Fails the Bechdel test
Looney Tunes: Back in Action
2003. Directed by Joe Dante, written by Larry Doyle.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
23 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are up to their feuding ways again. Tired of playing second fiddle to Bugs, Daffy has decided to leave the Studio for good. He is aided by Warner Bros.' humor impaired Vice President of Comedy, Kate Houghton, who releases him from his contract and instructs WB security guard/aspiring stunt man DJ Drake to capture and "escort" Daffy off the studio lot. Suddenly a sidekick without a hero, the duck decides to ally himself with DJ, whether he likes it or not. Consequently, Daffy is on the scene when DJ discovers that his famous movie star father was Damian Drake, known for playing suave international spies onscreen, is actually a suave international spy in real life--and has been kidnapped by the evil insane nerdy, prancing villain known as Mr. Chairman of the equally nefarious Acme Corporation. It seems that Damian knows the whereabouts of the mysterious magical and powerful Blue Monkey Diamond, and the Chairman will do anything to get his hands on it! With Daffy in tow, DJ hits the road in a desperate attempt to outrace the evil Acme stooges to the diamond and save the world from their evil clutches. Unbeknownst to the two neo-spies, they are also being followed by VP Kate and Bugs--the studio brass has decided that the rabbit needs a comic foil after all, and Kate's job is on the line if she can't get Daffy back to work ASAP.
- Released
- 14 Nov 2003
- Genres
- Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 5.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Daffy 105 lines, man
- Duff 101 lines, man
- Bugs 78 lines, man
- Mom 19 lines, woman
- Mr. Warner 12 lines, man
- Granny 10 lines, woman
- Damien 9 lines, man
- Marvin 9 lines, man
- Mr. Warner’S Brother 8 lines, man
- Damien Drake 6 lines, man
Full cast, 73 people
- Joe Alaskey as Bugs Bunny-Daffy Duck / Beaky Buzzard / Sylvester / Mama Bear (voice)
- Brendan Fraser as DJ Drake / Tasmanian Devil (voice) / She-Devil (voice) / Self
- Jenna Elfman as Kate
- Steve Martin as Mr. Chairman
- Jeff Bennett as Yosemite Sam / Foghorn Leghorn / Nasty Canasta (voice)
- Timothy Dalton as Damien Drake
- Billy West as Elmer Fudd / Peter Lorre (voice)
- Heather Locklear as Dusty Tails
- Joan Cusack as Mother
- Bill Goldberg as Mr. Smith
- Don Stanton as Mr. Warner
- Dan Stanton as Mr. Warner's Brother
- Dick Miller as Security Guard
- Roger Corman as Hollywood Director
- Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Bennell
- Jeff Gordon as Jeff Gordon
- Matthew Lillard as Matthew Lillard
- Mary Woronov as Acme VP, Bad Ideas
- Marc Lawrence as Acme VP, Stating the Obvious
- Bill McKinney as Acme VP, Nitpicking
- George Murdock as Acme VP, Unfairly Promoted
- Robert Picardo as Acme VP, Rhetorical Questions
- Ron Perlman as Acme VP, Never Learning
- Vernon Wells as Acme VP, Child Labor
- Leo Rossi as Acme VP, Climbing to the Top
- Archie Hahn as Stunt Director
- Allan Graf as Interrogator
- Austyn Cuccia as Tour Bus Girl
- Marie-Claude Jacques as Flower Vendor
- Michael Azria as Paris Cafe Waiter
- Dan Romanelli as Studio Executive
- Kevin Thompson as Dancing Yosemite Sam
- Arturo Gil as Dancing Yosemite Sam
- Gabriel Pimentel as Dancing Yosemite Sam
- Steve Babiar as Dancing Yosemite Sam
- Martin Klebba as Dancing Yosemite Sam
- Eric Goldberg as Tweety Bird / Marvin the Martian / Speedy Gonzalez (voice)
- Bruce Lanoil as Pepe le Pew (voice)
- June Foray as Granny (voice)
- Bob Bergen as Porky Pig (voice)
- Casey Kasem as Shaggy (voice)
- Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo (voice)
- Danny Chambers as Cottontail Smith (voice)
- Stan Freberg as Baby Bear (voice)
- Will Ryan as Papa Bear (voice)
- Danny Mann as Robo Dog - Spy Car (voice)
- Mel Blanc as Gremlin Car (archive sound)
- Tara Wilson as Dancer
- Tanee McCall as Dancer
- Gelsey Weiss as Dancer
- Brenda Mae Hamilton as Dancer
- Liz Ramos as Dancer
- Emily Rose Zachary as Dancer
- Becca Sweitzer as Dancer
- Janina Garraway as Dancer
- Alysha Wheeler as Dancer
- Micki Duran as Dancer
- Chi Johnson as Dancer
- Shealan Spencer as Dancer
- Shanti Lowry as Dancer
- Brandon Henschel as Dancer
- Erica Gudis as Dancer
- John Munro Cameron as The Man from Planet X
- Peter Graves as Host of Civil Defense Film
- Glen Hambly as Laboratory Scientist
- Michael Jordan as Self (archive footage)
- Louis Kiss as Dalek
- Nikki Martin as Wooden Nickel Waitress
- Laura Orrico as Secret Agent Shopper
- Robert Parigi as Robby the Robot
- Dean Ricca as Studio Tour Guide
- Tom Woodruff Jr. as The Metaluna Mutant (uncredited)
- Robby the Robot as Robert
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 162
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 4 | 0 | 29 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 22 |
| 13 to 16 | 3 | 14 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 46 |
| 21 to 24 | 1 | 10 |
| 25 to 28 | 2 | 7 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 2 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 24 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 52 | 6 | 3 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 1 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 1 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 10 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 3 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 8 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 2 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 10 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 10 |
| 101 to 104 | 3 | 5 |
| 105 to 108 | 15 | 6 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 16 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 5 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 3 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 3 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 4 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 7 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 7 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 12 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 4 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 8 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 5 | 46 |
| 157 to 160 | 2 | 10 |
| 161 to 162 | 0 | 10 |
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, 10 are women's.
39 lines from women, 361 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
23 women and 46 men in the cast. 3 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 65 of 414.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 64 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 (365), men 90% (3,292).
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
49
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joe Dante (man)
- Written by
- Larry Doyle (man), Roger S.H. Schulman (man)
- Produced by
- Paula Weinstein (woman), Bernie Goldmann (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Cundey (man)
- Edited by
- Rick Finney (man), Marshall Harvey (man)
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith (man)
- Production design by
- Bill Brzeski (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary E. Vogt (woman)
- Cast by
- Barbara Cohen (woman), Mary Gail Artz (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 11 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 7 men
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jenna Elfman 32, Joan Cusack 41, Heather Locklear 42
Men
Brendan Fraser 34, Bill Goldberg 36, Jeff Bennett 41, Joe Alaskey 51, Billy West 51, Timothy Dalton 57, Steve Martin 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 86% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $80 million
- Box office
- $68.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 162 scenes and 414 lines of dialogue. How the test works
