Fails the Bechdel test
Platoon
1986. Directed by Oliver Stone, written by Oliver Stone.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon.
- Released
- 19 Dec 1986
- Genres
- Drama, War
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 92 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 24 wins & 21 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Chris 117 lines, man
- Barnes 69 lines, man
- Elias 66 lines, man
- Rhah 57 lines, man
- King 56 lines, man
- O'Neill 32 lines, man
- Bunny 29 lines, man
- Wolfe 28 lines, man
- Junior 27 lines, man
- Francis 26 lines, man
Full cast, 44 people
- Charlie Sheen as Chris Taylor
- Willem Dafoe as Sergeant Elias Grodin
- Tom Berenger as Sergeant Robert 'Bob' Barnes
- Kevin Dillon as Bunny
- Forest Whitaker as Big Harold
- Mark Moses as Lieutenant Wolfe
- Keith David as King
- Richard Edson as Sal
- Francesco Quinn as Rhah
- John C. McGinley as Sergeant O'Neill
- Johnny Depp as Gator Lerner
- Reggie Johnson as Junior
- David Neidorf as Tex
- Chris Pedersen as Crawford
- Tony Todd as Warren
- Corkey Ford as Manny
- Corey Glover as Francis
- Bob Orwig as Gardner
- Kevin Eshelman as Morehouse
- James Terry McIlvain as Ace
- J. Adam Glover as Sanderson
- Ivan Kane as Tony
- Paul Sanchez as Doc
- Dale Dye as Captain Harris
- Peter Hicks as Parker
- Basile Achara as Flash
- Steve Barredo as Fu Sheng
- Chris Castillejo as Rodriguez
- Andrew B. Clark as Tubbs
- Bernardo Manalili as Village Chief
- Than Rogers as Village Chief's Wife
- Li Thi Van as Village Chief's Daughter
- Clarisa Ortacio as Old Woman
- Romy Sevilla as One-Legged Man
- Matthew Westfall as Terrified Soldier
- Nick Nicholson as Mechanized Soldier #1
- Warren McLean as Mechanized Soldier #2
- Li Mai Thao as Rape Victim
- Ron Barracks as Medic
- H. Gordon Boos as Soldier with Mohawk Haircut (uncredited)
- Robert 'Rock' Galotti as Huffmeister (uncredited)
- Oliver Stone as Alpha Company Major in Bunker (uncredited)
- Brad Cassini as Soldier (uncredited)
- Mark Ebenhoch as Ebenhoch (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 157
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 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 10 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 6 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 38 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 14 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 25 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 6 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 54 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 107 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 4 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 3 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 2 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 6 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 9 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 19 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 34 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 11 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 44 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 17 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 19 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 12 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 17 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 5 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 30 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 0 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 37 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 37 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 26 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 4 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 24 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 12 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 13 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 2 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 9 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 7 |
| 157 to 157 | 0 | 1 |
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, 0 are women's.
0 lines from women, 672 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
0 women and 31 men in the cast. 0 women and 38 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
No woman speaks.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 695 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 0% of the words (0), men 100% (9,299).
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
75
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
- Oliver Stone (man)
- Written by
- Oliver Stone (man)
- Produced by
- Arnold Kopelson (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Richardson (man)
- Edited by
- Claire Simpson (woman)
- Music by
- Georges Delerue (man)
- Production design by
- Bruno Rubeo (man)
- Cast by
- Pat Golden (woman), Warren McLean (man), Bob Morones (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 12 men, 8 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 11 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 6 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
3 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Men: 28 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
Charlie Sheen 21, Kevin Dillon 21, Francesco Quinn 23, Forest Whitaker 25, John C. McGinley 27, Mark Moses 28, Keith David 30, Willem Dafoe 31, Richard Edson 32, Tom Berenger 37
Exhibit G: the money
It made 23.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $6 million
- Box office
- $139 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 157 scenes and 695 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
