Fails the Bechdel test
Lethal Weapon
1987. Directed by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black and Jeffrey Boam.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 7 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
A woman falls to her death and the police determine that it was murder. Put on the case is Sergeant Roger Murtaugh,. He is paired with a new partner, Martin Riggs. The two are polar opposites: Murtaugh an aging by-the-book family man and Riggs, unconventional devil-may-care and suicidal after the death of his wife. They're just going to have to get along.
- Released
- 06 Mar 1987
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Murtaugh 300 lines, man
- Riggs 264 lines, man
- Joshua 38 lines, man
- Lloyd 34 lines, man
- General 32 lines
- Rianne 23 lines, woman
- Psychologist 16 lines, woman
- Trish 16 lines, woman
- Alfred 13 lines, man
- Mac Cleary 13 lines
Full cast, 61 people
- Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs
- Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh
- Gary Busey as Mr. Joshua
- Mitchell Ryan as General Peter McAllister
- Tom Atkins as Michael Hunsaker
- Darlene Love as Trish Murtaugh
- Traci Wolfe as Rianne Murtaugh
- Jackie Swanson as Amanda Hunsaker
- Damon Hines as Nick Murtaugh
- Ebonie Smith as Carrie Murtaugh
- Bill Kalmenson as Beat Cop
- Lycia Naff as Dixie
- Patrick Cameron as Cop #1
- Don Gordon as Cop #2
- Jimmie F. Skaggs as Drug Dealer #1
- Jason Ronard as Drug Dealer #2
- Blackie Dammett as Drug Dealer #3
- Gail Bowman as Cop
- Robert Fol as Cop
- Selma Archerd as Policewoman
- Richard B. Whitaker as Police Officer
- Mary Ellen Trainor as Psychologist
- Steve Kahan as Captain Ed Murphy
- Jack Thibeau as Sergeant McCaskey
- Grand L. Bush as Boyette
- Ed O'Ross as Mendez
- Gustav Vintas as Gustaf
- Paul Tuerpe as Mercenary
- Chad Hayes as Mercenary
- Chris D. as Mercenary
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Mercenary
- Peter DuPont as Mercenary
- Gilles Kohler as Mercenary
- Cedric Adams as Mercenary
- Jim J. Poslof as Mercenary
- Al Leong as Endo
- Michael Shaner as McCleary
- Natalie Zimmerman as Patrol Cop
- Deborah Dismukes as Blonde on Bike
- Cheryl Baker as Girl in Shower #1
- Terri Lynn Doss as Girl in Shower #2
- Sharon K. Brecke as Girl in Shower #3
- Donald Gooden as Alfred
- Alphonse Philippe Mouzon as Alfred's Friend #1
- Shaun Hunter as Alfred's Friend #2
- Everitt Wayne Collins Jr. as Alfred's Friend #3
- Lenny Juliano as Patrol Cop
- Henry Brown as Plainclothes Cop
- Brian Strohm as Family Friend
- Teresa Kadotani as Hooker
- Frank Reinhard as Beat Cop
- John O'Neill as Police Officer in Car #1
- Tom Noga as Police Officer in Car #2
- Larry Clardy as Policeman (uncredited)
- Renée Estevez as Underage Hooker (uncredited)
- Bob Harks as Priest (uncredited)
- Conrad Hurtt as Crime Scene Officer (uncredited)
- Mic Rodgers as Bus Driver (uncredited)
- Joan Severance as Girl in Black Playsuit (uncredited)
- Chris Tashima as Fire Rescue Attendant (uncredited)
- Norman D. Wilson as Bartender (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 94
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 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 12 |
| 5 to 6 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 to 10 | 11 | 20 |
| 11 to 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 3 | 13 |
| 15 to 16 | 15 | 35 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 30 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 38 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 31 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 22 |
| 27 to 28 | 2 | 38 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 13 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 1 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 9 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 11 |
| 37 to 38 | 9 | 11 |
| 39 to 40 | 6 | 7 |
| 41 to 42 | 5 | 15 |
| 43 to 44 | 6 | 18 |
| 45 to 46 | 1 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 5 |
| 49 to 50 | 2 | 51 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 20 |
| 53 to 54 | 5 | 73 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 37 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 4 |
| 59 to 60 | 3 | 1 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 27 |
| 63 to 64 | 2 | 7 |
| 65 to 66 | 3 | 19 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 10 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 3 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 20 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 31 |
| 77 to 78 | 1 | 6 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 7 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 4 |
| 83 to 84 | 1 | 0 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 1 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 7 |
| 89 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 92 | 0 | 51 |
| 93 to 94 | 5 | 8 |
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.
90 lines from women, 721 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 33 men in the cast. 7 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 900.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 190 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 10% of the words (681), men 90% (6,402). 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
1
Two men
56
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Richard Donner (man)
- Written by
- Shane Black (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man), Richard Donner (man)
- Shot by
- Stephen Goldblatt (man)
- Edited by
- Stuart Baird (man)
- Music by
- Eric Clapton (man), Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- J. Michael Riva (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary Malin (woman)
- Cast by
- Marion Dougherty (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
7 women, 23 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 13 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 26 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ebonie Smith 8, Jackie Swanson 23, Traci Wolfe 26, Darlene Love 48
Men
Mel Gibson 31, Danny Glover 40, Gary Busey 42, Tom Atkins 51, Mitchell Ryan 53
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $120 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 94 scenes and 900 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
