Fails the Bechdel test
Die Hard 2
1990. Directed by Renny Harlin, written by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson and Walter Wager.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
After the terrifying events in LA, John McClane (Willis) is about to go through it all again. A team of terrorists, led by Col. Stuart (Sadler) is holding the entire airport hostage. The terrorists are planning to rescue a drug lord from justice. In order to do so, they have seized control of all electrical equipment affecting all planes. With no runway lights available, all aircraft have to remain in the air, with fuel running low, McClane will need to be fast.
- Released
- 03 Jul 1990
- Genres
- Action, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 67 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mcclane 141 lines, man
- Stuart 52 lines, man
- Trudeau 39 lines, man
- Barnes 36 lines, man
- Lorenzo 36 lines, man
- Thornberg 27 lines, man
- Holly 21 lines, woman
- Marvin 20 lines, man
- Grant 19 lines, man
- Sam 16 lines, woman
Full cast, 94 people
- Bruce Willis as John McClane
- Bonnie Bedelia as Holly McClane
- William Sadler as Stuart
- John Amos as Major Grant
- Franco Nero as General Ramon Esperanza
- William Atherton as Richard Thornberg
- Dennis Franz as Capt. Carmine Lorenzo
- Art Evans as Leslie Barnes
- Fred Thompson as Trudeau
- Tom Bower as Marvin
- Sheila McCarthy as Samantha 'Sam' Coleman
- Don Harvey as Garber
- Reginald VelJohnson as Sgt. Al Powell
- Tony Ganios as Baker
- Peter Nelson as Thompson
- Robert Patrick as O'Reilly
- Mick Cunningham as Sheldon
- John Leguizamo as Burke
- Tom Verica as Kahn
- John Costelloe as Cochrane
- Vondie Curtis-Hall as Miller
- Mark Boone Junior as Shockley
- Ken Baldwin as Mulkey
- Danny Weselis as Blue Light Team
- Gregg Kovan as Blue Light Team
- Vincent Mazella Jr. as Blue Light Team
- Don C. McGovern as Blue Light Team - Lt. Sherman
- Jeff Langton as Blue Light Team
- Danial Donai as Blue Light Team
- Bob 'Rocky' Cheli as Blue Light Team
- Dale Jacoby as Blue Light Team
- Patrick O'Neal as Corporal Telford
- Ben Lemon as Sergeant
- Jason Ross-Azikiwe as Second Sergeant
- Anthony Droz as Soldier
- Michael Francis Clarke as Northeast Plane - Pilot
- Steve Pershing as Northeast Plane - Co-Pilot
- Tom Everett as Northeast Plane - Navigator
- Sherry Bilsing as Northeast Plane - Stewardess
- Karla Tamburrelli as Northeast Plane - Stewardess
- Jeanne Bates as Northeast Plane - Older Woman
- Colm Meaney as Windsor Plane - Pilot
- Steffen Foster as Windsor Plane - Co-Pilot
- James Lancaster as Windsor Plane - Navigator
- Amanda Hillwood as Windsor Plane - Stewardess
- Felicity Waterman as Windsor Plane - Stewardess
- Alan Berger as Windsor Plane - Passenger
- Vance Valencia as Foreign Military Plane - Pilot
- Gilbert Garcia as Foreign Military Plane - Co-Pilot
- Julian Reyes as Foreign Military Plane - Young Corporal
- Richard Domeier as WNTW Cameraman
- David Katz as WNTW Soundman
- Robert Lipton as WNTW Chopper Pilot
- Rob Steinberg as WZDC - Victor
- Paul Abascal as WZDC Director
- John Rubinow as WZDC Producer
- Bob Braun as WZDC Newscaster
- Dominique Jennings as WZDC Newscaster
- Carol Barbee as WZDC Newscaster
- Jerry E. Parrott as Engineer
- Martin Lowery as Engineer
- Robert Sacchi as Engineer
- Dick McGarvin as Engineer
- Edward Gero as Engineer
- Stafford Morgan as Engineer
- Robert J. Bennett as Engineer
- Nick Angotti as Engineer
- Jim Hudson as Engineer
- Tom Finnegan as Engineer
- Thomas Tofel as Engineer
- Earl Houston Bullock as Engineer
- Wynn Irwin as Engineer
- Rande Scott as Engineer
- Ken Smolka as Engineer
- Robert Costanzo as Sgt. Vito Lorenzo
- Lauren Letherer as Rent-A-Car Girl
- Connie Lillo-Thieman as Information Booth Girl
- Ed DeFusco as Morgue Worker
- Charles Lanyer as Justice Man
- Bill Smillie as Custodian
- Dwayne Hargray as Luggage Worker
- John Cade as Lobby Cop
- Paul Bollen as Airport Cop
- Joseph Michael Roth as Airport Cop
- David Willis Sr. as Tow Truck Driver
- Dru Berrymore as Capt. Lorenzo's Secretary (uncredited)
- Edward Mannix as Tower Controller (voice) (uncredited)
- Robert M. Bouffard as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Michael Luggio as Police Officer (uncredited)
- James Wellington as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Scott Cranford as Airport Security Guard (uncredited)
- Reggie Luck as Airport Cop (uncredited)
- Russell McConnell as Engineer (uncredited)
- Mickie McGowan as Additional Dialogue Replacement (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 18% 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
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 10 |
| 4 to 6 | 4 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 9 | 16 |
| 10 to 12 | 3 | 12 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 9 |
| 16 to 18 | 11 | 31 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 6 |
| 22 to 24 | 1 | 14 |
| 25 to 27 | 7 | 13 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 15 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 23 |
| 34 to 36 | 5 | 36 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 19 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 to 45 | 4 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 10 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 36 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 13 |
| 55 to 57 | 2 | 34 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 5 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 9 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 1 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 6 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 3 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 20 |
| 79 to 81 | 4 | 21 |
| 82 to 84 | 6 | 10 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 23 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 6 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 7 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 15 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 9 |
| 100 to 102 | 1 | 10 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 3 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 16 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 7 |
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, 12 are women's.
65 lines from women, 493 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 63 men in the cast. 5 women and 56 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 15 of 684.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 109 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,156), men 87% (7,509). Women have 12% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
Two women
0
Two men
66
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Renny Harlin (man)
- Written by
- Doug Richardson (man), Steven E. de Souza (man)
- From the novel by
- Walter Wager (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man), Charles Gordon (man), Lawrence Gordon (man)
- Shot by
- Oliver Wood (man)
- Edited by
- Robert A. Ferretti (man), Stuart Baird (man)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- John Vallone (man)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
7 women, 63 men, 51 not listed
-
Sound
10 women, 29 men, 15 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 14 men, 15 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 18 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Bonnie Bedelia 42
Men
Bruce Willis 35, William Sadler 40, William Atherton 42, Dennis Franz 45, Fred Thompson 47, Franco Nero 48, Art Evans 48, John Amos 50, Tom Bower 52
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $70 million
- Box office
- $240 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 114 scenes and 684 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
