Fails the Bechdel test
Menace II Society
1993. Directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes, written by Allen Hughes and Albert Hughes and Tyger Williams.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 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
This urban nightmare chronicles several days in the life of Caine Lawson, following his high-school graduation, as he attempts to escape his violent existence in the projects of Watts, CA.
- Released
- 26 May 1993
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 76 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Caine 247 lines, man
- 0-Dog 69 lines, man
- Ronnie 53 lines, woman
- Stacy 42 lines, man
- Sharif 38 lines, man
- A-Wax 26 lines, man
- Grandpapa 26 lines, man
- O-Dog 17 lines, man
- Pernell 17 lines, man
- Mr. Butler 14 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
- Tyrin Turner as Caine 'Kaydee' Lawson
- Larenz Tate as Kevin 'O-Dog'
- Glenn Plummer as Pernell
- Jada Pinkett Smith as Ronnie
- Samuel L. Jackson as Tat Lawson
- June Kyoto Lu as Grocery Store Woman
- Toshi Toda as Grocery Store Man
- Reginald Ballard as Clyde
- Khandi Alexander as Karen Lawson
- Jullian Roy Doster as Anthony
- Brandon Hammond as Five Year Old Caine
- Eugene Lee as Man #1
- James Pickens Jr. as Man #2
- Nancy Cheryll Davis as Teacher
- Marilyn Coleman as Grandmama
- Arnold Johnson as Grandpapa
- Saafir as Harold Lawson
- Pooh Man as Doc
- MC Eiht as A-Wax
- Vonte Sweet as Sharif
- Ryan Williams as Stacy
- Cynthia Calhoun as Jackee
- Garen Holman as Junior
- Joy Matthews as Nurse #1
- Clifton Powell as Chauncy
- Too $hort as Lew-Loc
- Christopher M. Brown as Lloyd
- Stacy Arnell as Deena
- Dwayne L. Barnes as Basehead
- Ian Davids as Insurance Man
- Alvin Mears as K-9 Police Officer
- Bill Duke as Detective
- Robert Gonzales as Car Dealer
- Martin Davis as Car-Jack Victim
- Erin Wiley Sands as Ilena
- Charles S. Dutton as Mr. Butler
- Charles J. Grube as Officer Fassel
- Mike Kelly as Officer Gadd
- Rolando Molina as Vato #1
- Clifton Collins Jr. as Vato #2
- Samuel Monroe Jr. as Ilena's Cousin
- Daniel Villarreal as Vato #4
- Yolanda Whitaker as Girl at Party
- Anthony Johnson as Tony
- Tony Valentino as Vato #3
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 159
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 | 1 | 18 |
| 5 to 8 | 2 | 14 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 8 |
| 13 to 16 | 4 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 30 |
| 25 to 28 | 1 | 17 |
| 29 to 32 | 2 | 20 |
| 33 to 36 | 1 | 12 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 5 |
| 41 to 44 | 1 | 27 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 27 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 7 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 5 |
| 57 to 60 | 8 | 15 |
| 61 to 64 | 5 | 18 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 12 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 14 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 23 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 20 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 5 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 1 |
| 93 to 96 | 3 | 16 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 17 |
| 101 to 104 | 1 | 15 |
| 105 to 108 | 2 | 14 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 1 |
| 113 to 116 | 3 | 8 |
| 117 to 120 | 3 | 50 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 22 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 7 |
| 129 to 132 | 13 | 18 |
| 133 to 136 | 6 | 9 |
| 137 to 140 | 10 | 22 |
| 141 to 144 | 5 | 68 |
| 145 to 148 | 2 | 19 |
| 149 to 152 | 3 | 3 |
| 153 to 156 | 1 | 1 |
| 157 to 159 | 0 | 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, 12 are women's.
82 lines from women, 607 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 28 men in the cast. 5 women and 36 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 745.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 117 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 (983), men 90% (8,961). Women have 12% 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
54
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Albert Hughes (man), Allen Hughes (man)
- Written by
- Tyger Williams (gender not listed)
- Story by
- Allen Hughes (man), Albert Hughes (man)
- Produced by
- Darin Scott (man)
- Shot by
- Lisa Rinzler (woman)
- Edited by
- Christopher Koefoed (man)
- Music by
- Quincy Jones III (man)
- Production design by
- Penny Barrett (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Sylvia Vega-Vasquez (woman)
- Cast by
- Tony Lee (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Production
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jada Pinkett Smith 21, Khandi Alexander 35, June Kyoto Lu 61
Men
Larenz Tate 17, Tyrin Turner 21, Reginald Ballard 27, Glenn Plummer 31, Samuel L. Jackson 44, Toshi Toda 50
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.5 million
- Box office
- $27.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 159 scenes and 745 lines of dialogue. How the test works
