Fails the Bechdel test
Rocky IV
1985. Directed by Sylvester Stallone, written by Sylvester Stallone.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 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
Rocky Balboa accompanies his friend Apollo Creed to the ring in a boxing match against a Russian Boxer named Ivan Drago. Drago is too strong for Creed, and unfortunately kills him in his match. Balboa blames himself for Creed's death and is determined to defeat Drago in a boxing match. He gains the help of Creed's former manager, Duke and travels to U.S.S.R. to take on Drago.
- Released
- 27 Nov 1985
- Genres
- Drama, Sport
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 40 / 100
- Awards
- 10 wins & 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Rocky 163 lines, man
- Apollo 87 lines, man
- Paulie 52 lines, man
- Adrian 45 lines, woman
- Rimsky 24 lines, man
- Rockyjr 23 lines
- Duke 19 lines, man
- Drago 16 lines, man
- Commentator 7 lines, man
- Commentator 11 7 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
- Sylvester Stallone as Robert "Rocky" Balboa
- Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago
- Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed
- Talia Shire as Adrianna "Adrian" Balboa
- Burt Young as Paulie Pennino
- Brigitte Nielsen as Ludmilla Vobet Drago
- Tony Burton as Tony "Duke" Evers
- Michael Pataki as Nicoli Koloff
- Stu Nahan as Commentator #1
- R.J. Adams as Sports Announcer
- Al Bandiero as American Commentator #2
- Dominic Barto as Russian Government Official
- Danial Brown as Rocky Jr.'s Friend
- James Brown as The Godfather of Soul
- Rose Mary Campos as Maid
- Jack Carpenter as KGB Driver
- Mark De Alessandro as Russian Cornerman
- Marty Denkin as Russian Referee
- Lou Fillipo as Las Vegas Referee
- James 'Cannonball' Green as Manuel Vega
- Dean Hammond as Interviewer
- Rocky Krakoff as Robert "Rocky" Balboa Jr.
- Sergei Levin as Russian Ring Announcer
- Tony Maffatone as KGB Agent
- Sylvia Meals as Mrs. Creed
- Dwayne McGee as Limo Driver
- LeRoy Neiman as Ring Announcer
- George Pipasik as Caretaker
- George Rogan as Igor Rimsky
- Barry Tompkins as American Commentator #1
- Warner Wolf as Commentator #2 in Las Vegas
- Robert Doornick as Sico the Robot (voice)
- Richard Blum as Reporter
- Gerald Berns as Reporter
- Ray Glanzmann as Reporter
- Julie Inouye as Reporter
- Patrick Pankhurst as Reporter
- Jean Thoreau as Reporter
- Jim Bullock as Reporter
- Frank D'Annibale as Reporter
- Rose Dursey as Reporter
- Richard A. Kelley as Reporter
- Craig Schaefer as Reporter
- Jeff Austin as Reporter
- Leslie Morris as Reporter
- Bob Giovane as Reporter
- Julio Herzer as Reporter
- George Spaventa as Reporter
- Rolf Williams as Reporter
- Jim Hodges as Reporter
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 22% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 73
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 | 2 | 32 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 5 to 6 | 8 | 20 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 to 10 | 7 | 37 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 14 | 1 | 49 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 2 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 2 | 65 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 12 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 27 |
| 29 to 30 | 3 | 13 |
| 31 to 32 | 5 | 18 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 to 36 | 10 | 11 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 16 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 17 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 5 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 1 |
| 67 to 68 | 2 | 1 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 6 | 57 |
| 73 to 73 | 1 | 4 |
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, 11 are women's.
51 lines from women, 412 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 24 men in the cast. 2 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 596.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 74 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 12% of the words (797), men 88% (5,653). Women have 11% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
51
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sylvester Stallone (man)
- Written by
- Sylvester Stallone (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Chartoff (man), Irwin Winkler (man)
- Shot by
- Wilmer Butler (man)
- Edited by
- John W. Wheeler (man), Don Zimmerman (man)
- Music by
- Vince DiCola (man)
- Production design by
- Bill Kenney (man)
- Costumes by
- Tom Bronson (man)
- Cast by
- Amanda Mackey (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 12 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 11 men, 8 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Brigitte Nielsen 22, Talia Shire 39
Men
Dolph Lundgren 28, Carl Weathers 37, Sylvester Stallone 39, Burt Young 45, Michael Pataki 47, Tony Burton 48, Stu Nahan 59
Exhibit G: the money
It made 10.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $300 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 73 scenes and 596 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
