Fails the Bechdel test
Eraser
1996. Directed by Chuck Russell, written by Tony Puryear and Walon Green and Michael S. Chernuchin.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 2 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
U.S. Marshal deputy John Kruger is one of the toughest Marshals, his methods are to "Erase" The identities of his witnesses he is assigned to protect. Meanwhile, a woman named Lee Cullen who works for a corporation named Cyrez performed an undercover job for the FBI to unveil a top secret weapon which uses an electromagnetic pulse to dispatch targets. Cyrez discovered this about Lee and are now out to kill her, Kruger's job is now to protect Lee so she can testify against Cyrez. But, when Kruger was assigned to perform a job with another Marshal named Robert Deguerin, he discovers that Deguerin is behind some kind of scam that will involve the EM Gun, which will change hands to a Russian criminal if Kruger does not stop them, Kruger must not only protect Lee's life but his own.
- Released
- 21 Jun 1996
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 56 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Eraser 180 lines, man
- Lee 108 lines, woman
- Samaritan 100 lines, man
- Busby 30 lines, man
- Canonero 29 lines
- Cody 22 lines
- Beller 12 lines, man
- Man In Black 11 lines, man
- Jackie 9 lines, man
- Marie 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 89 people
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Eraser
- James Caan as DeGuerin
- Vanessa Williams as Lee
- James Coburn as Beller
- Robert Pastorelli as Johnny C
- James Cromwell as Donahue
- Danny Nucci as Monroe
- Andy Romano as Harper
- Nick Chinlund as Calderon
- Michael Papajohn as Schiff
- Joe Viterelli as Tony
- Mark Rolston as J. Scar
- John Slattery as Corman
- Robert Miranda as Frediano
- Roma Maffia as Claire
- Tony Longo as Little Mike
- Gerry Becker as Morehart
- John Snyder as Sal
- Melora Walters as Darleen
- Olek Krupa as Sergei
- Cylk Cozart as Darryl
- K. Todd Freeman as Duton
- Rocco Sisto as Pauley
- Gerald Berns as Young Agent
- Steven Ford as Knoland
- Ismael 'East' Carlo as Priest
- Tommy J. Huff as Somes
- Rick Batalla as Bartender
- Michael Gregory as Leiman
- Patrick Kilpatrick as Haggerty
- James Short as Crane Sniper
- A.J. Nay as Sniper #2
- Camryn Manheim as Nurse
- Skipp Sudduth as Watch Commander
- Anthony Fusco as WITSEC Ops #1
- Gregory McKinney as WITSEC Ops #2
- Craig Barnett as Clerk
- Corey Joshua Taylor as Officer
- Rick Marzan as Crawford
- Brian Libby as 1st Perimeter Guy
- Danny Wynands as 2nd Perimeter Guy
- David Fonteno as Security Official
- Sonny King as Security Guard #1
- Ed W. Rote as Security Guard #2
- Mike Cameron as Gate Guard
- Tim Colceri as Lobby Guard
- Dieter R. Trippel as Lobby Guard #2
- Matthew Mahaney as Vault Guard
- Denis Forest as Technician
- Christopher Mankiewicz as Zoo Guard
- Mike Stone as Zoo Killer #1
- Kevin Fry-Bowers as Dock Guard #1
- Sam Scarber as Dock Guard #2
- Richie Varga as Secretary
- Diana Morgan as Female Reporter
- Ben Shenkman as Reporter #1
- Dominic Marcus as Reporter #2
- Pat Collins as Anchorman
- Dorin Seymour as Attorney
- Clayton Landey as WITSEC Agent
- Terry Beeman as Dancer #1
- M.G. Gong as Dancer #2
- Sebastian La Cause as Dancer #3
- Frank Minitello as Paramedic
- Charles Chiquette as Office Worker #1
- Glenndon Chatman as Glenndon
- Camille Winbush as Camille
- Vic Polizos as Hannon
- James Frank Clark as Locomotive Engineer
- David Bilson as Pilot #1
- Al Cerullo as Pilot #2
- Rick Shuster as Pilot #3
- Frank Arcuri as Lawyer (uncredited)
- Tom Billett as WIRSEC Security Guard (uncredited)
- Scott Cranford as Security Monitor (uncredited)
- Len DeVirgilio as FBI Agent (uncredited)
- Mischa Hausserman as Airplane Captain (uncredited)
- Patricia Holihan as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Bruce Holman as FBI Agent Firing Machine Gun (uncredited)
- Tom Lupo as Hostage Taker (uncredited)
- Dave Mallow as Newscaster (uncredited)
- Gorja Max as US Deputy Marshall (uncredited)
- David Novak as Co-Pilot (uncredited)
- Michael J. Oliver as Russian Teen (uncredited)
- James Rekart as Russian Spetsnaz Sailor (uncredited)
- James Rosin as Washington D.C. Cop (uncredited)
- Sandy E. Scott as US Deputy Marshall (uncredited)
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Russian Gunman (uncredited)
- Dan Warner as Russian Guard (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 150
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 4 | 0 | 11 |
| 5 to 8 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 14 | 7 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 34 |
| 21 to 24 | 1 | 5 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 15 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 21 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 14 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 3 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 5 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 4 |
| 57 to 60 | 22 | 21 |
| 61 to 64 | 9 | 8 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 18 |
| 69 to 72 | 12 | 21 |
| 73 to 76 | 1 | 2 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 2 |
| 81 to 84 | 13 | 18 |
| 85 to 88 | 5 | 20 |
| 89 to 92 | 3 | 2 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 11 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 2 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 11 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 1 |
| 113 to 116 | 17 | 36 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 3 |
| 121 to 124 | 3 | 7 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 2 |
| 129 to 132 | 5 | 11 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 2 |
| 137 to 140 | 2 | 21 |
| 141 to 144 | 4 | 17 |
| 145 to 148 | 8 | 13 |
| 149 to 150 | 0 | 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, 24 are women's.
125 lines from women, 386 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 70 men in the cast. 2 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 14 of 604.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 82 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (1,232), men 79% (4,686). Women have 24% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
38
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Chuck Russell (man)
- Written by
- Tony Puryear (gender not listed), Walon Green (man)
- Story by
- Tony Puryear (gender not listed), Walon Green (man), Michael S. Chernuchin (man)
- Produced by
- Anne Kopelson (woman), Arnold Kopelson (man)
- Shot by
- Adam Greenberg (man)
- Edited by
- Michael Tronick (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Production design by
- Bill Kenney (man)
- Costumes by
- Richard Bruno (man)
- Cast by
- Bonnie Timmermann (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 75 men, 22 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 24 men, 8 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 11 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 8 men, 7 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 5 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Vanessa Williams 33
Men
Danny Nucci 27, Michael Papajohn 31, Nick Chinlund 34, Robert Pastorelli 42, Arnold Schwarzenegger 48, Andy Romano 55, James Caan 56, James Cromwell 56, James Coburn 67
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $100 million
- Box office
- $242 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 150 scenes and 604 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
