Fails the Bechdel test
Live and Let Die
1973. Directed by Guy Hamilton, written by Tom Mankiewicz and Ian Fleming.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Several British agents have been murdered and James Bond is sent to New Orleans and then deep into the bayou to investigate these mysterious deaths. He becomes aware of Mr. Big, who is self-producing heroin. Along his journeys he meets Tee Hee who has a claw for a hand, Baron Samedi the voodoo master, and tarot-card reader Solitaire.
- Released
- 27 Jun 1973
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bond 133 lines, man
- Kananga 29 lines, man
- Solitaire 28 lines, woman
- Leiter 22 lines, man
- Driver 14 lines, man
- Rosie 14 lines, woman
- Rananga 11 lines
- Quarrel 8 lines, man
- Mr. Big 6 lines, man
- Sheriff Pepper 6 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
- Roger Moore as James Bond
- Yaphet Kotto as Kananga/Mr. Big
- Jane Seymour as Solitaire
- Clifton James as Sheriff J.W. Pepper
- Julius Harris as Tee Hee
- Geoffrey Holder as Baron Samedi
- David Hedison as Felix Leiter
- Gloria Hendry as Rosie Carver
- Bernard Lee as M
- Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny
- Tommy Lane as Adam
- Earl Jolly Brown as Whisper
- Lon Satton as Strutter
- Madeline Smith as Miss Caruso
- Roy Stewart as Quarrel
- Arnold Williams as Cab Driver 1
- Robert Dix as Hamilton
- James Drake as Dawes (uncredited)
- Dennis Edwards as Baines
- Brenda Arnau as Singer
- Kubi Chaza as Sales Girl
- Michael Ebbin as Dambala
- Joie Chitwood as Charlie
- Ruth Kempf as Mrs. Bell
- Stephen Hendrickson as M. Bleeker
- Louis Saint-Juste as Chef des voudous
- Don Topping as Animateur
- Lance Gordon as Eddie
- Alvin Alcorn as Assassin
- Roy Hollis as Shérif
- James Langston Drake as Dawes
- Tony Amelchi as Danseur
- Della McCrae as Danseuse
- Keith Forte as Garde
- Sylvia Kuumba Williams as Femme qui pleure
- Irvin Allen as Garçon
- Dan Jackson as Garçon
- Gabor Vernon as Délégué hongrois
- Vic Armstrong as Policier
- Jack Cooper as Policier
- Peter Brayham as Homme de main
- Paul Weston as Homme à l'aéroport
- Nikki Van der Zyl as Solitaire (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 31% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 120
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 4 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 5 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 3 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 9 |
| 31 to 33 | 2 | 27 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 6 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 3 |
| 40 to 42 | 7 | 13 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 3 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 1 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 9 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 2 | 1 |
| 58 to 60 | 4 | 11 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 2 |
| 64 to 66 | 9 | 19 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 4 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 1 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 6 |
| 76 to 78 | 2 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 9 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 4 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 12 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 40 |
| 91 to 93 | 3 | 5 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 13 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 9 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 4 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 1 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 4 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 11 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 12 |
| 118 to 120 | 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, 16 are women's.
49 lines from women, 264 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 23 men in the cast. 3 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 5 of 451.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 86 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 14% of the words (710), men 86% (4,516). Women have 16% 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
0
Two men
37
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 3% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Guy Hamilton (man)
- Written by
- Tom Mankiewicz (man)
- From the novel by
- Ian Fleming (man)
- Produced by
- Harry Saltzman (man), Albert R. Broccoli (man)
- Shot by
- Ted Moore (man)
- Edited by
- John Shirley (man), Raymond Poulton (man), Bert Bates (man)
- Music by
- George Martin (man)
- Costumes by
- Julie Harris (woman)
- Cast by
- Weston Drury Jr. (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 8 men
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 48 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jane Seymour 22, Gloria Hendry 24, Lois Maxwell 46
Men
Yaphet Kotto 33, Geoffrey Holder 42, Roger Moore 45, David Hedison 46, Julius Harris 49, Clifton James 53, Bernard Lee 65
Exhibit G: the money
It made 18.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $126 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 120 scenes and 451 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
