Passes the Bechdel test

Lethal Weapon 4

Name: Lethal Weapon 4
Released: 1998

1998. Directed by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black and Jonathan Lemkin and Alfred Gough.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
22 women characters. 6 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 81.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover return as buddy cops Riggs and Murtaugh, with Joe Pesci riding comedy shotgun as chatterbox Leo. Murtaugh is still the family man. Riggs is still the gonzo loose cannon and--what's this?--family man. His will-he/won't he marriage to Cole is one of the new wrinkles in this powerhouse crowd-pleaser that also stars comedy favorite Chris Rock and international action star Jet Li. This sequel involves an action packed battle with a Chinese ganglord.

Released: 10 Jul 1998
Genres: Action, Crime, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.6 / 10
Metascore: 39 / 100
Awards: 4 wins & 11 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Riggs 384 lines, man
Murtaugh 339 lines, man
Leo 90 lines, man
Lorna 82 lines, woman
Butters 81 lines, man
Uncle Benny 35 lines, man
Hong 22 lines, man
Ng 18 lines, man
Murphy 13 lines, man
Ku 12 lines, man

Full cast, 97 people

Mel Gibson as Martin Riggs
Danny Glover as Roger Murtaugh
Joe Pesci as Leo Getz
Rene Russo as Lorna Cole
Chris Rock as Det.Lee Butters
Jet Li as Wah Sing Ku
Steve Kahan as Captain Murphy
Kim Chan as Benny Chan
Darlene Love as Trish Murtaugh
Traci Wolfe as Rianne Murtaugh
Eddy Ko Hung as Hong
Jack Kehler as State Department Man
Calvin Jung as Detective Ng
Damon Hines as Nick Murtaugh
Ebonie Smith as Carrie Murtaugh
Mary Ellen Trainor as Dr. Stephanie Woods
Steven Lam as Ping
Michael Chow as Benny's Assistant
Tony Keyes as Ng's Partner
Richard Riehle as INS Agent
Phil Chong as Yee
Roger Yuan as Chu
Jeff Imada as Thug
Simon Rhee as Thug
Zu-Wu Qian as Uncle Chung
Danny Arroyo as Gomez
Raymond Ma as Dr. Cheng
Jennie Lew Tugend as Cheng's Receptionist
Elizabeth Sung as Hong's Wife
Jessica Jann as Little Girl
Danny Wynands as Flamethrower Villain
Paul Tuerpe as Helicopter Co-Pilot
James Lew as Freighter's Captain
Conan Lee as Four Father Michael Sing Ku
James Wing Woo as Four Father James Wing Chow
Raymond Moy as Four Father #3
François Chau as Four Father Li Lum Chung
Stephen Liska as Detective
Robin Link as Detective
Roland Kickinger as Detective
Benjamin King as Detective
John Harms as Detective
Al Sapienza as Detective
Darren Peel as Detective
Jamie Donovan as Detective
Shawn Michaels as Detective
Paul Bollen as Detective
Jeanne Chinn as Ping's Mother
Ray Chang as Ping's Father
Ryan C. Benson as Construction Worker #1
Daniel Getzoff as Construction Worker #2
Theodore Touré Johnson Jr. as Construction Worker #3
Dana Lee as General
George Cheung as Fan
Edward J. Rosen as Murtaugh's Neighbor
Jay Della as Murtaugh's Neighbor
J. Matthew Jordan as Murtaugh's Neighbor
Lisa Rhianna Smith as Murtaugh's Neighbor
Marian Collier as Maternity Worker
Cece Neber Labao as Maternity Worker
Barret Swatek as Nurse
Kerry Kletter as Nurse
Joyce Ingalls as Nurse
Joan Frasco as Nurse
Glenn Tannous as Patrolman
Larkin Campbell as Patrolman
Doug Weaver as Police Officer
Glenn Friedman as Police Officer
Brittany Gamble as Police Officer at Port
James Oliver as Police Officer at Port
Rick Hoffman as Police Officer at Port
Sarah Sullivan as News Reporter
Tim Cooney as News Cameraman
Bill Henderson as Angry Patient
Philip Tan as Waiter
Judith Woodbury as Question Lady
Jey Wada as Master Printer
Wally Gudgell as ATF Officer
Gary Hand as Coroner's Assistant
Nicole Rosenfield as Candy Striper
Kenneth Jackman as Hospital Employee
Nancy Hopewell as Patient with IV
Christina Orchid as News Crew
Bruce R. Orchid as News Crew
Richard M. Sieker as Motorcycle Officer
Jen Wei Chang as Bicycle Guy
James W. Gavin as Helicopter Pilot
Craig Hosking as Helicopter Pilot
Richard Libertini as Rabbi Gelb (uncredited)
Al Goto as General's Men (uncredited)
Phil Hawn as Businessman (uncredited)
Al Leong as Wah Sing Ku Triad Member (uncredited)
Greg Bronson as CHP Officer (uncredited)
Bob Jennings as Sheriff #1 (uncredited)
Sam Arnold as LAPD Sgt. Baker (uncredited)
Stephen Blackehart as Police Sergeant (uncredited)
Jerome Elston Scott as Police Station Boy (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 81

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	0	0
3 to 4	0	80
5 to 6	0	0
7 to 8	0	0
9 to 10	0	73
11 to 12	0	8
13 to 14	0	15
15 to 16	0	67
17 to 18	0	0
19 to 20	0	0
21 to 22	0	0
23 to 24	8	10
25 to 26	25	43
27 to 28	6	26
29 to 30	6	17
31 to 32	6	101
33 to 34	0	16
35 to 36	1	80
37 to 38	2	38
39 to 40	0	40
41 to 42	0	56
43 to 44	0	5
45 to 46	0	4
47 to 48	15	37
49 to 50	0	10
51 to 52	0	9
53 to 54	0	12
55 to 56	7	37
57 to 58	1	2
59 to 60	0	2
61 to 62	0	64
63 to 64	0	11
65 to 66	0	7
67 to 68	7	9
69 to 70	0	0
71 to 72	2	7
73 to 74	3	17
75 to 76	0	50
77 to 78	0	24
79 to 80	22	50
81 to 81	0	29

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

LORNA: Mine were in my purse. RIANNE: Mine are under the front seat.

TRISH: Go find 'em, Rog. LORNA: Trish can come home with me.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 10 are women's.

111 lines from women, 1056 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

22 women and 58 men in the cast. 6 women and 18 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 253 of 1,213. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 252 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 9% of the words (894), men 91% (8,578). Women have 10% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: 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 F: behind the camera

2 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Richard Donner (man)
Written by: Channing Gibson (man)
Story by: Alfred Gough (man), Miles Millar (man), Jonathan Lemkin (man)
Produced by: Joel Silver (man), Richard Donner (man)
Shot by: Andrzej Bartkowiak (man)
Edited by: Dallas Puett (man), Frank J. Urioste (man), Eric Strand (man), Kevin Stitt (man)
Music by: Eric Clapton (man), David Sanborn (man), Michael Kamen (man)
Production design by: J. Michael Riva (man)
Costumes by: Ha Nguyen (woman)
Cast by: Marion Dougherty (woman)