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Fails the Bechdel test

Sharky's Machine

1981. Directed by Burt Reynolds, written by William Diehl and Gerald Di Pego.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    7 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

Poster for Sharky's Machine

The film

Tom Sharky is a narcotics cop in Atlanta who's demoted to vice after a botched bust. In the depths of this lowly division, while investigating a high-dollar prostitution ring, Sharky stumbles across a mob murder with government ties, and responds by assembling his downtrodden fellow investigators (Sharky's "machine") to find the leaders and bring them to justice before they kill off all his partners and witnesses, including Sharky himself.

Released
18 Dec 1981
Genres
Action, Crime, Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
6.3 / 10
Metascore
58 / 100
Awards
1 nomination total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Sharky 264 lines, man
  2. Arch 63 lines, man
  3. Nosh 60 lines, man
  4. Friscoe 58 lines, man
  5. Dominoe 50 lines
  6. Victor 45 lines, man
  7. Hotchkins 39 lines, man
  8. Papa 37 lines, man
  9. Smiley 21 lines, man
  10. D0min0e 15 lines
Full cast, 25 people
  • Burt Reynolds as Tom Sharky
  • Rachel Ward as Domino
  • Henry Silva as Billy Score
  • Brian Keith as Papa
  • Vittorio Gassman as Victor Scorelli
  • Charles Durning as Lt. Friscoe
  • Earl Holliman as Donald Hotchkins
  • Bernie Casey as Arch
  • Richard Libertini as Nosh
  • Darryl Hickman as Smiley
  • Joseph Mascolo as Joe Tipps
  • Tony King as Kitten Holmes
  • John Fiedler as Barrett
  • Carol Locatell as Mabel
  • Suzee Pai as Siakwan
  • Glynn Rubin as Pregnant Woman
  • Val Avery as Manny
  • Aarika Wells as Tiffany
  • Princess O'Mahoney as Hooker (uncredited)
  • Hari Rhodes
  • James O'Connell
  • Tony King
  • Weaver Levy
  • Bennie Moore
  • Alveda King

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 21% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 120

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 300
4 to 6730
7 to 901
10 to 12028
13 to 15021
16 to 18015
19 to 211371
22 to 24348
25 to 27010
28 to 30914
31 to 33026
34 to 3627
37 to 3904
40 to 42017
43 to 4505
46 to 4801
49 to 5102
52 to 54015
55 to 57025
58 to 6001
61 to 63145
64 to 66010
67 to 69023
70 to 72044
73 to 75041
76 to 78010
79 to 81014
82 to 8400
85 to 87017
88 to 9002
91 to 93039
94 to 9607
97 to 9900
100 to 10209
103 to 105031
106 to 108028
109 to 11100
112 to 11403
115 to 11701
118 to 12000

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.

35 lines from women, 665 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 17 men in the cast. 4 women and 16 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 884. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 397 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 5% of the words (353), men 95% (6,461).

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

None of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Burt Reynolds (man)
Written by
Gerald Di Pego (man)
From the novel by
William Diehl (man)
Produced by
Hank Moonjean (man)
Shot by
William A. Fraker (man)
Edited by
William D. Gordean (man), Dennis Virkler (man)
Music by
Al Capps (man)
Production design by
Walter Scott Herndon (gender not listed)
Costumes by
Norman Salling (man)
Cast by
Terry Liebling (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 2 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    0 women, 1 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 24 on average. Men: 52 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Rachel Ward 24

Men

Bernie Casey 42, Burt Reynolds 45, Richard Libertini 48, Darryl Hickman 50, Earl Holliman 53, Henry Silva 55, Charles Durning 58, Vittorio Gassman 59, Brian Keith 60

Exhibit G: the money

It made 2.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$17.5 million
Box office
$35.6 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 120 scenes and 884 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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