Passes the Bechdel test
Deep Cover
1992. Directed by Bill Duke, written by Michael Tolkin and Henry Bean.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 135. -
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
A black uniformed policeman is recruited by a devious drug enforcement agent to infiltrate a smuggling organization seeking to expand into designer drugs. This 'ugly side of the war on drugs' explores the context of race, identity and hypocrisy within a brutal and alienating investigation.
- Released
- 15 Apr 1992
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Hull 222 lines, man
- Elias 155 lines, man
- Carver 77 lines, man
- Mccutcheon 62 lines, woman
- Barbosa 51 lines, man
- Taft 36 lines, man
- Eddie 29 lines, man
- Stevens 29 lines, man
- Gopher 23 lines, man
- Hernandez 11 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
- Laurence Fishburne as Russell Stevens Jr. / John Hull
- Jeff Goldblum as David Jason
- Victoria Dillard as Betty McCutcheon
- Gregory Sierra as Felix Barbosa
- Clarence Williams III as Taft
- René Assa as Guzman
- Alex Colon as Molto
- Roger Guenveur Smith as Eddie
- Sydney Lassick as Gopher
- Kamala Lopez as Belinda Chacon
- Julio Oscar Mechoso as Hernandez
- Glynn Turman as Russell Stevens Sr.
- James T. Morris as Ivy
- Sandra Gould as Mrs. G.
- Charles Martin Smith as Gerald Carver
- Lira Angel as Bijoux
- Bruce Paul Barbour as Policeman
- Bilal Bashir as Rapper's Musician
- Anna Berger as Congresswoman
- Donald Bishop as Judge
- Ed Cambridge as Crackhead #2
- Jaime Cardriche as Shark
- Alisa Christensen as Ivy's Driver
- Cory Curtis as Young Russell Stevens Jr.
- James Encinas as Guzman's Guard
- Joseph Ferro as James
- Def Jef as Bartender
- Harry Frazier as Lunatic Santa
- Neil Goldberg as Dealer
- Revalyn T. Golde as Hull's Lawyer
- Yvette Heyden as Nancy
- Erik Kilpatrick as Dealer
- Nick LaTour as Republican Congressman
- Shannon Macpherson as Miranda
- Ric Mancini as Congressman
- Lionel Matthews as Officer Winston
- Arthur Mendoza as Gallegos
- John Messall as Crackhead #1
- Paunita Nichols as Jacquiline
- Tony Perez as Guzman's Lawyer
- Clifton Powell as Leland
- Roberto Santana as Dealer
- Jonathan Scott as Rapper
- Vicellous Shannon as 13 Year Old
- Eleva Singleton as 1st Reporter
- Lisa Thayer as Bailiff
- Ron Thompson as Store Owner
- Tyrin Turner as Dealer
- David Weixelbaum as Chino
- John Boyd West as Cal Tech
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 135
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 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 8 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 51 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 2 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 23 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 6 |
| 28 to 30 | 8 | 30 |
| 31 to 33 | 10 | 16 |
| 34 to 36 | 1 | 27 |
| 37 to 39 | 4 | 68 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 4 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 15 |
| 49 to 51 | 8 | 23 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 17 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 4 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 1 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 16 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 37 |
| 67 to 69 | 9 | 7 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 43 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 36 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 16 |
| 79 to 81 | 2 | 8 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 11 |
| 85 to 87 | 7 | 14 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 2 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 12 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 13 |
| 100 to 102 | 14 | 40 |
| 103 to 105 | 2 | 6 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 22 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 11 |
| 112 to 114 | 3 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 7 | 14 |
| 121 to 123 | 4 | 7 |
| 124 to 126 | 0 | 6 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 11 |
| 130 to 132 | 0 | 33 |
| 133 to 135 | 2 | 10 |
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.
NANCY: Can you get that? MIRANDA: Eight.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 11 are women's.
90 lines from women, 694 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 38 men in the cast. 6 women and 22 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 78 of 804.
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 11% of the words (907), men 89% (7,324).
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
2
Two men
80
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bill Duke (man)
- Written by
- Henry Bean (man), Michael Tolkin (man)
- Story by
- Michael Tolkin (man)
- Produced by
- Pierre David (man), Henry Bean (man)
- Shot by
- Bojan Bazelli (man)
- Edited by
- John Carter (man)
- Music by
- Michel Colombier (man)
- Production design by
- Pamela B. Warner (woman)
- Costumes by
- Arline Burks Gant (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Kimberly Hardin (woman), Chemin Sylvia Bernard (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 11 men, 11 not listed
-
Other crew
6 women, 14 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Victoria Dillard 22, Kamala Lopez 28
Men
Laurence Fishburne 30, Roger Guenveur Smith 36, Jeff Goldblum 39, René Assa 47, Alex Colon 51, Clarence Williams III 52, Gregory Sierra 55, Sydney Lassick 69
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $16.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 135 scenes and 804 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
