Fails the Bechdel test

Hacksaw Ridge

Name: Hacksaw Ridge
Released: 2016

2016. Directed by Mel Gibson, written by Robert Schenkkan and Andrew Knight.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 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

The true story of Desmond T. Doss, the conscientious objector who, after the Battle of Okinawa, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his incredible bravery and regard for his fellow soldiers. Following his upbringing and how this shaped his views (especially his religious view and anti-killing stance), Doss's trials and tribulations after enlisting in the US Army (trying to become a medic) begin, preluding the hell on Earth that was Hacksaw Ridge.

Released: 04 Nov 2016
Genres: Biography, Drama, History
Rated: R
IMDb: 8.1 / 10
Metascore: 71 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 57 wins & 115 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Desmond 159 lines, man
Captain Glover 86 lines, man
Smitty 52 lines, man
Dorothy 37 lines, woman
Sgt. Howell 29 lines, man
Tom 18 lines, man
Bertha 17 lines, woman
Colonel Stelzer 12 lines, man
Colonel Cunningham 11 lines, man
Grease 11 lines, man

Full cast, 94 people

Andrew Garfield as Desmond T. Doss
Sam Worthington as Captain Glover
Vince Vaughn as Sgt Howell
Teresa Palmer as Dorothy Schuttle
Luke Bracey as Smitty Ryker
Hugo Weaving as Tom Doss
Rachel Griffiths as Bertha Doss
Ryan Corr as Lieutenant Manville
Richard Roxburgh as Colonel Stelzer
Goran D. Kleut as Andy 'Ghoul' Walker
Luke Pegler as Milt 'Hollywood' Zane
Firass Dirani as Vito Rinnelli
Michael Sheasby as Tex Lewis
Nathaniel Buzolic as Harold "Hal" Doss
Ori Pfeffer as Irv Schecter
Matt Nable as Lt. Cooney
Jacob Warner as James Pinnick
Richard Pyros as Randall "Teach" Fuller
Ben Mingay as Grease Nolan
Harry Greenwood as Henry Brown
Damien Thomlinson as Ralph Morgan
Robert Morgan as Colonel Sangston
Milo Gibson as Lucky Ford
John Batziolas as Rescued Private Schulenburg
Charles Jacobs as Private Webb
Ben O'Toole as Corporal Jessop
James Lugton as Hiker
Kasia Stelmach as Hiker's Friend
Tim McGarry as Local Man
Tyler Coppin as Lynchburg Doctor
Dennis Kreusler as Sergeant Amos
Nico Cortez as Wal Kirzinski
Helmut Bakaitis as Minister
Bill Young as General Musgrove
Benedict Hardie as Captain Daniels
Darcy Bryce as Young Desmond
Philip Quast as Judge
James Mackay as Prosecutor
Sam Parsonson as 96th Soldier Bob
James O'Connell as 96th Soldier Page
Sean Lynch as Popeye
Hayden Geens as Wounded Private Blake
Tim Potter as Soldier Hank
Santo Tripodi as Soldier Carl
Nobuaki Shimamoto as Japanese Officer
Laurence Brewer as Head Doctor
Hiroshi Kasuga as Japanese Hanging Soldier
Yuki Nagashima as Rescued Japanese Soldier
Taki Abe as Japanese Sniper
Taka Uematsu as Reacting Japanese Soldier #2
Yoji Tatsuta as Japanese General
Thomas Unger as Stretcher Bearer
John Cannon as Corporal Cannon
Georgia Adamson as Receptionist
Andrew Sears as Private Maguire
Jim Robison as Private Bates
Nathan Baird as Private Green
Samuel R. Wright as Private Dixon
Mikael Koski as Private Giles
Troy Pickering as Private Tyler
James Moffett as Private Lewis
Roman Guerriero as Young 'Hal' Doss
Jarin Towney as Teenage Boy
Richard Platt as Flirting Hospital Soldier
Laura Buckton as Cinema Kissing Sweetheart
Anthony Rizzo as Cinema Kissing Soldier
Simon Edds as MP Gibbs
Thatcher McMaster as Company B Soldier
Josh Dean Williams as Private Perry
Andrew Hansch as Bugle Player
Craig Reeves as Climbing Soldier
Adrian Twigg as Soldier - Death Throes
Luke McMahon as Stretcher Bearer
Bill Thompson as Wounded Soldier
William Takayanagi-Temm as Firing Japanese Soldier #1
Kazuaki Ono as Firing Japanese Soldier #2
Eric Taugherbeck as Wounded Private O'Conner
Ned Law as Rescued Private Horvath
Kazuki Yuyama as Corpse with Rats #2
Daisaku Takeda as Corpse With Rats #3
Raphael Sikic as Corpse with Rats #4
Ryuzaburo Naruse as Injured Japanese in Tunnel
Adam Bowes as Rescued Wounded Leg Soldier
Michael Hennessy as Rescued Private Moran
Benjamin McCann as Rescued Private Saareste
Daniel Thone as Stretcher Bearer
Nathan Halls as Private Tillson
Nicholas Cowey as Private Gregan
Charles Upton as Scared Military Officer
Toshiyuki Teramoto as Surrendering Soldier
Honsen Haga as Japanese General's Assistant
Milan Pulvermacher as Billy Bob (uncredited)
Yasushi Asaya as Japanese Soldier (uncredited)
Jeremy Costello as 96th Battalion G.I (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 161

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	8
5 to 8	4	10
9 to 12	14	10
13 to 16	9	10
17 to 20	0	0
21 to 24	3	3
25 to 28	6	24
29 to 32	0	5
33 to 36	0	21
37 to 40	0	24
41 to 44	0	51
45 to 48	0	4
49 to 52	0	9
53 to 56	0	11
57 to 60	0	24
61 to 64	2	6
65 to 68	9	30
69 to 72	2	30
73 to 76	0	21
77 to 80	0	9
81 to 84	0	0
85 to 88	0	24
89 to 92	0	16
93 to 96	0	9
97 to 100	0	16
101 to 104	5	17
105 to 108	2	6
109 to 112	0	3
113 to 116	0	7
117 to 120	0	5
121 to 124	0	8
125 to 128	0	4
129 to 132	0	0
133 to 136	0	2
137 to 140	0	3
141 to 144	0	13
145 to 148	0	5
149 to 152	0	7
153 to 156	0	4
157 to 160	0	10
161 to 161	0	0

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, 11 are women's.

56 lines from women, 469 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

4 women and 53 men in the cast. 3 women and 24 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 21 of 560. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 155 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 9% of the words (530), men 91% (5,599). Women have 11% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Mel Gibson (man)
Written by: Robert Schenkkan (man), Andrew Knight (man)
Produced by: Paul Currie (man), Terry Benedict (man), Bill Mechanic (man), William D. Johnson (gender not listed), David Permut (man), Bruce Davey (man) and 1 more
Shot by: Simon Duggan (man)
Edited by: John Gilbert (man)
Music by: Rupert Gregson-Williams (man)
Production design by: Barry Robison (man)
Costumes by: Lizzy Gardiner (woman)
Cast by: Nikki Barrett (woman)