Fails the Bechdel test
New Jack City
1991. Directed by Mario Van Peebles, written by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 women characters. 4 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 0 out of 3.
The film
The gangster Nino has a gang who call themselves Cash Money Brothers. They get into the crack business and not before long they make a million dollars every week. A cop, Scotty, is after them. He tries to get into the gang by letting an ex-drug addict infiltrate the gang, but the attempt fails miserably. The only thing that remains is that Scotty himself becomes a drug pusher.
- Released
- 08 Mar 1991
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 61 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Nino 95 lines, man
- Scotty 82 lines, man
- Gee Money 57 lines, man
- Morrio 44 lines, man
- Pookie 35 lines, man
- Bricks 31 lines, man
- Scotty/Rivera 13 lines, man
- Lawson 11 lines
- Kareem 10 lines, man
- Keisha 8 lines, woman
Full cast, 57 people
- Wesley Snipes as Nino Brown
- Ice-T as Scotty Appleton
- Allen Payne as Garald "Gee Money" Welles
- Chris Rock as Pookie
- Mario Van Peebles as Stone
- Michael Michele as Selina
- Bill Nunn as Duh Duh Duh Man
- Russell Wong as Park
- Bill Cobbs as Old Man
- Christopher Williams as Kareem Akbar
- Judd Nelson as Nick Peretti
- Vanessa Williams as Keisha
- Tracy Camilla Johns as Uniqua
- Anthony DeSando as Frankie Needles
- Nick Ashford as Reverend Oates
- Phyllis Yvonne Stickney as Prosecuting Attorney Hawkins
- Thalmus Rasulala as Police Commissioner
- John Aprea as Don Armeteo
- Fab 5 Freddy as Master of Ceremonies
- Flavor Flav as D.J.
- Clebert Ford as Frazier
- Laverne Hart as Prom Queen
- Eek-A-Mouse as Fat Smitty
- Gregg Smrz as Biff
- Erica McFarquhar as Teacher
- Keith Sweat as Singer at Wedding
- Bret McCormick as Gigantor
- Marcella Lowery as Woman in Hallway
- Manuel E. Santiago as Judge
- Ben Gotlieb as Prosecuting Attorney
- Thelma Louise Carter as Reporter
- Linda Froehlich as Reporter
- Christopher Michael as Bailiff
- Kelly Jo Minter as Recovering Addict
- Tina Lifford as Recovering Addict
- Erik Kilpatrick as Recovering Addict
- Ron Millkie as Assistant DA
- Harold Baines as Kid on Stoop
- Sekou Campbell as Kid on Stoop
- Garvin Holder as Kid on Stoop
- Teddy Riley as New Year's Eve Band - (Guy)
- Aaron Hall as New Year's Eve Band - (Guy)
- Damion Hall as New Year's Eve Band - (Guy)
- Rodney Benford as Singers - Spring - (Troop)
- John Harrell as Singers - Spring - (Troop)
- Gerald Levert as Singers - Winter - (Levert)
- Sean Levert as Singers - Winter - (Levert)
- Jimmy Cummings as Butchie The Doorman
- Akosua Busia as Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
- Lia Chang as Prostitute in The Pool (uncredited)
- Jake LaMotta as Gangster Standing at Bar (uncredited)
- Larry M. Cherry as Barber (uncredited)
- Cynthia Elane as Brides Maid (uncredited)
- Toni Ann Johnson as Girl in the Window (uncredited)
- Candece Tarpley as Connie The Waitress (uncredited)
- Chris Thornton as C.M.B. Member (uncredited)
- Vincent Pastore as Mobster (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 115
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 | 17 |
| 7 to 9 | 9 | 43 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 15 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 35 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 7 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 13 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 9 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 3 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 4 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 6 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 2 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 17 |
| 43 to 45 | 4 | 28 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 4 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 11 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 7 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 12 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 7 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 8 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 17 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 10 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 13 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 26 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 3 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 20 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 16 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 1 | 11 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 2 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 2 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 6 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 16 |
| 109 to 111 | 1 | 1 |
| 112 to 114 | 3 | 22 |
| 115 to 115 | 0 | 1 |
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, 5 are women's.
23 lines from women, 424 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
16 women and 32 men in the cast. 4 women and 22 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 47 of 524.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 164 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 5% of the words (384), men 95% (7,450).
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
74
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mario Van Peebles (man)
- Written by
- Thomas Lee Wright (man), Barry Michael Cooper (man)
- Story by
- Thomas Lee Wright (man)
- Produced by
- Doug McHenry (man), George Jackson (man)
- Shot by
- Francis Kenny (man)
- Edited by
- Steven Kemper (man)
- Music by
- Michel Colombier (man)
- Production design by
- Charles C. Bennett (man)
- Costumes by
- Bernard Johnson (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- John McCabe (gender not listed), Pat Golden (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
3 women, 13 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 18 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 8 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 9 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
4 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 5 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Michael Michele 24
Men
Allen Payne 22, Christopher Williams 23, Chris Rock 26, Wesley Snipes 28, Russell Wong 28, Ice-T 33, Mario Van Peebles 34, Bill Nunn 37, Bill Cobbs 56
Exhibit G: the money
It made 5.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8.5 million
- Box office
- $47.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 115 scenes and 524 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
