Fails the Bechdel test
Legend
2015. Directed by Brian Helgeland, written by Brian Helgeland and John Pearson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 5 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
The true story of London's most notorious gangsters, twins Reggie and Ronnie Kray. As the brothers rise through the criminal underworld, Ronnie advances the family business with violence and intimidation while Reggie struggles to go legitimate for local girl Frances Shea. In and out of prison, Ronnie's unpredictable tendencies and the slow disintegration of Reggie's marriage threaten to bring the brothers' empire tumbling to the ground.
- Released
- 20 Nov 2015
- Genres
- Biography, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- 6 wins & 12 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Reggie 247 lines, man
- Frances 195 lines, woman
- Ron 128 lines, man
- Payne 40 lines, man
- Donoghue 27 lines, man
- Mcvitie 23 lines, man
- Bruno 19 lines, man
- Violet 15 lines, woman
- Frank Shea 14 lines, man
- Teddy Smith 14 lines, man
Full cast, 44 people
- Tom Hardy as Ronald Kray / Reginald Kray
- Emily Browning as Frances Shea
- Christopher Eccleston as Leonard 'Nipper' Read
- David Thewlis as Leslie Payne
- Taron Egerton as Mad Teddy Smith
- Chazz Palminteri as Angelo Bruno
- Colin Morgan as Frank Shea
- Paul Bettany as Charlie Richardson
- Tara Fitzgerald as Elsie Shea
- Paul Anderson as Albert Donoghue
- Nicholas Farrell as Dr Humphries
- Duffy as Timi Yuro
- Kevin McNally as Harold Wilson
- John Sessions as Lord Boothby
- Sam Spruell as Jack 'The Hat' McVitie
- Millie Brady as Joan Collins
- Charley Palmer Rothwell as Leslie Holt
- Bob Cryer as Charles Kray Snr
- Samantha Pearl as Shirley Bassey
- Martin McCreadie as Eddie Richardson
- Jane Wood as Violet Kray
- Mel Raido as Ian Barrie
- Adam Fogerty as Pat Connolly
- Lorraine Stanley as Blind Beggar Barmaid
- Shane Attwooll as George Cornell
- Stephen Lord as Fuller
- Tim Woodward as Superintendent Cummings
- Chris Mason as Ronnie Hart
- Frankie Fitzgerald as Jack Dickson
- Sam Hoare as Stefan De Faye
- Joshua Hill as Constable Scott
- MAJOR. as The Double R Club Singer
- Christopher Adamson as Philip Testa
- Lara Cazalet as Mrs Payne
- Nick Hendrix as Hew McCowan
- Ashley Byam as John
- John Sears as Father Foster
- Robin Hooper as Prison Doctor (uncredited)
- John Carr as Guest at Club (uncredited)
- Julia Papp as Casino Guest (uncredited)
- Tim Faraday as Big Screw
- Amaëlle Cunningham as Isabella Rose
- JD Roth-Round as Orderly R.White (uncredited)
- Stephen Parker as D Trodden the Butcher (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 112
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 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 10 |
| 7 to 9 | 12 | 21 |
| 10 to 12 | 3 | 21 |
| 13 to 15 | 21 | 42 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 26 |
| 19 to 21 | 1 | 17 |
| 22 to 24 | 4 | 17 |
| 25 to 27 | 5 | 49 |
| 28 to 30 | 8 | 4 |
| 31 to 33 | 3 | 16 |
| 34 to 36 | 10 | 30 |
| 37 to 39 | 9 | 27 |
| 40 to 42 | 12 | 50 |
| 43 to 45 | 3 | 10 |
| 46 to 48 | 8 | 17 |
| 49 to 51 | 5 | 9 |
| 52 to 54 | 4 | 3 |
| 55 to 57 | 4 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 16 |
| 61 to 63 | 7 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 5 | 11 |
| 67 to 69 | 9 | 33 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 13 |
| 73 to 75 | 8 | 32 |
| 76 to 78 | 10 | 42 |
| 79 to 81 | 17 | 19 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 3 |
| 85 to 87 | 4 | 7 |
| 88 to 90 | 13 | 14 |
| 91 to 93 | 19 | 23 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 3 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 4 | 11 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 33 |
| 109 to 111 | 3 | 0 |
| 112 to 112 | 1 | 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, 27 are women's.
232 lines from women, 640 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 33 men in the cast. 5 women and 29 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 42 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 29% of the words (2,715), men 71% (6,489). Women have 27% 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
5
Two men
60
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brian Helgeland (man)
- Written by
- Brian Helgeland (man)
- Produced by
- Eric Fellner (man), Chris Clark (man), Quentin Curtis (gender not listed), Brian Oliver (man), Tim Bevan (man)
- Shot by
- Dick Pope (man)
- Edited by
- Peter McNulty (man)
- Music by
- Carter Burwell (man)
- Production design by
- Tom Conroy (man)
- Costumes by
- Caroline Harris (woman)
- Cast by
- Lucinda Syson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
6 women, 10 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 12 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Emily Browning 26, Tara Fitzgerald 47
Men
Taron Egerton 25, Colin Morgan 29, Tom Hardy 37, Paul Anderson 37, Paul Bettany 44, Christopher Eccleston 51, David Thewlis 52, Chazz Palminteri 63
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $43 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 112 scenes and 888 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
