Fails the Bechdel test
Predator
1987. Directed by John McTiernan, written by Jim Thomas and John Thomas.
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
A team of special force ops, led by a tough but fair soldier, Major "Dutch" Schaefer, are ordered to assist CIA man, Colonel Al Dillon, on a rescue mission for potential survivors of a Helicopter downed over remote South American jungle. Not long after they land, Dutch and his team discover that they have been sent in under false pretenses. This deception turns out to be the least of their worries though, when they find themselves being methodically hunted by something not of this world.
- Released
- 12 Jun 1987
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 47 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Schaefer 109 lines, man
- Dillon 64 lines, man
- Mac 30 lines, man
- Ramirez 29 lines, man
- Billy 16 lines, man
- Anna 11 lines, woman
- Philips 11 lines, man
- Blain 9 lines, man
- Hawkins 8 lines, man
- Hunter 5 lines, man
Full cast, 17 people
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer
- Carl Weathers as Al Dillon
- Kevin Peter Hall as The Predator / Helicopter Pilot
- Elpidia Carrillo as Anna Gonsalves
- Bill Duke as Mac Eliot
- Jesse Ventura as Blain Cooper
- Sonny Landham as Billy Sole
- Richard Chaves as Jorge 'Poncho' Ramirez
- R.G. Armstrong as Major General Homer Phillips
- Shane Black as Rick Hawkins
- Peter Cullen as Predator (voice) (uncredited)
- Steve Boyum as Hostage Executed by the Russian (uncredited)
- William H. Burton Jr. as Guerilla Soldier Shot Down from Tree (uncredited)
- Henry Kingi as Guerilla Soldier Blown Up in Van (uncredited)
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Russian Officer (uncredited)
- Jack Verbois as Guerilla Soldier Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
- Franco Columbu as Medic (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 161
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 | 32 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 10 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 18 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 16 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 6 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 9 |
| 49 to 52 | 2 | 41 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 5 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 4 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 8 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 1 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 16 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 15 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 5 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 23 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 32 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 17 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 6 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 1 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 2 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 2 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 2 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 0 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 2 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 2 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 1 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 2 |
| 157 to 160 | 1 | 2 |
| 161 to 161 | 0 | 0 |
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, 4 are women's.
11 lines from women, 291 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
1 women and 16 men in the cast. 1 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 136 of 306.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 135 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 (140), men 96% (3,061).
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
40
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 7% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John McTiernan (man)
- Written by
- Jim Thomas (man), John Thomas (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man), Lawrence Gordon (man), John Davis (man)
- Shot by
- Donald McAlpine (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Helfrich (man), John F. Link (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Production design by
- John Vallone (man)
- Costumes by
- Marilyn Vance (woman)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 30 men, 21 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 13 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Elpidia Carrillo 25
Men
Shane Black 25, Kevin Peter Hall 32, Jesse Ventura 35, Richard Chaves 35, Arnold Schwarzenegger 39, Carl Weathers 39, Bill Duke 44, Sonny Landham 46, R.G. Armstrong 70
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $98.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 161 scenes and 306 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
