Fails the Bechdel test
Die Hard with a Vengeance
1995. Directed by John McTiernan, written by Jonathan Hensleigh and Roderick Thorp.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 4 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
John McClane, officer of the NYPD and hero of both the Nakatomi Hostage Crisis and the Dulles International Airport Crisis, must join forces with a Harlem shop owner to prevent Simon, brother of the late Hans Gruber and serial bomber, from stealing billions of dollars worth of gold from the Federal Reserve Building in New York City.
- Released
- 19 May 1995
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mcclane 209 lines, man
- Zeus 161 lines, man
- Simon 78 lines, man
- Cobb 53 lines, man
- Walsh 17 lines, man
- Jarvis 16 lines, man
- Lambert 15 lines, man
- Dexter 11 lines, man
- Weiss 11 lines, man
- Raymond 8 lines, man
Full cast, 90 people
- Bruce Willis as John McClane
- Jeremy Irons as Simon
- Samuel L. Jackson as Zeus Carver
- Larry Bryggman as Chief Walter Cobb
- Graham Greene as Joe Lambert
- Anthony Peck as Ricky Walsh
- Nicholas Wyman as Mathias Targo
- Kevin Chamberlin as Charles Weiss
- Colleen Camp as Connie Kowalski
- Sam Phillips as Katya
- Michael Alexander Jackson as Dexter
- Aldis Hodge as Raymond
- Sharon Washington as Officer Jane
- Stephen Pearlman as Dr. Fred Schiller
- Mischa Hausserman as Mischa
- Edwin Hodge as Dexter's Friend
- Robert Sedgwick as Rolf
- Tony Halme as Roman
- Bill Christ as Ivan
- Anthony Thomas as Gang Member #1
- Glenn Herman as Gang Member #2
- Kent Faulcon as Gang Member #3
- Akili Prince as Gang Member #4
- Ardie Fuqua as Gang Member #5
- Mike Jefferson as Gang Member #6
- Andre Ware as Gang Member #7
- Michael Lee Merrins as Van Driver
- Birdie M. Hale as Harlem Woman
- Daryl Edwards as Livery Driver
- Barbara Hipkiss as Phone Woman
- Aasif Mandvi as Arab Cabbie
- Bill Kux as Business Guy (Taxi)
- Scott Nicholson as Transit Cop
- Ralph Buckley as Businessman (Station)
- Charles Dumas as Cross
- Michael Cristofer as Jarvis
- Phyllis Yvonne Stickney as Wanda Shepard
- J.R. Horne as Sgt. John Turley
- Michael Tadross as Greek Deli Proprietor
- Elvis Duran as Radio D.J.
- John McTiernan Sr. as Fisherman
- Greg A. Skoric as Kurt
- Sven Toorvald as Karl
- T. Alloy Langenfeld as Berndt
- Timothy Adams as Gunther
- John C. Vennema as Felix Little
- Gerrit Vooren as Nils
- Willis Sparks as Klaus
- Tony Travis as Marshal #1
- Danny Dutton as Marshal #2
- James Saito as Korean Proprietor
- Patrick Borriello as Kid #1
- Víctor Rojas as Kid #2
- Jeffrey Dreisbach as Yuppie Stockbroker
- Joe Zaloom as Jerry Parks
- John Doman as Construction Foreman
- Patricia Mauceri as Miss Thomas
- Franchelle Stewart Dorn as Principal Martinez
- Kharisma as Little Tina
- Gerry Becker as Larry Griffith
- Richard Council as Otto
- John Robert Tillotson as Second Broker
- Ray Aranha as Janitor
- Phil Theis as Erik
- Flip as Subway Man
- Dory Binyon as Reporter
- David Vitt as Kid at Gas Station
- John Glenn Hoyt as Federal Reserve Guard #1
- Bray Poor as Federal Reserve Guard #2
- Shari-Lyn Safir as Secretary
- Ivan Skoric as Villain A
- Faisal Hassan as FBI Agent
- Richard Russell Ramos as FBI Chief
- Angela Amato Velez as Cop #1
- Richard V. Allen as Chief Allen
- Shirley J. Hatcher as Cop #2
- David P. Martin as Federal Reserve Guard #3
- James P. Whalen Sr. as Fat Larry Lumis
- Paul Simon as Man in Precinct
- Carl Brewer as Helicopter Villain
- Vernon Campbell as Large Gang Member (uncredited)
- Ali A. Wahhab as Large Gang Member #2 (uncredited)
- David Sontag as Biker (uncredited)
- Ralph A. Villani as Bomb Squad Detective (uncredited)
- Carlo Giuliano as Bomb Squad Member (uncredited)
- Jeannie Epper as Woman at Subway Station (uncredited)
- Keith Schwabinger as Policeman (uncredited)
- Michael Luggio as Teacher (uncredited)
- Drew Nelson as Kindergarten Student (uncredited)
- Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber (archive footage) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 197
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 5 | 0 | 8 |
| 6 to 10 | 5 | 36 |
| 11 to 15 | 1 | 68 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 15 |
| 21 to 25 | 1 | 52 |
| 26 to 30 | 2 | 50 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 3 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 5 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 5 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 13 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 18 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 4 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 1 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 10 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 59 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 12 |
| 81 to 85 | 3 | 50 |
| 86 to 90 | 0 | 2 |
| 91 to 95 | 0 | 6 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 3 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 26 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 21 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 21 |
| 116 to 120 | 1 | 6 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 34 |
| 126 to 130 | 0 | 18 |
| 131 to 135 | 1 | 2 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 18 |
| 141 to 145 | 0 | 1 |
| 146 to 150 | 0 | 11 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 1 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 3 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 4 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 5 |
| 171 to 175 | 0 | 4 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 28 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 4 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 5 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 16 |
| 196 to 197 | 0 | 6 |
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, 2 are women's.
14 lines from women, 654 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
14 women and 76 men in the cast. 4 women and 39 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 745.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 184 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 2% of the words (158), men 98% (8,240).
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
84
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John McTiernan (man)
- Written by
- Jonathan Hensleigh (man)
- Produced by
- John McTiernan (man), Michael Tadross (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Menzies Jr. (man)
- Edited by
- John Wright (man)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- Jackson De Govia (man)
- Cast by
- Patricia McCorkle (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
10 women, 58 men, 25 not listed
-
Production
10 women, 17 men, 29 not listed
-
Sound
5 women, 20 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 12 men, 10 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sam Phillips 33, Colleen Camp 41
Men
Kevin Chamberlin 31, Bruce Willis 40, Graham Greene 42, Nicholas Wyman 45, Jeremy Irons 46, Samuel L. Jackson 46, Anthony Peck 48, Larry Bryggman 56
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $90 million
- Box office
- $366 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 197 scenes and 745 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
