Fails the Bechdel test

Legend

Name: Legend
Released: 1986

1986. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by William Hjortsberg.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 2 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

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

In a mystical forest bathed in sunlight, the fate of Creation hangs in the balance. Only when the sinister forces of evil have slain the last unicorn on Earth will the wicked Lord of Darkness have the power to cast the world into an endless night. With his horrible goblins scouring the virgin land to capture the magnificent creatures, it's up to pure-hearted forest dweller Jack and his beloved Princess Lili to undertake an impossible quest. Together, they must defy the abyss and restore harmony to the universe. But as they soon realise, the struggle between light and darkness demands sacrifice. Can two valiant mortals overturn the dark plans and re-establish the eternal balance of the cosmos?

Released: 18 Apr 1986
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.3 / 10
Metascore: 31 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 1 win & 12 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Jack 185 lines, man
Gump 161 lines, man
Lili 132 lines, woman
Screwball 63 lines, man
Brown Tom 51 lines, man
Blunder 44 lines, man
Blix 39 lines, woman
Pox 25 lines, man
Luna 17 lines
Cook 14 lines, man

Full cast, 24 people

Tom Cruise as Jack
Mia Sara as Princess Lili
Tim Curry as Lord of "Darkness"
David Bennent as Honeythorn Gump
Alice Playten as Blix
Billy Barty as Screwball
Cork Hubbert as Brown Tom
Peter O'Farrell as Pox
Kiran Shah as Blunder
Annabelle Lanyon as Oona
Robert Picardo as Meg Mucklebones
Tina Martin as Nell
Ian Longmur as Demon Cook
Michael Crane as Demon Cook
Liz Gilbert as Dancing Black Dress
Eddie Powell as Mummified Guard
Mike Edmonds as Tic (uncredited)
Jeff Davies as Faerie Firelight Dancer (Director's Cut)
Sharon Brown as Faerie Firelight Dancer (Director's Cut)
Debbie Greenwell as Faerie Firelight Dancer (Director's Cut)
Sally Dewhurst as Faerie Firelight Dancer (Director's Cut)
Nicky Dewhurst as Faerie Firelight Dancer (Director's Cut)
Anna Kipling as Faerie Firelight Dancer (Director's Cut)
John Cumming as Dwarf (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 181

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	1	0
5 to 8	1	7
9 to 12	3	9
13 to 16	3	1
17 to 20	9	5
21 to 24	23	2
25 to 28	13	13
29 to 32	7	6
33 to 36	8	6
37 to 40	3	1
41 to 44	11	8
45 to 48	2	0
49 to 52	2	1
53 to 56	3	8
57 to 60	10	5
61 to 64	0	66
65 to 68	10	36
69 to 72	2	10
73 to 76	4	42
77 to 80	4	28
81 to 84	0	4
85 to 88	0	41
89 to 92	0	13
93 to 96	0	83
97 to 100	0	7
101 to 104	0	5
105 to 108	0	8
109 to 112	3	6
113 to 116	13	3
117 to 120	2	4
121 to 124	4	5
125 to 128	0	19
129 to 132	0	52
133 to 136	8	3
137 to 140	16	5
141 to 144	5	3
145 to 148	3	14
149 to 152	0	1
153 to 156	2	14
157 to 160	0	7
161 to 164	0	14
165 to 168	0	3
169 to 172	0	0
173 to 176	0	0
177 to 180	6	3
181 to 181	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.

181 lines from women, 571 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 13 men in the cast. 2 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 798. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 182 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 28% of the words (1,681), men 72% (4,325). 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ridley Scott (man)
Written by: William Hjortsberg (man)
Produced by: Arnon Milchan (man)
Shot by: Alex Thomson (man)
Edited by: Terry Rawlings (man)
Music by: Jerry Goldsmith (man)
Production design by: Assheton Gorton (man)
Cast by: Jane Feinberg (woman), Donna Isaacson (woman), Noel Davis (man), Marci Liroff (woman), Jeremy Zimmermann (man), Mike Fenton (man)