Trejo as "Johnny-23"
Renoly Santiago as "Sally-Can't Dance"
Steve Eastin as Guard Falzon
Brendan Kelly as Conrad
Jesse Borrego as Francisco Cindino
Carl Ciarfalio as Con #1
Mongo Brownlee as Ajax
José Zúñiga as Sims
Ned Bellamy as Chopper Pilot
John Marshall Jones as Gator
John Roselius as Devers
Fredric Lehne as Pilot
Dan Bell as Fuel Jockey
Bob Stephenson as Ted, the Pilot
Scott Ditty as Bus Guard
Tommy Bush as Sheriff
Lauren Pratt as Debbie (6 Yrs Old)
Steve Hulin as Ronnie
Don C. McGovern as Smoke
Angela Featherstone as Ginny
Doug Hutchison as Donald
Jeris Poindexter as Watts
David Ramsey as Londell
Conrad Goode as Viking
Emilio Rivera as Carlos
Mario Roberts as Mongoose (Stunt)
Ty Granderson Jones as Blade
Earl Billings as Guard
Greg Collins as Guard
Billy Devlin as Guard
Mark Ginther as Guard
Joseph Patrick Kelly as Guard
Jeff Olson as Uncle Bob
Dawn Bluford as Female Baggage Handler
Charlie Paddock as Transportation Officer #1
Randee Barnes as Stickman
Don S. Davis as Man In Car
Barbara Sharma as Woman In Car
Thomas Rosales Jr. as Cindino Gunman (Stunts)
Eddie Perez as Cindino Gunman (Stunts)
Scott McCoy as Cindino Gunman (Stunts)
Brian Hayes Currie as Cop In Vegas
Ashley Smock as Huey Pilot
Charles Lynn Frost as DEA Agent
Joey Miyashima as Tech Guy
Scott Burkholder as Air Traffic Controller
Kevin Cooney as Judge
Gérard L'Heureux as Guard Renfro
Pete Antico as Guard Garner
John Robotham as Guard Ryan
Gilbert Rosales as Ramirez (Stunt)
Richard L. Duran as Warlock (Stunt)
George Randall as Old Con on Plane
Jamie Bozian as Con
Harley Zumbrum as Con
Doug Dearth as Con
David Roberson as Supervisor
Alexandra Balahoutis as Waitress
Dick 'Skip' Evans as Airplane Pilot
Sheldon Worthington as Co-Pilot
Robert Taft as Soldier
Robert White as Soldier
Chris Ellis as BOP Official Grant
John Campbell as BOP Bus Driver
Brian Willems as Paramedic
Bill Cusack as Paramedic
Dabbs Greer as Old Man Under Truck
Marco Kyris as Cindino's Pilot
Kevin Gage as Billy Joe (uncredited)
Dennis Burkley as Dale (uncredited)
Matthew Barry as Chambers (uncredited)
Scott Rosenberg as Craps dealer (uncredited)
Dylan Haggerty as Starkey
Powers Boothe as Officer at Leaving Ceremony (voice)
John Diehl as Poe's Lawyer (uncredited)
Marty McSorley as Co-Pilot

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 246

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 6	10	33
7 to 12	0	3
13 to 18	2	24
19 to 24	0	30
25 to 30	0	39
31 to 36	0	35
37 to 42	0	6
43 to 48	0	16
49 to 54	2	58
55 to 60	2	53
61 to 66	0	12
67 to 72	0	15
73 to 78	0	5
79 to 84	0	7
85 to 90	0	6
91 to 96	0	5
97 to 102	1	46
103 to 108	0	62
109 to 114	4	21
115 to 120	8	24
121 to 126	1	4
127 to 132	0	8
133 to 138	0	10
139 to 144	0	3
145 to 150	0	5
151 to 156	0	1
157 to 162	0	32
163 to 168	7	11
169 to 174	9	15
175 to 180	0	38
181 to 186	0	5
187 to 192	0	2
193 to 198	4	9
199 to 204	0	26
205 to 210	0	10
211 to 216	0	12
217 to 222	0	14
223 to 228	0	3
229 to 234	0	9
235 to 240	0	23
241 to 246	3	19

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, 7 are women's.

53 lines from women, 759 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 73 men in the cast. 6 women and 48 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 898. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 164 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 6% of the words (627), men 94% (9,783). Women have 7% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Simon West (man)
Written by: Scott Rosenberg (man)
Produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer (man)
Shot by: David Tattersall (man)
Edited by: Glen Scantlebury (man), Steve Mirkovich (man), Chris Lebenzon (man)
Music by: Trevor Rabin (man), Mark Mancina (man)
Costumes by: Bobbie Read (woman)
Cast by: Jeanne McCarthy (woman), Victoria Thomas (woman), Matthew Barry (man)