Fails the Bechdel test
Nick of Time
1995. Directed by John Badham, written by Patrick Sheane Duncan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Gene Watson is a public accountant who arrives on a train at Union Station in Los Angeles, accompanied by his 6-year-old daughter Lynn. Because of his ordinary looks, he is approached by a pair of sinister people named Smith and Jones. Pretending to be cops, Smith and Jones kidnap Lynn and confront Gene with a simple choice -- kill California governor Eleanor Grant in 90 minutes or less, or Lynn will die. Watson is given a gun, six bullets, and a name tag, and he is told to go to the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and kill Eleanor, who is giving an afternoon speech. While Jones is watching Lynn in a van, Smith watches Watson in order to prevent Watson from alerting the authorities. Watson must quickly find some way to get himself and Lynn out of this seemingly impossible situation.
- Released
- 22 Nov 1995
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Gene 208 lines, man
- Mr. Smith 129 lines, man
- Huey 73 lines, man
- Ms. Jones 60 lines, woman
- Eleanor Grant 58 lines
- Lynn 39 lines, woman
- Brendan Grant 38 lines, man
- Krista 33 lines, woman
- Mystery Man 21 lines, man
- Cabbie 17 lines, man
Full cast, 35 people
- Johnny Depp as Gene Watson
- Courtney Chase as Lynn Watson
- Charles S. Dutton as Hucy
- Christopher Walken as Mr. Smith
- Roma Maffia as Ms. Jones
- Peter Strauss as Brendan Grant
- Gloria Reuben as Krista Brooks
- Marsha Mason as Gov. Eleanor Grant
- Miguel Nájera as Franco (Governor's Bodyguard)
- Bill Smitrovich as Officer Trust
- G.D. Spradlin as Mystery Man
- Charles Carroll as Sanitation Engineer
- Yul Vazquez as Gustino (Guest Services)
- Edith Diaz as Irene (Domestic Maintenance)
- Armando Ortega as Hector (Guest Services)
- C.J. Bau as Mixologist
- Cynthena Sanders as Beverage Server
- Dana Mackey as Transport Reception Manager
- Jerry Tondo as Chief Aide
- Lance Hunter Voorhees as Weapons Security
- John Azevedo Jr. as Security Associate
- Lance August as Personal Security
- Peter MacKenzie as JBN Reporter
- Rick Zieff as JBN Videographer
- Michael Chong as Asian Man
- Cynthia Noritake as Asian Woman
- Holly Kuespert as Physically Attractive Woman
- Pamela Dunlap as Centerpiece Poacher
- Jan Speck as Rally Orienter
- Tom Lawrence as Personal Waste Facility User
- Robert Buckingham as Illegal Security Access Carrier
- Clark Johnson as Hackney Transportist
- Antony Sandoval as Un Homme
- Isabel García Lorca as Une Femme
- Ray Uhler as Reporter (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 124
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 | 8 | 12 |
| 7 to 9 | 10 | 33 |
| 10 to 12 | 23 | 30 |
| 13 to 15 | 7 | 15 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 25 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 7 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 11 |
| 28 to 30 | 7 | 10 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 8 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 2 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 29 |
| 40 to 42 | 3 | 5 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 1 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 6 |
| 49 to 51 | 17 | 45 |
| 52 to 54 | 10 | 33 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 19 |
| 58 to 60 | 2 | 23 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 0 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 10 | 83 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 14 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 1 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 4 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 13 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 15 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 8 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 99 | 2 | 11 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 19 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 11 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 1 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 22 | 10 |
| 118 to 120 | 1 | 1 |
| 121 to 123 | 3 | 14 |
| 124 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
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, 21 are women's.
139 lines from women, 526 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 19 men in the cast. 5 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 752.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 57 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 18% of the words (1,092), men 82% (4,921). Women have 21% 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
52
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Badham (man)
- Written by
- Patrick Sheane Duncan (man)
- Produced by
- John Badham (man)
- Shot by
- Roy H. Wagner (man)
- Edited by
- Kevin Stitt (man), Frank Morriss (man)
- Music by
- Arthur B. Rubinstein (man)
- Production design by
- Philip Harrison (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary E. Vogt (woman)
- Cast by
- Carol Lewis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
4 women, 17 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 7 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Courtney Chase 7, Gloria Reuben 31, Roma Maffia 37, Marsha Mason 53
Men
Johnny Depp 32, Charles S. Dutton 44, Peter Strauss 48, Bill Smitrovich 48, Christopher Walken 52
Exhibit G: the money
It made 25% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $33 million
- Box office
- $8.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 124 scenes and 752 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
