Does it pass? bechdel.io

Fails the Bechdel test

Only the Brave

2017. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, written by Sean Flynn and Ken Nolan and Eric Warren Singer.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    14 women characters. 5 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    Women do talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

Poster for Only the Brave

The film

In 2007 Prescott, Arizona, Eric Marsh of the Prescott Fire Department is frustrated fighting forest fires when the Type 1 or "Hotshot" front line forest fire fighting crews from afar overrule his operational suggestions to his area's sorrow. To change that, Marsh gets approval from the Mayor to attempt to organize an unprecedented certified municipal-based Hotshot crew for Prescott. To that end, Marsh needs new recruits, which includes the young wastrel, Brendan McDonough, to undergo the rigorous training and qualification testing for the most dangerous of fire fighting duty. Along the way, the new team meets the challenge and the hailed Granite Mountain Hotshots are born. In doing so, all the men, especially McDonough, are changed as new experience and maturity is achieved in fire-forged camaraderie. All this is put to the test in 2013 with the notorious Yarnell Hill Fire that will demand efforts and sacrifices no one can ignore.

Released
20 Oct 2017
Genres
Action, Biography, Drama
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
7.6 / 10
Metascore
72 / 100
Awards
3 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Marsh 243 lines, man
  2. Brendan 120 lines, man
  3. Steed 86 lines, man
  4. Amanda 48 lines, woman
  5. Caldwell 23 lines
  6. Ashcraft 20 lines, man
  7. Steinbrink 20 lines, man
  8. Mckee 18 lines, man
  9. Carter 17 lines, man
  10. Incident Commander 16 lines, man
Full cast, 61 people
  • Josh Brolin as Eric Marsh
  • Miles Teller as Brendan 'Donut' McDonough
  • Jeff Bridges as Duane Steinbrink
  • Jennifer Connelly as Amanda Marsh
  • James Badge Dale as Jesse Steed
  • Taylor Kitsch as Christopher MacKenzie
  • Alex Russell as Andrew Ashcraft
  • Andie MacDowell as Marvel Steinbrink
  • Geoff Stults as Travis Turbyfill
  • Thad Luckinbill as Scott Norris
  • Ben Hardy as Wade Parker
  • Scott Haze as Clayton Whitted
  • Jake Picking as Anthony Rose
  • Scott Foxx as Travis Carter
  • Dylan Kenin as Robert Caldwell
  • Ryan Michael Busch as Dustin DeFord
  • Kenneth Miller as Sean Misner
  • Ryan Jason Cook as William Warneke
  • Brandon Bunch as Garret Zuppiger
  • Michael L. McNulty as Kevin Woyjeck
  • Nicholas Jenks as John Percin Jr.
  • Sam Quinn as Grant McKee
  • Natalie Hall as Natalie Johnson
  • Howard Ferguson Jr. as Brian Ferguson
  • Rachel Singer as Brendan's Mom
  • Ralph Alderman as Evaluator Hayes
  • Jenny Gabrielle as Desiree Steed
  • Brytnee Ratledge as Juliann Ashcraft
  • Pell James as Claire Caldwell
  • Lora Martinez-Cunningham as Dr. Ochoa
  • Jade Kammerman as Stephanie Turbyfill
  • Raleigh Cain as Nurse Nora
  • Matt Nolan as Medic in Helicopter
  • Lulu Jovovich as Kristi Whitted (uncredited)
  • Matthew Van Wettering as Joe Thurston
  • Forrest Fyre as Mayor Worthington
  • Josh Hopkins as California Hot Shot Supervisor
  • Nicholas Liam King as Caden Steed
  • Orion Pontes as Cambria Steed
  • Barbie Robertson as Marsena Thurston
  • Staci Robbins as Hot Shot Mom #1
  • Lauren Chavez-Myers as Nurse #1
  • Michael Menchel as Old Bald Man
  • Kevin Wiggins as Yarnell Commander
  • John Trejo as Chiricahua IC
  • Travis Armstrong as Deputy Sturgill Banks
  • Austin Dennis as Dusty
  • Jermaine Washington as Bouncer #1
  • Keith Jardine as Bouncer #2
  • Andres Segura as Male Nurse
  • Casey Messer as Local Hottie #1
  • Sarah Minnich as Local Hottie #2
  • Duane Steinbrink as Rusty Pistols #1
  • Donn Pease as Rusty Pistols #2
  • Jim Dunham as Rusty Pistols #3
  • Bob Wood as Rusty Pistols #4
  • Jesus Cris Acosta as Wildland Firefighter (uncredited)
  • Paul Adkins as Yavapai County Sheriff's Deputy (uncredited)
  • Nathan V. Baker as Mourning Family Member (uncredited)
  • Jack Jackson as Hotshot Firefighter (uncredited)
  • Michael Love Toliver as Wildland Fire Fighter (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 7 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 298

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 701
8 to 1403
15 to 2107
22 to 28011
29 to 35133
36 to 422430
43 to 49413
50 to 561218
57 to 63020
64 to 70039
71 to 77026
78 to 84030
85 to 91050
92 to 98115
99 to 10518
106 to 11207
113 to 11904
120 to 126013
127 to 13375
134 to 140010
141 to 147033
148 to 154030
155 to 16132
162 to 16829
169 to 1751221
176 to 18239
183 to 18935
190 to 19648
197 to 203513
204 to 210012
211 to 217710
218 to 224510
225 to 231010
232 to 238026
239 to 245013
246 to 252012
253 to 259025
260 to 266011
267 to 27303
274 to 28009
281 to 28723
288 to 29402
295 to 29800

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.

96 lines from women, 619 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

14 women and 32 men in the cast. 5 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 89 of 832. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 213 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 11% of the words (783), men 89% (6,277). Women have 13% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 18 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Joseph Kosinski (man)
Written by
Ken Nolan (man), Eric Warren Singer (man)
Produced by
Lorenzo di Bonaventura (man), Molly Smith (woman), Michael Menchel (gender not listed), Dawn Ostroff (gender not listed), Thad Luckinbill (man), Jeremy Steckler (gender not listed) and 2 more
Shot by
Claudio Miranda (man)
Edited by
Billy Fox (man)
Music by
Joseph Trapanese (man)
Production design by
Kevin Kavanaugh (man)
Costumes by
Louise Mingenbach (woman)
Cast by
Jo Edna Boldin (woman), Ronna Kress (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    6 women, 17 men, 12 not listed

  • Production

    11 women, 6 men, 16 not listed

  • Camera

    1 women, 12 men, 7 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 5 men, 12 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 3 men, 11 not listed

  • Sound

    3 women, 14 men, 1 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    2 women, 4 men, 5 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 3 men, 5 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 53 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Jennifer Connelly 46, Andie MacDowell 59

Men

Alex Russell 29, Miles Teller 30, Taylor Kitsch 36, James Badge Dale 39, Geoff Stults 39, Thad Luckinbill 42, Josh Brolin 49, Jeff Bridges 67

Exhibit G: the money

It made 68% of what it cost.

Budget
$38 million
Box office
$25.8 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 298 scenes and 832 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf