Fails the Bechdel test
Highlander II: The Quickening
1991. Directed by Russell Mulcahy, written by Gregory Widen and Brian Clemens and William N. Panzer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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
In 1999, Professor Allan Neyman and Connor MacLeod develop a shield to protect Earth from the radiation caused by the damage in the ozone layer. Twenty-five years later, Earth is dying due to the effects of the shield and the terrorist group commanded by Louise Marcus is trying to destroy the shield. In flashback, it is explained that MacLeod and his friend Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez are aliens from the planet Zeist expelled from their planet by the tyrant Katan (Michael Ironside) that decides to kill MacLeod.
- Released
- 01 Nov 1991
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 4.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 31 / 100
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Macleod 149 lines, man
- Louise 91 lines, woman
- Ramirez 65 lines, man
- Katana 56 lines, man
- Neyman 24 lines, man
- Blake 20 lines, man
- Judge 5 lines
- Doctor 4 lines, man
- Hamlet 4 lines, man
- Reno 4 lines, man
Full cast, 18 people
- Christopher Lambert as Connor 'The Highlander' MacLeod
- Sean Connery as Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez
- Virginia Madsen as Louise Marcus
- Michael Ironside as Gen. Katana
- John C. McGinley as David Blake
- Phillip Brock as Cabbie
- Rusty Schwimmer as Drunk
- Ed Trucco as Jimmy
- Steven Grives as Hamlet
- Jimmy Murray as Horatio
- Pete Antico as Corda
- Peter Bucossi as Reno
- Peter Bromilow as Joe
- Jeff Altman as Doctor
- Allan Rich as Allan Neyman
- Diana Rossi as Virginia
- Karin Drexler as Brenda
- Matt Johnston as Cobalt Man
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 156
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 | 12 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 16 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 6 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 1 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 4 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 5 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 3 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 11 |
| 49 to 52 | 9 | 9 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 7 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 1 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 9 |
| 77 to 80 | 15 | 13 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 7 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 0 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 22 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 38 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 12 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 8 | 29 |
| 113 to 116 | 4 | 19 |
| 117 to 120 | 8 | 19 |
| 121 to 124 | 7 | 11 |
| 125 to 128 | 7 | 30 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 6 | 4 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 4 | 11 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 3 |
| 149 to 152 | 3 | 13 |
| 153 to 156 | 8 | 11 |
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, 21 are women's.
91 lines from women, 346 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
2 women and 13 men in the cast. 1 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 58 of 487.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 94 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 14% of the words (800), men 86% (5,067). Women have 21% 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
30
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 6% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Russell Mulcahy (man)
- Written by
- Peter Bellwood (man)
- Story by
- Brian Clemens (man), William N. Panzer (man)
- Produced by
- Peter S. Davis (man), William N. Panzer (man)
- Shot by
- Phil Meheux (man)
- Edited by
- Hubert de La Bouillerie (man), Anthony Redman (man)
- Music by
- Stewart Copeland (man)
- Cast by
- Pamela Basker (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 12 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Rusty Schwimmer 28, Virginia Madsen 29
Men
Ed Trucco 27, John C. McGinley 31, Christopher Lambert 33, Phillip Brock 37, Steven Grives 39, Michael Ironside 40, Sean Connery 60
Exhibit G: the money
It made 46% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $34 million
- Box office
- $15.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 156 scenes and 487 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
