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Fails the Bechdel test

Midway

2019. Directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Wes Tooke.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

  1. No 1. At least two women
    Fewer than two women characters.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. 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.

Poster for Midway

The film

MIDWAY centers on the Battle of Midway, a clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy which marked a pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The film, based on the real-life events of this heroic feat, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome the odds.

Released
08 Nov 2019
Genres
Action, Drama, History
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
6.7 / 10
Metascore
47 / 100
Awards
1 nomination total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Best 163 lines, man
  2. Layton 76 lines, man
  3. Nimitz 75 lines, man
  4. Dickinson 56 lines, man
  5. Tamon 41 lines, man
  6. Yamamoto 37 lines, man
  7. Halsey 36 lines, man
  8. Ann 34 lines
  9. Mcclusky 31 lines, man
  10. Murray 28 lines, man
Full cast, 90 people
  • Ed Skrein as Lieutenant Richard 'Dick' Best
  • Patrick Wilson as Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton
  • Woody Harrelson as Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
  • Luke Evans as Commander Wade McClusky
  • Mandy Moore as Anne Best
  • Luke Kleintank as Lieutenant Clarence Earle Dickinson
  • Dennis Quaid as Vice Admiral William 'Bull' Halsey
  • Aaron Eckhart as Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle
  • Keean Johnson as Chief Aviation Radioman James Murray
  • Nick Jonas as Bruno Gaido
  • Etsushi Toyokawa as Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
  • Tadanobu Asano as Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi
  • Darren Criss as Commander Eugene Lindsey
  • Brandon Sklenar as George 'Tex' Gay
  • Jake Manley as Willie West
  • Jun Kunimura as Vice Admiral Chūichi Nagumo
  • Nobuya Shimamoto as Captain Tomeo Kaku
  • Brennan Brown as Commander Joseph Rochefort
  • Jake Weber as Rear Admiral Raymond Spruance
  • Alexander Ludwig as Lieutenant Roy Pearce
  • David Hewlett as Husband Kimmel
  • Mark Rolston as Ernest King
  • Eric Davis as Captain Miles Browning
  • Kenny Leu as Zhu Xuesan
  • Rachael Perrell Fosket as Dagne Layton
  • Peter Shinkoda as Cmdr. Minoru Genda
  • James Carpinello as William Brockman
  • Tim Beckmann as Captain Rawlings
  • Sarah Souza as Marie Pearce
  • Cameron Brodeur as Sully Brown
  • Hiromoto Ida as Prime Minister Tojo
  • Hiroaki Shintani as Emperor Hirohito
  • Russell Dennis Lewis as Ensigh O’Flaherty
  • Geoffrey Blake as John Ford
  • Mikaël Conde as Bill Miller
  • Madison Roukema as Barbara Best
  • Christie Brooke as Millicent McClusky
  • Dustin Geiger as Paul Crosley
  • Jason Lee Hoy as Pat Rooney
  • Ellen Dubin as Admiral King Secretary
  • Jason New as Marine Captain (Midway)
  • Dean Schaller as Jack MacKenzie Jr.
  • Jacob Blair as Hank Potter
  • Kayo Yasuhara as Geisha
  • Rudolph Wallstrom as Petty Officer (Pacific HQ)
  • Matthew MacCaull as Staff Officer (Nimitz)
  • Philip Fu-Kang Wang as Chinese Major
  • Johan Strombergsson-Denora as Radioman #1 (Enterprise SC)
  • Nico DeCastris as Radioman #2 (Enterprise SC)
  • Alexandre Dubois as Radar Officer (Enterprise)
  • Tyler Elliot Burke as Radar Officer (Enterprise)
  • Raphael Grosz-Harvey as Lt. JG (Hospital)
  • Trevor Danielson as Talker
  • Agostino Michael Cimino as Buzz Davis (Sonar Tech Nautilus)
  • Takeshi Kurokawa as Imperial Guardsman
  • Ryuta Kato as Japanese Junior Officer (Yamat)
  • Garret Sato as Japanese Officer (Prison)
  • Neil Girvan as Navy Yard Inspector
  • Ellis Arch as Lofton Henderson
  • Robert Crooks as McClusky's Radioman
  • Sean Colby as Gay's Radioman
  • Kasey Ryne Mazak as Signal Officer (Akagi)
  • Ryo Hayashida as Deck Officer (Akagi)
  • Michael Chapman as Helmsman (Nautilus)
  • Masahiro Tanikawa Masa Tani as Damage Control Officer
  • Ryohei Arima as Japanese Lieutenant (Kaga)
  • Hiro Kanagawa as Makigumo Captain
  • Ken Takikawa as Makigumo Lieutenant
  • Leonardo Boudreau as Passing Sailor
  • Tony Nowicki as SBD Pilot (Enterprise)
  • Yuta Takenaka as Staff Officer (Yamato)
  • Tatsuya Shirato as Flag Officer (Yamato)
  • Tyler Hall as William 'Slim' Townsend
  • Kyle Bougeno as Smoking Sailor
  • David Dacosta as Breathless Ensign (Enterprise)
  • Kazuki Gonzalez-Adachi as Hiryu Helmsman
  • Reyn Halford as Torpedo Room Chief
  • Toyoaki Ito Leung as Japanese Boy (10 YO)
  • Halta Nonen as Japanese Boy #2 (6 YO)
  • Adrian Spencer as Chief Medic (Enterprise)
  • James Hicks as Edwin Kroeger
  • Sebastian Pigott as Petty Officer #2
  • Simon Pelletier-Gilbert as Yorktown Spotter
  • Philippe Verville as Doolittle's Bombardier
  • Shigeru Yabuta as Japanese Duck Netting Officer
  • Seunghwan Min as Zero Pilots Squadron Leader
  • Christopher Tapia as Hiryu Pointer
  • Sangwon Jun as Hiryu Talker
  • Motoo Taira as Akagi Spotter
  • Ana Maria Lombo as Ballroom Singer

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 235

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 5042
6 to 10024
11 to 15019
16 to 20020
21 to 25017
26 to 30026
31 to 35022
36 to 40218
41 to 45113
46 to 50037
51 to 55010
56 to 60013
61 to 65018
66 to 70013
71 to 75029
76 to 80018
81 to 85010
86 to 9003
91 to 95019
96 to 100026
101 to 105034
106 to 110029
111 to 115013
116 to 12007
121 to 125010
126 to 130029
131 to 135018
136 to 140021
141 to 145011
146 to 150016
151 to 155023
156 to 160017
161 to 16507
166 to 170014
171 to 17506
176 to 18008
181 to 185011
186 to 190011
191 to 195013
196 to 200039
201 to 205015
206 to 21003
211 to 215310
216 to 220026
221 to 22508
226 to 230018
231 to 23502

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, 1 are women's.

6 lines from women, 816 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

6 women and 61 men in the cast. 2 women and 48 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 191 of 904. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 617 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 0% of the words (46), men 100% (9,321). Women have 1% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

None of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Roland Emmerich (man)
Written by
Wes Tooke (man)
Produced by
Roland Emmerich (man), Mark Gordon (man), Harald Kloser (man)
Shot by
Robby Baumgartner (man)
Edited by
Adam Wolfe (man)
Music by
Harald Kloser (man), Thomas Wander (man)
Production design by
Kirk M. Petruccelli (man)
Costumes by
Mario Davignon (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Visual Effects

    4 women, 4 men, 63 not listed

  • Art

    6 women, 8 men, 18 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 4 men, 23 not listed

  • Production

    7 women, 16 men, 7 not listed

  • Sound

    1 women, 18 men, 7 not listed

  • Other crew

    1 women, 3 men, 17 not listed

  • Camera

    2 women, 4 men, 14 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 2 men, 15 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 35 on average. Men: 42 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Mandy Moore 35

Men

Keean Johnson 22, Nick Jonas 27, Luke Kleintank 29, Ed Skrein 36, Luke Evans 40, Patrick Wilson 46, Aaron Eckhart 51, Woody Harrelson 58, Dennis Quaid 65

Exhibit G: the money

It made 1.3 times what it cost.

Budget
$100 million
Box office
$127 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 235 scenes and 904 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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