Passes the Bechdel test
Nixon
1996. Directed by Oliver Stone, written by Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson and Oliver Stone.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
19 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 105. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Writer, Producer, and Director Oliver Stone's exploration of former President Richard Nixon's strict Quaker upbringing, his nascent political strivings in law school, and his strangely self-effacing courtship of his wife, Pat (Joan Allen). The contradictions in his character are revealed early, in the vicious campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas and the oddly masochistic Checkers speech. His defeat at the hands of the hated and envied John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election, followed by the loss of the 1962 California gubernatorial race, seem to signal the end of his career. Yet, although wholly lacking in charisma, Nixon remains a brilliant political operator, seizing the opportunity provided by the backlash against the antiwar movement to take the Presidency in 1968. It is only when safely in office, running far ahead in the polls for the 1972 Presidential election, that his growing paranoia comes to full flower, triggering the Watergate scandal.
- Released
- 05 Jan 1996
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, History
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 4 Oscars. 11 wins & 18 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Nixon 357 lines, man
- Haldeman 69 lines, man
- Pat 57 lines, woman
- Haig 29 lines, man
- Ehrlichman 27 lines, man
- Dean 24 lines, man
- Helms 22 lines, man
- Kissinger 21 lines, man
- Jones 19 lines, man
- Hoover 17 lines, man
Full cast, 110 people
- Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon
- Joan Allen as Pat Nixon
- Powers Boothe as Alexander Haig
- Ed Harris as E. Howard Hunt
- Bob Hoskins as J. Edgar Hoover
- E.G. Marshall as John Mitchell
- David Paymer as Ron Ziegler
- David Hyde Pierce as John Dean
- Paul Sorvino as Henry Kissinger
- Mary Steenburgen as Hannah Nixon
- J.T. Walsh as John Ehrlichman
- James Woods as H.R. Haldeman
- Brian Bedford as Clyde Tolson
- Kevin Dunn as Charles Colson
- Fyvush Finkel as Murray Chotiner
- Annabeth Gish as Julie Nixon Eisenhower
- Tom Bower as Frank Nixon
- Tony Goldwyn as Harold Nixon
- Larry Hagman as Jack Jones
- Edward Herrmann as Nelson Rockefeller
- Madeline Kahn as Martha Mitchell
- Dan Hedaya as Trini Cardoza
- Tony Lo Bianco as Johnny Roselli
- Saul Rubinek as Herb Klein
- Robert Beltran as Frank Sturgis
- John Cunningham as Bob
- John Diehl as Gordon Liddy
- John C. McGinley as Earl in Training Film
- Michael Chiklis as TV Director
- David Barry Gray as Richard Nixon, 19 Years Old
- Joanna Going as Young Student
- George Plimpton as President's Lawyer
- Lenny Vullo as Bernard Barker, Watergate Burglar
- Corey Carrier as Richard Nixon, 12 Years Old
- Ronald von Klaussen as James McCord, Watergate Burglar
- John Bedford Lloyd as Cuban Man
- Kamar de los Reyes as Eugenio Martinez, Watergate Burglar
- Enrique Castillo as Virgilio Gonzales, Watergate Burglar
- James Pickens Jr. as Black Orator
- Victor Rivers as Cuban Plumber
- Bridgette Wilson as Sandy
- Drew Snyder as Moderator
- Ric Young as Mao Tse-Tung
- Sean Stone as Donald Nixon
- Joshua Duvall Preston as Arthur Nixon
- Ian Calip as Football Player
- Jack Wallace as Football Coach
- Julie Condra as Young Pat Nixon
- Annette Helde as Happy Rockefeller
- Howard Platt as Lawyer at Party
- T.J. Kennedy as Convention Announcer
- Harry S. Murphy as Fan #1
- Suzanne Schnulle Murphy as Fan #2
- Michael Kaufman as Fan #3
- Pamela Dickerson as Girlfriend
- O'Neal Compton as Texas Man
- Chris Renna as Family Doctor
- Wilson Cruz as Joaquin, Hoover's Servant
- Mikey Stone as Edward Nixon
- Robert Marshall as Spiro Agnew
- Marley Shelton as Tricia Nixon Cox
- James Karen as Bill Rogers
- Richard Fancy as Mel Laird
- Peter Carlin as Student #1
- Michelle Krusiec as Student #2
- Wass Stevens as Protester
- Tom Nicoletti as Secret Service Agent #1
- Chuck Pfeiffer as Secret Service Agent #2
- Alexander Butterfield as White House Staffer
- Mark Steines as White House Security
- Bai Ling as Chinese Interpreter
- Peter P. Starson Jr. as Air Force One Steward
- Jon Tenney as Reporter #1
- Julie Araskog as Reporter #2
- Ray Wills as Reporter #3
- John Bellucci as Reporter #4
- Zoey Zimmerman as Reporter #5
- Mary Rudolph as Rosemary Woods
- Clayton Townsend as Floor Manager #1
- Donna Dixon as Maureen Dean
- John Stockwell as Staffer #1
- Charles Haugk as Staffer #2
- Boris Sichkin as Leonid Brezhnev
- Fima Noveck as Andre Gromyko
- Raissa Danilova as Russian Interpreter
- Marilyn Rockafellow as Helen Smith
- Bill Bolender as Bethesda Doctor
- Melinda Renna as Bethesda Nurse
- Tony Plana as Manolo Sanchez
- Sam Waterston as Richard Helms
- Chuck Riley as Narrator (voice, uncredited)
- Mao Zedong as Self (Archive Footage)
- John F. Kennedy as (Archive footage)
- Franklin D. Roosevelt as (Archive footage)
- J. Robert Oppenheimer as (Archive footage)
- Dwight D. Eisenhower as (Archive footage)
- Jacqueline Kennedy as (Archive footage)
- Lyndon B. Johnson as (Archive footage)
- Robert F. Kennedy as (Archive footage)
- Martin Luther King Jr. as (Archive footage)
- Fidel Castro as (Archive footage)
- Patrice Lumumba as (Archive footage)
- Ronald Reagan as (Archive footage)
- Thích Quảng Đức as (Archive footage)
- Richard Nixon as (Archive footage)
- Bill Clinton as (Archive footage)
- Hillary Clinton as (Archive footage)
- George H. W. Bush as (Archive footage)
- Barbara Bush as (Archive footage)
- Gerald Ford as (Archive footage)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 105
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 | 9 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 42 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 19 |
| 10 to 12 | 1 | 37 |
| 13 to 15 | 5 | 8 |
| 16 to 18 | 3 | 10 |
| 19 to 21 | 6 | 27 |
| 22 to 24 | 2 | 16 |
| 25 to 27 | 6 | 35 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 to 33 | 4 | 2 |
| 34 to 36 | 9 | 15 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 15 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 25 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 29 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 14 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 14 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 30 |
| 55 to 57 | 8 | 63 |
| 58 to 60 | 9 | 18 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 18 |
| 64 to 66 | 3 | 36 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 38 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 29 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 46 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 18 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 4 |
| 82 to 84 | 10 | 10 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 9 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 4 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 8 | 22 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 15 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 43 |
| 103 to 105 | 3 | 18 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
JULIE: Come on, mother, join the ... (sees her look} What's the matter? PAT: We're just not going to buckle to these people. "
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 11 are women's.
92 lines from women, 743 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
19 women and 78 men in the cast. 9 women and 36 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 116 of 941.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 162 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (1,237), men 92% (14,584). Women have 11% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
1
Two men
68
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Oliver Stone (man)
- Written by
- Oliver Stone (man), Stephen J. Rivele (man), Christopher Wilkinson (man)
- Produced by
- Oliver Stone (man), Clayton Townsend (man), Andrew G. Vajna (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Richardson (man)
- Edited by
- Brian Berdan (man), Hank Corwin (man)
- Music by
- John Williams (man)
- Production design by
- Victor Kempster (man)
- Costumes by
- Richard Hornung (man)
- Cast by
- Billy Hopkins (man), Heidi Levitt (woman), Mary Vernieu (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 13 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 52 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Joan Allen 39, Mary Steenburgen 42
Men
David Hyde Pierce 36, David Paymer 41, Ed Harris 45, Powers Boothe 47, Bob Hoskins 53, Paul Sorvino 56, Anthony Hopkins 57, E.G. Marshall 81
Exhibit H: the money
It made 31% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $44 million
- Box office
- $13.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 105 scenes and 941 lines of dialogue. How the test works
