Passes the Bechdel test
Licence to Kill
1989. Directed by John Glen, written by Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum and Ian Fleming.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 210. -
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 2 out of 3.
The film
James Bond is on possibly his most brutal mission yet. His good friend Felix Leiter is left near death by drug baron Franz Sanchez. Bond sets off on the hunt for Sanchez, but not everyone is happy. MI6 does not feel Sanchez is their problem and strips Bond of his license to kill making Bond more dangerous than ever. Bond gains the aid of one of Leiter's friends, known as Pam Bouvier, and sneaks his way into the drug factories which Sanchez owns. Will Bond be able to keep his identity secret, or will Sanchez see Bond's true intentions?
- Released
- 14 Jul 1989
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bond 139 lines, man
- Sanchez 92 lines, man
- Pam 68 lines, woman
- Lupe 40 lines, woman
- Leiter 29 lines, man
- Krest 26 lines, man
- Revised 26 lines, woman
- Joe 11 lines, man
- Heller 10 lines, man
- Killifer 10 lines, man
Full cast, 44 people
- Timothy Dalton as James Bond
- Carey Lowell as Pam Bouvier
- Robert Davi as Franz Sanchez
- Talisa Soto as Lupe Lamora
- Anthony Zerbe as Milton Krest
- Frank McRae as Sharkey
- Everett McGill as Killifer
- Wayne Newton as Professor Joe Butcher
- Benicio del Toro as Dario
- Anthony Starke as Truman-Lodge
- Pedro Armendáriz Jr. as President Hector Lopez
- Desmond Llewelyn as Q
- David Hedison as Felix Leiter
- Priscilla Barnes as Della Churchill
- Robert Brown as M
- Caroline Bliss as Miss Moneypenny
- Don Stroud as Heller
- Grand L. Bush as Hawkins
- Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Kwang
- Alejandro Bracho as Perez
- Guy De Saint Cyr as Braun
- Rafer Johnson as Mullens
- Diane Hsu as Loti (as Diana Lee-Hsu)
- Christopher Neame as Fallon
- Jeannine Bisignano as Stripper
- Claudio Brook as Montelongo
- Cynthia Fallon as Consuelo
- Enrique Novi as Rasmussen
- Osami Kawawo as Oriental
- Roger Cudney as Wavekrest Captain
- Honorato Magaloni as Chief Chemist
- Jorge Russek as Pit Boss
- Sergio Corona as Bellboy
- Stuart Quan as Ninja (as Stuart Kwan)
- Teresa Blake as Ticket Agent
- Samuel Benjamin Lancaster as Della's Uncle
- Juan Peláez as Casino Manager (as Juan Peleaz)
- Humberto Elizondo as Hotel Assistant Manager (as Umberto Elizondo)
- Edna Bolkan as Barrelhead Waitress
- Eddie Edenfield as Clive (as Eddie Enderfield)
- Jeff Moldovan as Warehouse Guard
- Carl Ciarfalio as Warehouse Guard
- Branscombe Richmond as Barrelhead Bar Patron
- Andrew Castillo as Seaplane Pilot (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 210
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 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 10 | 2 | 11 |
| 11 to 15 | 1 | 10 |
| 16 to 20 | 2 | 6 |
| 21 to 25 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 to 30 | 5 | 27 |
| 31 to 35 | 3 | 4 |
| 36 to 40 | 2 | 34 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 12 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 14 |
| 51 to 55 | 2 | 5 |
| 56 to 60 | 6 | 12 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 3 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 2 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 0 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 85 | 7 | 9 |
| 86 to 90 | 25 | 18 |
| 91 to 95 | 10 | 32 |
| 96 to 100 | 7 | 35 |
| 101 to 105 | 10 | 17 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 3 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 8 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 3 |
| 121 to 125 | 1 | 4 |
| 126 to 130 | 15 | 35 |
| 131 to 135 | 4 | 2 |
| 136 to 140 | 2 | 1 |
| 141 to 145 | 2 | 11 |
| 146 to 150 | 3 | 9 |
| 151 to 155 | 18 | 8 |
| 156 to 160 | 1 | 5 |
| 161 to 165 | 1 | 1 |
| 166 to 170 | 9 | 16 |
| 171 to 175 | 2 | 16 |
| 176 to 180 | 3 | 6 |
| 181 to 185 | 4 | 3 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 3 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 3 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 0 |
| 201 to 205 | 4 | 9 |
| 206 to 210 | 1 | 2 |
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.
PAM: - Hell! -I knew something was wrong. PAM QV: keep your hands @n the table. . How did you get here?
LUPE: I don't know. REVISED: July 14, 1988
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 28 are women's.
153 lines from women, 399 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 33 men in the cast. 9 women and 40 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 13 of 644.
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 25% of the words (1,971), men 75% (5,826). Women have 28% 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
8
Two men
56
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Glen (man)
- Written by
- Richard Maibaum (man), Michael G. Wilson (man)
- Produced by
- Michael G. Wilson (man), Albert R. Broccoli (man)
- Shot by
- Alec Mills (man)
- Edited by
- John Grover (man)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- Peter Lamont (man)
- Costumes by
- Jodie Lynn Tillen (woman)
- Cast by
- Janet Hirshenson (woman), Jane Jenkins (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Talisa Soto 22, Carey Lowell 28
Men
Benicio del Toro 22, Anthony Starke 26, Robert Davi 37, Timothy Dalton 43, Everett McGill 43, Wayne Newton 47, Frank McRae 48, Anthony Zerbe 53
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $32 million
- Box office
- $156 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 210 scenes and 644 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
