Fails the Bechdel test
Lean on Me
1989. Directed by John G. Avildsen, written by Michael Schiffer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 9 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
An arrogant and unorthodox teacher returns as principal to the idyllic high school from which he had earlier been fired to find it a den of drug abuse, gang violence, and urban despair. Eventually he is successful but unorthodox methods lead to a clash with city officials that threatens to undo all his efforts. Based on a true story.
- Released
- 03 Mar 1989
- Genres
- Biography, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 6 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Joe 276 lines, man
- Napier 48 lines, man
- Ms. Levias 41 lines, woman
- Sams 32 lines, man
- Bottman 27 lines, man
- Mrs. Barrett 22 lines, woman
- Kaneesha 18 lines, woman
- Kids 16 lines
- Kid Ray 13 lines
- Mrs. Elliot 12 lines, woman
Full cast, 28 people
- Morgan Freeman as Principal Joe Clark
- Beverly Todd as Ms. Levias
- Robert Guillaume as Dr. Frank Napier
- Ethan Phillips as Mr. Rosenberg
- Lynne Thigpen as Leonna Barrett
- Michael Beach as Mr. Darnell
- Tony Todd as Mr. William Wright
- Karen Malina White as Kaneesha Carter
- Alan North as Mayor Don Bottman
- Robin Bartlett as Mrs. Elliott
- Sandra Reaves-Phillips as Mrs. Powers
- Sloane Shelton as Mrs. Hamilton
- Jermaine Hopkins as Thomas Sams
- Karina Arroyave as Maria
- Ivonne Coll as Mrs. Santos
- Regina Taylor as Mrs. Carter
- Michael P. Moran as Mr. O'Malley
- John Ring as Fire Chief Gaines
- Mike Starr as Mr. Zirella
- Michael Imperioli as George
- Jennifer McComb as Ellen
- Delilah Cotto as Chita
- Anthony Figueroa as Hoodlum at Microphone
- Jim Moody as Mr. Lott
- Johanna Tolentino as Conchita
- Markus Toure Boddie as Markus
- Bruce Malmuth as Burger Joint Manager
- Ahmed Best as Extra (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 17% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 69
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 2 | 1 | 20 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 16 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 1 | 1 |
| 15 to 16 | 2 | 33 |
| 17 to 18 | 1 | 6 |
| 19 to 20 | 26 | 40 |
| 21 to 22 | 15 | 63 |
| 23 to 24 | 5 | 17 |
| 25 to 26 | 3 | 9 |
| 27 to 28 | 5 | 11 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 32 | 3 | 5 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 43 |
| 35 to 36 | 3 | 21 |
| 37 to 38 | 4 | 13 |
| 39 to 40 | 3 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 2 | 9 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 12 | 14 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 3 |
| 51 to 52 | 10 | 19 |
| 53 to 54 | 3 | 10 |
| 55 to 56 | 15 | 21 |
| 57 to 58 | 3 | 3 |
| 59 to 60 | 7 | 21 |
| 61 to 62 | 3 | 6 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 5 |
| 65 to 66 | 7 | 3 |
| 67 to 68 | 3 | 9 |
| 69 to 69 | 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, 24 are women's.
137 lines from women, 424 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 15 men in the cast. 9 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 679.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 50 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 26% of the words (2,739), men 74% (7,906). Women have 24% 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
2
Two men
22
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John G. Avildsen (man)
- Written by
- Michael Schiffer (man)
- Produced by
- Norman Twain (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Victor Hammer (man)
- Edited by
- John G. Avildsen (man), John Carter (man)
- Music by
- Bill Conti (man)
- Production design by
- Doug Kraner (man)
- Costumes by
- Jennifer von Mayrhauser (woman)
- Cast by
- Mary Colquhoun (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Karen Malina White 23, Robin Bartlett 37, Lynne Thigpen 40, Beverly Todd 42
Men
Michael Beach 25, Ethan Phillips 34, Tony Todd 34, Morgan Freeman 51, Robert Guillaume 61, Alan North 68
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $31.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 69 scenes and 679 lines of dialogue. How the test works
