Fails the Bechdel test
Do the Right Thing
1989. Directed by Spike Lee, written by Spike Lee.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
This film looks at life in the Bedford-Stuyvesant district of Brooklyn on a hot summer Sunday. As he does everyday, Sal Fragione opens the pizza parlor he's owned for 25 years. The neighborhood has changed considerably in the time he's been there and is now composed primarily of African-Americans and Hispanics. His son Pino hates it there and would like nothing better than to relocate the eatery to their own neighborhood. For Sal however, the restaurant represents something that is part of his life and sees it as a part of the community. What begins as a simple complaint by one of his customers, Buggin Out - who wonders why he has only pictures of famous Italian-Americans on the wall when most of his customers are black - eventually disintegrates into violence as frustration seemingly brings out the worst in everyone.
- Released
- 21 Jul 1989
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 93 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 21 wins & 19 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mookie 162 lines, man
- Sal 93 lines, man
- Pino 58 lines, man
- Buggin' Out 54 lines, man
- Jade 54 lines, woman
- Da Mayor 53 lines, man
- Vito 33 lines, man
- Radio Raheem 31 lines, man
- Tina 31 lines, woman
- Mother Sister 30 lines, woman
Full cast, 44 people
- Danny Aiello as Sal
- Ossie Davis as Da Mayor
- Ruby Dee as Mother Sister
- Richard Edson as Vito
- Giancarlo Esposito as Buggin Out
- Spike Lee as Mookie
- Bill Nunn as Radio Raheem
- John Turturro as Pino
- Paul Benjamin as ML
- Frankie Faison as Coconut Sid
- Robin Harris as Sweet Dick Willie
- Joie Lee as Jade
- Miguel Sandoval as Officer Ponte
- Rick Aiello as Officer Long
- John Savage as Clifton
- Samuel L. Jackson as Mister Señor Love Daddy
- Rosie Perez as Tina
- Roger Guenveur Smith as Smiley
- Steve White as Ahmad
- Martin Lawrence as Cee
- Leonard L. Thomas as Punchy
- Christa Rivers as Ella
- Frank Vincent as Charlie
- Luis Antonio Ramos as Stevie
- Richard Habersham as Eddie
- Gwen McGee as Louise
- Steve Park as Sonny
- Ginny Yang as Kim
- Sherwin Park as Korean Child
- Shawn Elliott as Puerto Rican Icee Man
- Diva Osorio as Carmen
- Chris Delaney as Stevie's Friend
- Angel Ramirez Jr. as Stevie's Friend
- Sixto Ramos as Stevie's Friend
- Nelson Vasquez as Stevie's Friend
- Travell Lee Toulson as Hector
- Joel Nagle as Sergeant
- David E. Weinberg as Plain Clothes Detective
- Yatte Brown as Double Dutch Girl
- Mecca Brunson as Double Dutch Girl
- Shawn Stainback as Double Dutch Girl
- Soquana Wallace as Double Dutch Girl
- Erik Dellums as Customer in Pizzeria (uncredited)
- Nicholas Turturro as Policeman (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 99
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 | 2 |
| 4 to 6 | 4 | 19 |
| 7 to 9 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 7 | 42 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 6 | 6 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 31 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 25 |
| 25 to 27 | 23 | 32 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 16 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 10 |
| 34 to 36 | 1 | 65 |
| 37 to 39 | 7 | 59 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 31 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 to 48 | 8 | 7 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 14 |
| 55 to 57 | 2 | 10 |
| 58 to 60 | 17 | 23 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 25 |
| 67 to 69 | 23 | 19 |
| 70 to 72 | 4 | 10 |
| 73 to 75 | 15 | 18 |
| 76 to 78 | 4 | 24 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 62 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 12 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 5 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 1 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 10 | 48 |
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, 18 are women's.
137 lines from women, 624 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 29 men in the cast. 5 women and 20 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 797.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 97 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,211), men 81% (5,324). Women have 18% 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
39
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Spike Lee (man)
- Written by
- Spike Lee (man)
- Produced by
- Spike Lee (man)
- Shot by
- Ernest R. Dickerson (man)
- Edited by
- Barry Alexander Brown (man)
- Music by
- Bill Lee (man)
- Production design by
- Wynn Thomas (man)
- Costumes by
- Ruth E. Carter (woman)
- Cast by
- Robi Reed (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 12 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 10 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 6 men, 11 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 66 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ruby Dee 66
Men
Giancarlo Esposito 31, Spike Lee 32, John Turturro 32, Richard Edson 35, Bill Nunn 35, Frankie Faison 40, Paul Benjamin 54, Danny Aiello 55, Ossie Davis 71
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $6.5 million
- Box office
- $37.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 99 scenes and 797 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
