Fails the Bechdel test
Soldier
1998. Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, written by David Webb Peoples.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
In a futuristic society, some people are selected at birth to become soldiers, and trained in such a manner that they become inhuman killing machines. One of the most successful and older of these soldiers (Russell) is pitted against a new breed of soldiers, and after the confrontation is believed to be dead. His body is left behind in a semi-abandoned colonial planet, where everything is peaceful, and he is taught about the other aspects of life. But eventually he has to fight the new breed of soldiers again, this time to defend his new home.
- Released
- 23 Oct 1998
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.1 / 10
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sandra 75 lines, woman
- Church 68 lines, man
- Mace 49 lines, man
- Rubrick 48 lines, man
- Sloan 40 lines, woman
- Mekum 38 lines, man
- Slade 26 lines, man
- Todd 26 lines, man
- Jimmy Pig 16 lines, man
- Caine 607 14 lines, man
Full cast, 38 people
- Kurt Russell as Todd 3465
- Jason Scott Lee as Caine 607
- Jason Isaacs as Colonel Mekum
- Connie Nielsen as Sandra
- Sean Pertwee as Mace
- Gary Busey as Church
- Michael Chiklis as Jimmy Pig
- Sara Paxton as Angie
- K.K. Dodds as Sloan
- James Black as Riley
- Mark De Alessandro as Goines
- Vladimir Orlov as Romero
- Corbin Bleu as Johnny
- Wyatt Russell as Todd - Age 11
- Jared Thorne as Nathan
- Mark Bringelson as Rubrick
- Carsten Nørgaard as Green
- Duffy Gaver as Chelsey
- Paul Dillon as Slade
- Khristian Lupo as Soldier (uncredited)
- Michael Finuoli as Soldier in Training (uncredited)
- Dennis Keiffer as Kent 502 (uncredited)
- Brenda Wehle as Hawkins
- Elizabeth Dennehy as Jimmy Pig's Wife
- Ashley Nolan as Judith
- Ellen Crawford as Ilona
- Conni Marie Brazelton as Eva
- Elizabeth Huett as Janice
- Janelle Ginestra as Sarah
- Sydney Berry as Ellen
- Celina Muehlbauer as Little Crossfire Girl
- Laura Gray as Nurse #1
- Chandra De Alessandro as Nurse #2
- Alexander Denk as Military Observer
- Jesse Littlejohn as Will
- Kyle Sullivan as Tommy
- Taylor Thorne as Nathan
- Jesse D. Goins as Chester
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 231
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 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 25 | 1 | 16 |
| 26 to 30 | 0 | 17 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 9 |
| 36 to 40 | 3 | 36 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 55 | 6 | 5 |
| 56 to 60 | 7 | 12 |
| 61 to 65 | 6 | 14 |
| 66 to 70 | 7 | 5 |
| 71 to 75 | 4 | 27 |
| 76 to 80 | 15 | 12 |
| 81 to 85 | 8 | 9 |
| 86 to 90 | 6 | 4 |
| 91 to 95 | 6 | 13 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 101 to 105 | 2 | 4 |
| 106 to 110 | 2 | 5 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 1 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 5 |
| 121 to 125 | 5 | 8 |
| 126 to 130 | 3 | 5 |
| 131 to 135 | 1 | 2 |
| 136 to 140 | 2 | 14 |
| 141 to 145 | 17 | 12 |
| 146 to 150 | 3 | 0 |
| 151 to 155 | 0 | 4 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 0 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 0 |
| 171 to 175 | 0 | 1 |
| 176 to 180 | 0 | 6 |
| 181 to 185 | 1 | 9 |
| 186 to 190 | 5 | 15 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 2 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 3 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 0 |
| 206 to 210 | 12 | 17 |
| 211 to 215 | 6 | 16 |
| 216 to 220 | 5 | 9 |
| 221 to 225 | 3 | 8 |
| 226 to 230 | 3 | 7 |
| 231 to 231 | 0 | 6 |
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, 29 are women's.
139 lines from women, 338 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
12 women and 21 men in the cast. 8 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 497.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 53 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 32% of the words (1,587), men 68% (3,418). Women have 29% 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
4
Two men
51
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul W. S. Anderson (man)
- Written by
- David Webb Peoples (man)
- Produced by
- Jerry Weintraub (man)
- Shot by
- David Tattersall (man)
- Edited by
- Martin Hunter (man)
- Music by
- Joel McNeely (man)
- Production design by
- David L. Snyder (man)
- Costumes by
- Erica Edell Phillips (woman)
- Cast by
- Mindy Marin (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
12 women, 45 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 23 men, 10 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 8 men, 11 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 8 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sara Paxton 10, Connie Nielsen 33, K.K. Dodds 33
Men
Jason Scott Lee 31, Sean Pertwee 34, Jason Isaacs 35, Michael Chiklis 35, James Black 36, Kurt Russell 47, Gary Busey 54
Exhibit G: the money
It made 19% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $75 million
- Box office
- $14.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 231 scenes and 497 lines of dialogue. How the test works
