Passes the Bechdel test
Cradle 2 the Grave
2003. Directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, written by John O'Brien and Channing Gibson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 171. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
When his daughter is kidnapped and held in exchange for priceless diamonds, the leader of a crew of highly skilled urban thieves (DMX) forges an unlikely alliance with a Taiwanese Intelligence officer (Jet Li) to rescue her. Their race against the clock to find the precious stones ultimately unravels a plot to distribute a deadly new weapon of war.
- Released
- 28 Feb 2003
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 36 / 100
- Awards
- 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Fait 181 lines, man
- Su 75 lines, man
- Archie 61 lines, man
- Tommy 54 lines, man
- Daria 44 lines, woman
- Ling 39 lines, man
- Miles 29 lines, man
- Chambers 26 lines, man
- Vanessa 22 lines, woman
- Odion 18 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
- Jet Li as Su
- DMX as Anthony Fait
- Gabrielle Union as Daria
- Anthony Anderson as Tommy
- Tom Arnold as Archie
- Paige Hurd as Vanessa
- Mark Dacascos as Yao Ling
- Kelly Hu as Sona
- Sean Cory as Willy Chickens
- Michael Jace as Odion
- Drag-On as Miles
- Paolo Seganti as Christophe
- Ron Yuan as Laser Tech
- Woon Young Park as Bald Enforcer
- Johnny Tri Nguyen as Ling's Hitman
- Marcus Young as Ling's Hitman
- Stephen Quadros as Prison Guard Vogel
- Gwen McGee as Subway Driver
- Roxana Brusso as Vanessa's Nanny
- Maximilian A. Mastrangelo as Archie's Worker
- Lester Speight as Chambers's Club Doorman
- Paolo Mastropietro as Fight Club Doorman
- Martin Klebba as Fight Announcer
- Tim Storms as Referee
- Randy Couture as Fighter
- Hector Echavarria as Ultimate Fighter
- Tito Ortiz as Ultimate Fighter
- Tom McCleister as Fight Club Fan
- Wiley M. Pickett as Police Officer
- Andre Ware as Pinky Ring Man
- Larry Joshua as Cop in Vault
- Chic Daniel as SWAT Cop
- Daniel Dae Kim as Visiting Expert
- Doug Spearman as African Buyer
- Hani Al Naimi as Egyptian Buyer
- Julie du Page as French Buyer
- Peter J. Lucas as Russian Buyer
- Hari Dhillon as Pakistani Buyer
- Richard Trapp as Douglas
- Chi McBride as "Jump" Chambers
- Michael Cunio as Motocross Driver (uncredited)
- Arnold Chon as Cage Fighter (uncredited)
- Chuck Liddell as Cage Fighter (uncredited)
- Mark Hicks as Cage Fighter (uncredited)
- Garrett Warren as Cage Fighter (uncredited)
- Lisa Jammal as Cocktail Server (uncredited)
- William L. Johnson as Black Diamond Carrier Armored Driver (uncredited)
- Nikki Martin as Ring Girl (uncredited)
- Ungenita Prevost as Ring Girl (uncredited)
- Natasha Yi as Club Girl (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 171
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 | 5 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 3 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 10 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 24 | 11 | 27 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 4 |
| 33 to 36 | 3 | 14 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 3 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 5 |
| 53 to 56 | 7 | 14 |
| 57 to 60 | 5 | 20 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 40 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 8 |
| 69 to 72 | 1 | 59 |
| 73 to 76 | 4 | 21 |
| 77 to 80 | 7 | 52 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 88 | 12 | 18 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 13 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 22 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 6 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 6 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 13 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 18 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 6 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 4 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 22 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 4 |
| 141 to 144 | 11 | 39 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 19 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 4 |
| 153 to 156 | 5 | 14 |
| 157 to 160 | 2 | 18 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 1 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 8 |
| 169 to 171 | 1 | 28 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
SONA: We'll take that. FRENCH BUYER: Six at one-five.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 13 are women's.
85 lines from women, 565 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 40 men in the cast. 4 women and 27 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 20 of 692.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 87 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 (508), men 90% (4,636). Women have 13% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
3
Two men
62
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Andrzej Bartkowiak (man)
- Written by
- Channing Gibson (man), John O'Brien (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man)
- Shot by
- Daryn Okada (man)
- Edited by
- Derek Brechin (man)
- Music by
- John Frizzell (man), Damon 'Grease' Blackman (gender not listed)
- Production design by
- David F. Klassen (man)
- Costumes by
- Ha Nguyen (woman)
- Cast by
- Barbara Cohen (woman), Mary Gail Artz (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 32 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 10 men, 8 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men
-
Art
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Paige Hurd 10, Gabrielle Union 30, Kelly Hu 35
Men
DMX 32, Anthony Anderson 32, Sean Cory 33, Jet Li 39, Mark Dacascos 39, Michael Jace 40, Tom Arnold 43
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $56.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 171 scenes and 692 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
