Fails the Bechdel test
Hackers
1995. Directed by Iain Softley, written by Rafael Moreu.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
A young boy is arrested by the U.S. Secret Service for writing a computer virus and is banned from using a computer until his 18th birthday. Years later, he and his new-found friends discover a plot to unleash a dangerous computer virus, but they must use their computer skills to find the evidence while being pursued by the Secret Service and the evil computer genius behind the virus.
- Released
- 15 Sep 1995
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 46 / 100
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dade 144 lines, man
- Kate 86 lines, woman
- Plague 76 lines, man
- Cereal 67 lines, man
- Phreak 57 lines, man
- Gill 36 lines, man
- Nikon 36 lines, man
- Joey 30 lines, man
- Margo 29 lines, woman
- Mrs. Murphy 20 lines, woman
Full cast, 62 people
- Jonny Lee Miller as Dade Murphy / 'Crash Override' / 'Zero Cool'
- Angelina Jolie as Kate Libby / 'Acid Burn'
- Matthew Lillard as Emmanuelle Goldstein / 'Cereal Killer'
- Jesse Bradford as Joey Pardella
- Renoly Santiago as Ramon Sanchez / 'Phantom Phreak'
- Laurence Mason as Paul Cook / 'Lord Nikon'
- Fisher Stevens as Eugene Belford / 'The Plague' / Mr. Babbage
- Lorraine Bracco as Margo
- Wendell Pierce as S.S. Agent Richard Gill
- Michael Gaston as S.S. Agent Bob
- Marc Anthony as S.S. Agent Ray
- Penn Jillette as Hal
- Peter Y. Kim as Blade
- Darren Lee as Razor
- Alberta Watson as Lauren Murphy
- Liza Walker as Laura
- Bob Sessions as Duke Ellingson
- Ethan Browne as Curtis
- Blake Willett as S.S. Agent, Seattle
- Max Ligosh as Young Dade Murphy / 'Zero Cool'
- Felicity Huffman as Attorney
- Paul Klementowicz as Michael Murphy
- Richard Ziman as Judge
- William DeMeo as Jock
- Denise George as Denise
- Johnny Myers as 1st Sysop Technician
- Kevin Brewerton as 2nd Sysop Technician
- Sam Douglas as English Teacher
- Kal Weber as 1st V.P.
- Jeff Harding as 2nd V.P.
- Annemarie Lawless as Addict Vickie
- Nancy Ticotin as Phreak's Mom
- Naoko Mori as Tokyo Hacker
- Dave Stewart as London Hacker
- Ravil Isyanov as Russian Hacker
- Olegar Fedoro as Russian Hacker
- Jennifer Badger as 'Cyberspirits' and Skaters
- Christo Morse as 'Cyberspirits' and Skaters
- Bill Maul as Norm
- Jeb Handwerger as Freshman on Roof
- Mitchell McCormick as Freshman on Roof
- Gary Klar as Mr. Simpson
- Douglas W. Iles as Addict Hank
- Michael Potts as Tow Truck Driver
- Mike Cicchetti as Ellingson Guard
- Mick O'Rourke as Phone Repairman
- Roberta Gotti as Italian Hacker
- Eric Loren as News Technician
- Kristin Moreu as Flight Attendant
- Ricco Ross as Second Reporter
- Tony Sibbald as Jail Guard
- Richard Purro as Talkshow Host
- Enzo Junior as Da Vinci Virus
- Yoshinori Yamamoto as 3rd V.P.
- Ralph Winter as 4th V.P.
- Kimbra Standish as Receptionist
- Steven Angiolini as Rollerblader
- Melissa Barkan as 'Cyberspirits' and Skaters
- Donald J. Hewitt Jr. as 'Cyberspirits' and Skaters
- Christopher Waller as 'Cyberspirits' and Skaters
- Joseph Lloyd as 'Cyberspirits' and Skaters
- C.J. Byrnes as Father (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 113
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 | 4 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 9 | 20 |
| 7 to 9 | 6 | 3 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 10 |
| 13 to 15 | 1 | 23 |
| 16 to 18 | 1 | 8 |
| 19 to 21 | 11 | 56 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 6 |
| 25 to 27 | 3 | 11 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 16 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 32 |
| 34 to 36 | 12 | 20 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 20 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 29 |
| 43 to 45 | 6 | 38 |
| 46 to 48 | 17 | 22 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 5 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 11 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 2 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 9 |
| 64 to 66 | 4 | 9 |
| 67 to 69 | 20 | 54 |
| 70 to 72 | 2 | 9 |
| 73 to 75 | 3 | 4 |
| 76 to 78 | 5 | 16 |
| 79 to 81 | 6 | 16 |
| 82 to 84 | 7 | 7 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 12 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 3 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 6 |
| 97 to 99 | 2 | 11 |
| 100 to 102 | 1 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 7 | 13 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 9 |
| 109 to 111 | 2 | 4 |
| 112 to 113 | 4 | 5 |
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, 23 are women's.
161 lines from women, 528 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 38 men in the cast. 4 women and 23 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 58 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 20% of the words (1,379), men 80% (5,357). Women have 23% 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
1
Two men
58
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Iain Softley (man)
- Written by
- Rafael Moreu (man)
- Produced by
- Ralph Winter (man), Michael Peyser (man)
- Shot by
- Andrzej Sekula (man)
- Edited by
- Martin Walsh (man), Chris Blunden (man)
- Music by
- Simon Boswell (man), Guy Pratt (man)
- Production design by
- John Beard (man)
- Costumes by
- Roger Burton (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Dianne Crittenden (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men
-
Other crew
2 women, 0 men
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 26 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Angelina Jolie 20, Lorraine Bracco 40
Men
Jesse Bradford 16, Renoly Santiago 21, Jonny Lee Miller 22, Matthew Lillard 25, Laurence Mason 29, Fisher Stevens 31, Wendell Pierce 31, Michael Gaston 32
Exhibit G: the money
It made 38% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $7.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 113 scenes and 747 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
