Fails the Bechdel test
One Night in Miami...
2021. Directed by Regina King, written by Kemp Powers.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 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 2 out of 3.
The film
Set on the night of February 25, 1964, "One Night in Miami" follows a young, brash Cassius Clay as he emerges from the Miami Beach Convention Center the new Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World. Against all odds, he defeated Sonny Liston and shocked the sports world. While crowds of people swarm Miami Beach to celebrate the match, Clay - unable to stay on the island because of Jim Crow-era segregation laws - spends the evening at the Hampton House Motel in Miami's African American Overtown neighborhood celebrating with three of his closest friends: Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown. During this historic evening, these icons, who each were the very representation of the Pre-Black Power Movement and felt the social pressure their cross-over celebrity brought, shared their thoughts with each other about their responsibilities as influencers, standing up, defending their rights and moving the country forward to equality and empowerment for all black people. The next morning, the four men emerge determined to define a new world for themselves and their community.
- Released
- 08 Jan 2021
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 69 wins & 177 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Malcolm 241 lines, man
- Sam 197 lines, man
- Cassius 195 lines, man
- Jim 116 lines, man
- Betty 30 lines, woman
- Jamaal 26 lines, man
- Angelo 21 lines, man
- Kareem 19 lines, man
- Mr. Carlton 19 lines, man
- Attalah 12 lines
Full cast, 43 people
- Kingsley Ben-Adir as Malcolm X
- Eli Goree as Cassius Clay
- Aldis Hodge as Jim Brown
- Leslie Odom Jr. as Sam Cooke
- Joaquina Kalukango as Betty X
- Nicolette Robinson as Barbara Cooke
- Michael Imperioli as Angelo Dundee
- Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Bundini Brown
- Christian Magby as Jamaal
- Jeremy Pope as Jackie Wilson
- Christopher Gorham as Johnny Carson
- Beau Bridges as Mr. Carlton
- Lance Reddick as Brother Kareem
- Derek Roberts as Jerome X
- Emily Bridges as Emily Carlton
- Amondre D. Jackson as L.C. Cooke
- Jerome A. Wilson as Elijah Muhammad
- Hunter Burke as Jess Rand
- Robert Stevens Wayne as Jules Podell
- Randall Newsome as Myron Cohen
- Matt Fowler as Ronnie
- Chris Game as Ferdie Pacheco
- Alan Wells as Ed McMahon
- Dustin Lewis as Miami Announcer
- John Curran as Wembley Announcer #1
- Mark Allan Stewart as Wembley Announcer #2
- Amar Khalil as Bobby
- Ian Alexander Desdune II as Michael
- Jeremy Anderson as Lamont 3X
- Pierce Lackey as Reporter 1
- Dave Pileggi as Reporter 2
- Ashley LeConte Campbell as Karen
- Kimberly B Brown as Geraldine Liston
- Nola Epps as Attallah Shabazz
- Kipori Woods as Cliff White
- Joshua Nylan Tanner as Boston Ballroom Announcer
- Sean Monaghan as Henry 'The Hammer' Cooper
- Aaron D. Alexander as Sonny Liston
- Jason Ament as Miami Referee
- Nathan Siebring as Wembley Referee
- Kevin Reid as Cameraman
- Cody Johnson as Tristen
- Rachael Knaps as Boxing Match Attendee (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 51
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 2 | 0 | 32 |
| 3 to 4 | 1 | 25 |
| 5 to 6 | 6 | 34 |
| 7 to 8 | 15 | 16 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 31 |
| 11 to 12 | 8 | 19 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 7 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 28 |
| 17 to 18 | 1 | 22 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 6 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 8 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 113 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 22 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 14 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 56 |
| 31 to 32 | 7 | 28 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 13 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 127 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 29 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 104 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 52 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 79 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 9 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 16 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 2 |
| 51 to 51 | 0 | 3 |
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.
47 lines from women, 895 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 33 men in the cast. 4 women and 32 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 54 of 966.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 434 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 4% of the words (425), men 96% (10,988). Women have 5% 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
34
Exhibit E: behind the camera
5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Regina King (woman)
- Written by
- Kemp Powers (man)
- Produced by
- Jessica Wu (woman), Keith Calder (man), Jody Klein (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Tami Reiker (woman)
- Edited by
- Tariq Anwar (man)
- Music by
- Terence Blanchard (man)
- Production design by
- Barry Robison (man), Page Buckner (man)
- Costumes by
- Francine Jamison-Tanchuck (woman)
- Cast by
- Kimberly Hardin (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
8 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 17 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 9 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
3 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 10 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Joaquina Kalukango 31, Nicolette Robinson 32
Men
Eli Goree 26, Jeremy Pope 28, Kingsley Ben-Adir 34, Aldis Hodge 34, Leslie Odom Jr. 39, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. 49, Michael Imperioli 54
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 51 scenes and 966 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
