Passes the Bechdel test

Crash

2005. Directed by Paul Haggis, written by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    16 women characters. 14 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 5 scenes out of 114.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for Crash

The film

Over a thirty-six hour period in Los Angeles, a handful of disparate people's lives intertwine as they deal with the tense race relations that belie life in the city. Among the players are: the Caucasian district attorney, who uses race as a political card; his Caucasian wife, who, having recently been carjacked by two black men, believes that her stereotypical views of non-whites is justified and cannot be considered racism; the two black carjackers who use their race both to their advantage and as an excuse; partnered Caucasian police constables, one who is a racist and uses his authority to harass non-whites, and the other who hates his partner because of those racist views, but who may have the same underlying values in his subconscious; a black film director and his black wife, who believes her husband doesn't support their black background enough, especially in light of an incident with the racist white cop; partnered police detectives and sometimes lovers, one Hispanic female and the other black male, the latter who is dealing with a drugged out mother that feels he isn't concerned enough about taking care of family; an East Asian man who is run over but who is hiding some valuable cargo in the back of his van; a Persian store owner, who feels he isn't getting satisfaction from American society when his store is robbed time and time again; and a Hispanic locksmith, who just wants to keep his family, especially his young daughter, safe in a seemingly unsafe world.

Released
06 May 2005
Genres
Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated
R
IMDb
7.7 / 10
Metascore
66 / 100
Awards
Won 3 Oscars. 66 wins & 112 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Ryan 74 lines, man
  2. Anthony 67 lines, man
  3. Peter 66 lines, man
  4. Cameron 65 lines, man
  5. Hansen 57 lines, man
  6. Graham 54 lines, man
  7. Daniel 44 lines, man
  8. Farhad 42 lines, man
  9. Christine 37 lines, woman
  10. Rick 32 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
  • Don Cheadle as Det. Graham Waters
  • Sandra Bullock as Jean Cabot
  • Brendan Fraser as Rick Cabot
  • Matt Dillon as Officer John Ryan
  • Jennifer Esposito as Ria
  • Michael Peña as Daniel Ruiz
  • Terrence Howard as Cameron Thayer
  • Thandiwe Newton as Christine Thayer
  • Ludacris as Anthony
  • Larenz Tate as Peter
  • Ryan Phillippe as Officer Tom Hansen
  • Shaun Toub as Farhad
  • Bahar Soomekh as Dorri
  • Ashlyn Sanchez as Lara Ruiz
  • Karina Arroyave as Elizabeth Ruiz
  • Loretta Devine as Shaniqua Johnson
  • Beverly Todd as Graham's Mother
  • Keith David as Lt. Dixon
  • Kathleen York as Officer Johnson
  • Eddie J. Fernandez as Officer Gomez
  • Nona Gaye as Karen
  • Jack McGee as Gun Store Owner
  • Marina Sirtis as Shereen
  • William Fichtner as Flanagan
  • Daniel Dae Kim as Park
  • Dato Bakhtadze as Lucien
  • Art Chudabala as Ken Ho
  • Tony Danza as Fred
  • Ime Etuk as Georgie
  • Howard Fong as Store Owner
  • Billy Gallo as Officer Hill
  • Ken Garito as Bruce
  • Octavio Gómez Berríos as Hispanic Passenger
  • James Haggis as Lara's Friend
  • Sylva Kelegian as Nurse Hodges
  • Jayden Lund as Security Guard
  • Amanda Moresco as First Assistant Director
  • Martin Norseman as Conklin
  • Joe Ordaz as Hispanic Driver
  • Greg Joung Paik as Choi
  • Yomi Perry as Maria
  • Alexis Rhee as Kim Lee
  • Molly Schaffer as Woman at Locksmith's
  • Paul E. Short as Officer Stone
  • Allan Steele as Paramedic
  • Kate Super as Receptionist
  • Glenn Taranto as Country DJ (voice)
  • Curt Clendenin as Carjack Witness (uncredited)
  • Bruce Kirby as Pop Ryan
  • Sean Cory as Motorcycle Cop

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 114

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 3138
4 to 61136
7 to 908
10 to 121315
13 to 151043
16 to 18529
19 to 213032
22 to 241926
25 to 2703
28 to 301146
31 to 3368
34 to 36324
37 to 39219
40 to 421426
43 to 451311
46 to 4884
49 to 51418
52 to 5401
55 to 571226
58 to 60337
61 to 63018
64 to 6603
67 to 6905
70 to 72061
73 to 7502
76 to 7855
79 to 8125
82 to 8442
85 to 8710
88 to 90047
91 to 9302
94 to 961210
97 to 99912
100 to 10276
103 to 10520
106 to 10834
109 to 11111
112 to 11435

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

KIM LEE: Why? Not my fault! Her fault! She do this! RIA: I do this?
KIM LEE: Stop in middle of street! Mexicans! No know how to drive! She blake too fast! RIA: I 11blake 11 too fast?? Oh, sorry, you no see my 11blake lights?"
KIM LEE: Crazy Mexican! I call immigration on you! Look you do my car! RIA: Can you just write in your report how shocked I am to have been hit by an Asian driver?
JEAN: Thanks. KAREN: Nothing from Parker Center. JEAN: I need to talk to you.
JEAN: Didn't I just ask you not to treat me like a child? MARIA: Sorry, Mrs. Jean ...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.

226 lines from women, 608 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

16 women and 31 men in the cast. 14 women and 22 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 863. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 120 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 26% of the words (2,395), men 74% (6,712). Women have 27% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Paul Haggis (man)
Written by
Paul Haggis (man), Bobby Moresco (man)
Story by
Paul Haggis (man)
Produced by
Bob Yari (man), Cathy Schulman (woman), Paul Haggis (man), Mark R. Harris (man), Bobby Moresco (man), Don Cheadle (man)
Shot by
J. Michael Muro (man)
Edited by
Hughes Winborne (man)
Music by
Mark Isham (man)
Production design by
Laurence Bennett (man)
Costumes by
Linda M. Bass (woman)
Cast by
Sarah Halley Finn (woman), Randi Hiller (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    11 women, 11 men, 12 not listed

  • Other crew

    4 women, 13 men, 16 not listed

  • Sound

    4 women, 11 men, 6 not listed

  • Camera

    1 women, 9 men, 6 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 2 men, 7 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    5 women, 0 men, 4 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 35 on average. Men: 34 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Jennifer Esposito 32, Thandiwe Newton 32, Sandra Bullock 40

Men

Ludacris 27, Michael Peña 29, Larenz Tate 29, Brendan Fraser 36, Terrence Howard 36, Don Cheadle 40, Matt Dillon 41

Exhibit H: the money

It made 15.1 times what it cost.

Budget
$6.5 million
Box office
$98.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 114 scenes and 863 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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