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Fails the Bechdel test

Courage Under Fire

1996. Directed by Edward Zwick, written by Patrick Sheane Duncan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    9 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    Women do talk to each other.
  3. 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.

Poster for Courage Under Fire

The film

The pilot of a rescue copter, Captain Karen Walden, died shortly before her helicopter crew was rescued after it crashed in Desert Storm. It first appears that she made a spectacular rescue of a downed helicopter crew, then held her own crew together to fight off the Iraqis after her copter crashed. Lt. Colonel Serling, who is struggling with his own demons from Desert Storm, is assigned to investigate her worthiness for the Medal of Honor. But some conflicting accounts, from her crew and soldiers in the area, cause him to question whether she deserves it.

Released
12 Jul 1996
Genres
Action, Drama, Mystery
Rated
R
IMDb
6.6 / 10
Metascore
77 / 100
Awards
9 wins & 7 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Serling 331 lines, man
  2. Altameyer 108 lines, man
  3. Ilario 102 lines, man
  4. Walden 101 lines, woman
  5. Monfriez 87 lines, man
  6. Lt. Chelli 57 lines, man
  7. Patella 56 lines, man
  8. Teegarden 49 lines, man
  9. Meredith 38 lines, woman
  10. Top 36 lines
Full cast, 50 people
  • Denzel Washington as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
  • Meg Ryan as Captain Karen Emma Walden
  • Lou Diamond Phillips as Staff Sergeant John Monfriez
  • Michael Moriarty as Brigadier General Hershberg
  • Matt Damon as Ilario
  • Bronson Pinchot as Bruno
  • Seth Gilliam as Stephen Altameyer
  • Regina Taylor as Meredith Serling
  • Željko Ivanek as Banacek
  • Scott Glenn as Gartner
  • Tim Guinee as Rady
  • Tim Ransom as Boylar
  • Sean Astin as Patella
  • Armand Darrius as Robins
  • Mark Adair-Rios as Bobcat 5
  • Ned Vaughn as Chelli
  • Manny Perez as Jenkins
  • David McSwain as Egan
  • Sean Patrick Thomas as Thompson
  • Ken Jenkins as Joel Walden
  • Kathleen Widdoes as Geraldine Walden
  • Christina Stojanovich as Anne Marie Walden
  • Lucky Luciano as Nathan Serling Jr.
  • Erica C. Newman as Joleen Serling
  • Jamal A. Mays as Brian Serling
  • Ashlee Jordan Pryor as Josie Serling
  • Michole Briana White as Maria
  • Jeffrey Allan Waid as Hillerman (as Jeffrey Waid)
  • Patrick Young as Drill Team Commander
  • Jimmy Ray Pickens as Soldier
  • Jack Watkins as Coffee Sergeant
  • Matt Sigloch as Cadre
  • Jim Morse as Cadre (as James Paul Morse)
  • Bruce McGill as McQuillan
  • Rory J. Aylward as Teegarden's Crew Chief
  • Kyle Mickaelian as Refueler
  • Michael Dolan as Orderly
  • John Roarke as The President
  • Tom Schanley as Questioner
  • Robert Apisa as Iraqi Tank Commander (as Bob Apisa)
  • Daniel Gonzalez as Laughing Gunner
  • Albert Hall as Speaker
  • Richard Venture as Don Boylar
  • Amy Hathaway as Annie
  • Diane Baker as Louise Boylar
  • Julius Carter as Rowtero
  • Korey Coleman as Radio operator (uncredited)
  • Benjamin Bryant as Tanker (uncredited)
  • Robert Brent Lappin as Tank Commander (uncredited)
  • Reed Frerichs as Delinquent Soldier

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 94

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 200
3 to 400
5 to 6017
7 to 81013
9 to 1000
11 to 1209
13 to 14010
15 to 16061
17 to 18010
19 to 20024
21 to 22049
23 to 2400
25 to 26041
27 to 2800
29 to 30089
31 to 32020
33 to 34011
35 to 362442
37 to 381022
39 to 40013
41 to 421020
43 to 44016
45 to 4600
47 to 48066
49 to 5009
51 to 5287
53 to 5434
55 to 56018
57 to 58133
59 to 60411
61 to 6224
63 to 64013
65 to 66315
67 to 6804
69 to 7005
71 to 72028
73 to 741113
75 to 761822
77 to 7806
79 to 80012
81 to 82030
83 to 8403
85 to 8600
87 to 884788
89 to 90023
91 to 92023
93 to 9435

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.

154 lines from women, 909 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 36 men in the cast. 3 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 25 of 1,145. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 401 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 12% of the words (1,610), men 88% (11,416). 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Edward Zwick (man)
Written by
Patrick Sheane Duncan (man)
Produced by
John Davis (man), Joseph Singer (man), David T. Friendly (man)
Shot by
Roger Deakins (man)
Edited by
Steven Rosenblum (man)
Music by
James Horner (man)
Production design by
John Graysmark (man)
Costumes by
Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (woman)
Cast by
Mary Colquhoun (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    1 women, 10 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Production

    2 women, 7 men

  • Sound

    1 women, 4 men

  • Art

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 2 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 35 on average. Men: 39 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Meg Ryan 34, Regina Taylor 35

Men

Matt Damon 25, Seth Gilliam 27, Lou Diamond Phillips 34, Bronson Pinchot 37, Željko Ivanek 38, Denzel Washington 41, Michael Moriarty 55, Scott Glenn 57

Exhibit G: the money

It made 2.2 times what it cost.

Budget
$46 million
Box office
$101 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 94 scenes and 1,145 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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