Passes the Bechdel test
Die Hard
1988. Directed by John McTiernan, written by Roderick Thorp and Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 105. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
On Christmas Eve, tough New York detective John McClane arrives in Los Angeles with the aim of reconciling with his estranged wife, Holly at the Christmas party of her employer, the Nakatomi Corporation. When the party is disrupted by a group of heavily armed criminals led by the charismatic Hans Gruber, McClane evades capture and begins a one-man war against the hostage takers who are attempting to rob the corporation whilst occupying the LAPD and the FBI by posing as terrorists. Outmanned, outgunned and ill-equipped for the task at hand, McClane calls in the help of a local beat cop in his crusade against Gruber.
- Released
- 20 Jul 1988
- Genres
- Action, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 4 Oscars. 10 wins & 12 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mcclane 167 lines, man
- Hans 101 lines, man
- Powell 70 lines, man
- Holly 40 lines, woman
- Robinson 31 lines, man
- Argyle 27 lines, man
- Ellis 26 lines, man
- Theo 18 lines, man
- Big Johnson 16 lines, man
- Thornburg 14 lines, man
Full cast, 65 people
- Bruce Willis as John McClane
- Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber
- Alexander Godunov as Karl
- Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennaro McClane
- Reginald VelJohnson as Al Powell
- Paul Gleason as Dwayne Robinson
- De'voreaux White as Argyle
- William Atherton as Richard Thornburg
- Hart Bochner as Harry Ellis
- James Shigeta as Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi
- Bruno Doyon as Franco
- Andreas Wisniewski as Tony
- Clarence Gilyard Jr. as Theo
- Joey Plewa as Alexander
- Lorenzo Caccialanza as Marco
- Dennis Hayden as Eddie
- Al Leong as Uli
- Gary Roberts as Heinrich
- Hans Buhringer as Fritz
- Wilhelm von Homburg as James
- Robert Davi as Big Johnson
- Grand L. Bush as Little Johnson
- Bill Marcus as City Engineer
- Rick Ducommun as Walt
- Matt Landers as Captain Mitchell
- Carmine Zozzora as Rivers
- Dustyn Taylor as Ginny
- George Christy as Dr. Hasseldorf
- Anthony Peck as Young Cop
- Cheryl Baker as Woman
- Richard Parker as Man
- David Ursin as Harvey Johnson
- Mary Ellen Trainor as Gail Wallens
- Harri James as Police Supervisor
- Shelley Pogoda as Dispatcher
- Selma Archerd as Hostage
- Scot Bennett as Hostage
- Rebecca Broussard as Hostage
- Kate Finlayson as Hostage
- Shanna Higgins as Hostage
- Kym Malin as Hostage
- Taylor Fry as Lucy McClane
- Noah Land as John McClane Jr.
- Betty Carvalho as Paulina
- Kip Waldo as Convenience Store Clerk
- Mark Goldstein as Station Manager
- Tracy Reiner as Thornburg's Assistant
- Rick Cicetti as Guard
- Fred Lerner as Guard
- Bill Margolin as Producer
- Bob Jennings as Cameraman
- Bruce P. Schultz as Cameraman
- David Katz as Soundman
- Robert Lesser as Businessman
- Stella Hall as Stewardess
- Terri Lynn Doss as Girl at Airport
- Jon E. Greene as Boy at Airport
- P. Randall Bowers as Kissing Man
- Michele Laybourn as Girl in Window
- Charlie Picerni as Dwayne Robinson's Driver (uncredited)
- Conrad Hurtt as SWAT (uncredited)
- Terry Ray as SWAT (uncredited)
- Eric Kay as Fireman (uncredited)
- Gérard Bonn as Kristoff
- Mark Winn as Police Detective (uncredited)
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 105
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 | 5 | 12 |
| 4 to 6 | 13 | 33 |
| 7 to 9 | 3 | 28 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 13 | 15 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 4 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 7 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 30 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 10 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 18 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 4 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 2 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 8 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 7 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 9 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 25 |
| 64 to 66 | 5 | 56 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 8 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 2 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 8 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 1 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 18 |
| 85 to 87 | 4 | 46 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 32 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 52 |
| 94 to 96 | 1 | 22 |
| 97 to 99 | 1 | 36 |
| 100 to 102 | 5 | 46 |
| 103 to 105 | 2 | 13 |
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.
DISPATCHER: It's the same address as that fire signal -- SUPERVISOR: -- the false alarm? I'll handle it. SUPERVISOR: Attention, whoever you are. This channel is reserved for emergency calls only --
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 10 are women's.
66 lines from women, 571 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 40 men in the cast. 11 women and 30 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 9 of 657.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 72 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 9% of the words (762), men 91% (7,267). Women have 10% 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
2
Two men
46
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John McTiernan (man)
- Written by
- Jeb Stuart (man), Steven E. de Souza (man)
- From the novel by
- Roderick Thorp (man)
- Produced by
- Lawrence Gordon (man), Beau Marks (man), Joel Silver (man)
- Shot by
- Jan de Bont (man)
- Edited by
- John F. Link (man), Frank J. Urioste (man)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- Jackson De Govia (man)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 54 men, 13 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 23 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 9 men, 17 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 10 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 7 men
-
Editing
0 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Bonnie Bedelia 40
Men
De'voreaux White 22, Hart Bochner 31, Bruce Willis 33, Reginald VelJohnson 35, Alexander Godunov 38, William Atherton 40, Alan Rickman 42, Paul Gleason 49, James Shigeta 59
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $28 million
- Box office
- $141 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 105 scenes and 657 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
