Fails the Bechdel test

Olympus Has Fallen

Name: Olympus Has Fallen
Released: 2013

2013. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
12 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

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

When the White House (Secret Service Code: "Olympus") is captured by a terrorist mastermind and the President is kidnapped, former Presidential Secret Service Agent Mike Banning finds himself trapped within the building. As our national security team scrambles to respond, they are forced to rely on Banning's inside knowledge to help retake the White House, save the President and avert an even bigger disaster.

Released: 22 Mar 2013
Genres: Action, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.5 / 10
Metascore: 41 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Banning 75 lines, man
Kang 73 lines, man
Asher 52 lines, man
Jacobs 36 lines, woman
Trumbull 34 lines, man
Connor 19 lines, man
Malik 17 lines, man
Galdarres 15 lines
Ortiz 15 lines, man
Roma 10 lines, man

Full cast, 62 people

Gerard Butler as Mike Banning
Aaron Eckhart as President Benjamin Asher
Finley Jacobsen as Connor
Dylan McDermott as Forbes
Rick Yune as Kang
Morgan Freeman as Alan Trumbull
Cole Hauser as Roma
Radha Mitchell as Leah
Angela Bassett as Lynne Jacobs
Melissa Leo as Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan
Phil Austin as Vice President Charlie Rodriguez
James Ingersoll as Admiral Nathan Hoenig
Freddy Bosche as Diaz
Lance Broadway as O'Neil
Sean O'Bryan as Ray Monroe
Keong Sim as Lee Tae-Woo
Kevin Moon as Cho
Malana Lea as Lim
Robert Forster as General Edward Clegg
Sam Medina as Yu
Ashley Judd as Margaret Asher
Mike Snyder as News Reporter #1
Josiah D. Lee as Korean Pilot
Edrick Browne as Head Technician
Sean Boyd as Raptor Pilot
Hunter Burke as Army Tech Officer
Aonika Laurent as News Reporter #2
Jace Jeanes as Sniper #1
Sione Ma'umalanga as Sniper #2
Tory Kittles as Agent Jones
Shane Land as Agent Davis
Shanna Forrestall as Mary Jane Fuller
Ian Casselberry as Long-Haired EMT
Dorothy Deavers as Mrs. Mosely
Amber Dawn Landrum as Nurse
Han Soto as Dr. Guildes
Kenneth Wayne Bradley as Crisis Room Radio Man
Bill Stinchcomb as Watch Officer
Michelle Celeste Assil as News Reporter #3
Met Salih as News Reporter #4
Darrell L. Connerton as CIA Director
Terry Dale Parks as Army Commander
Michael Stallings as Army Lieutenant
Elliott Grey as FBI Assistant Director
Hamish Macdonald as Self
Lawrence O'Donnell as Self
Rick Chambers as Self
Scott Walker as Male Reporter
Catherine Shreves as Female Reporter
Arnold Chon as Korean Terrorist (uncredited)
Lewis Tan as Korean Commando (uncredited)
J.J. Perry as Secret Service Agent (uncredited)
Simon Rhee as Kang's Korean Commando (uncredited)
Ron Yuan as Undercover Commando (uncredited)
David Joseph Martinez as Senate Intelligence Officer (uncredited)
Andy Cheng as Korean Commando (uncredited)
Steve Kim as Korean Commando (uncredited)
Danny Le Boyer as Korean Commando (uncredited)
Woon Young Park as Korean Commando (uncredited)
Pak Ho-sung as Korean Commando (uncredited)
Philip Tan as Korean Terrorist (uncredited)
Stephen Oyoung as Korean Terrorist (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 230

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 5	0	24
6 to 10	7	18
11 to 15	0	8
16 to 20	0	16
21 to 25	0	18
26 to 30	0	3
31 to 35	0	4
36 to 40	0	1
41 to 45	0	4
46 to 50	0	2
51 to 55	0	1
56 to 60	0	2
61 to 65	1	2
66 to 70	0	16
71 to 75	2	12
76 to 80	1	9
81 to 85	1	4
86 to 90	9	13
91 to 95	5	24
96 to 100	0	5
101 to 105	0	0
106 to 110	0	3
111 to 115	0	5
116 to 120	0	14
121 to 125	0	6
126 to 130	1	4
131 to 135	0	1
136 to 140	1	4
141 to 145	1	1
146 to 150	0	4
151 to 155	0	3
156 to 160	0	13
161 to 165	5	14
166 to 170	1	12
171 to 175	0	3
176 to 180	1	18
181 to 185	2	15
186 to 190	0	1
191 to 195	0	11
196 to 200	0	4
201 to 205	0	1
206 to 210	5	7
211 to 215	1	0
216 to 220	6	3
221 to 225	0	1
226 to 230	2	19

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, 13 are women's.

52 lines from women, 353 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

12 women and 47 men in the cast. 5 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 33 of 468. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 78 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 13% of the words (381), men 87% (2,544).

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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 16 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Antoine Fuqua (man)
Written by: Katrin Benedikt (woman), Creighton Rothenberger (man)
Produced by: Gerard Butler (man), Ed Cathell III (gender not listed), Mark Gill (man), Antoine Fuqua (man), Danny Lerner (man), Alan Siegel (man)
Shot by: Conrad W. Hall (man)
Edited by: John Refoua (man)
Music by: Trevor Morris (man)
Production design by: Derek R. Hill (man)
Costumes by: Doug Hall (man)
Cast by: Cathy Sandrich Gelfond (woman), Amanda Mackey (woman)