Fails the Bechdel test
Speed
1994. Directed by Jan de Bont, written by Graham Yost.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
21 women characters. 4 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
A retired Atlanta Police Department bomb squad explosives expert, named Howard Payne, attempts to extort money by threatening to kill some people, trapped in a Los Angeles Skyscraper's elevator, with explosives. The city is about to give in when rookie Los Angeles Police Department (L.A.P.D.), Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) officer Jack Traven stops him. Jack and his partner, Detective Harry Temple find Payne and corner him, but he blows himself up instead of surrendering. He is believed to be dead but has actually escaped and again attempts to extort money from the city. This time, he has placed a bomb on a bus that will arm itself once it reaches 50 mph and will explode if it drops below that speed. Payne dares Jack to stop him and tells the whereabouts of where the bus will soon be and the rules of his twisted game. If Jack or the L.A.P.D. attempt and unload any passengers off the bus, Payne will detonate it. Jack attempts to stop the bus before the bomb is armed but it's too late; all he can do now is to keep it going. With Harry attempting to find Payne and Jack running out of freeway and gas - this is one bus ride no one wants to miss.
- Released
- 10 Jun 1994
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 78 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 21 wins & 20 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jack 271 lines, man
- Annie 105 lines, woman
- Harry 74 lines, man
- Mcmahon 64 lines, man
- Fisk 56 lines, man
- Ortiz 21 lines, man
- Stephens 21 lines, man
- Norwood 17 lines, man
- Helen 15 lines, woman
- Ray 14 lines, man
Full cast, 59 people
- Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven
- Dennis Hopper as Howard Payne
- Sandra Bullock as Annie
- Joe Morton as Capt. McMahon
- Jeff Daniels as Harry
- Alan Ruck as Stephens
- Glenn Plummer as Jaguar Owner
- Richard Lineback as Norwood
- Beth Grant as Helen
- Hawthorne James as Sam
- Carlos Carrasco as Ortiz
- David Kriegel as Terry
- Natsuko Ohama as Mrs. Kamino
- Daniel Villarreal as Ray
- Simone Gad as Bus Passenger #1
- Loretta Jean as Bus Passenger #2
- Sherri Villanueva as Bus Passenger #3
- Margaret Medina as Robin
- Jordan Lund as Bagwell
- Robert Mailhouse as Young Executive
- Patrick Fischler as Friend of Executive
- Patrick John Hurley as CEO
- Susan Barnes as Female Executive
- Rick Dano as Swat Driver
- Michael Sottile as Swat Cop
- Jane Crawley as Baby Carriage Woman
- Anne O'Sullivan as Baby Carriage Woman
- Beau Starr as Commissioner
- John Capodice as Bob
- Thomas Rosales Jr. as Vince
- James DuMont as Workman
- Antonio Mora as News Anchor #1
- Patty Toy as News Anchor #2
- Todd Gordon as News Cameraman
- Bruce Wright as Reporter #1
- Mark Kriski as Reporter #2
- Dagny Hultgreen as Reporter #3
- Richard Schiff as Train Driver
- Joseph Carberry as Cop
- Sandy Martin as Bartender
- Neisha Folkes-LeMelle as Mrs. McMahon
- Jim Mapp as Additional Bus Passenger
- Milton Quon as Additional Bus Passenger
- Sonia Jackson as Additional Bus Passenger
- Carmen Williams as Additional Bus Passenger
- Paula Montes as Additional Bus Passenger
- Loyda Ramos as Additional Bus Passenger
- Julia Vera as Additional Bus Passenger
- Marylou Lim as Additional Bus Passenger
- Brian K. Grant as Elevator Passenger
- Barry Kramer as Elevator Passenger
- Robin McKee as Elevator Passenger
- Paige Goodman as Elevator Passenger
- Christina Fitzgerald as Elevator Passenger
- Tara Thomas as Elevator Passenger
- Cece Tsou as Elevator Passenger
- Michael N. Fujimoto as Elevator Passenger
- Richard Gelb as Elevator Passenger
- Scott Wilder as SWAT Officer #1 on Flatbed Truck (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 167
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 | 2 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 49 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 5 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 6 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 3 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 14 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 6 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 20 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 to 48 | 1 | 21 |
| 49 to 52 | 13 | 27 |
| 53 to 56 | 9 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 4 | 21 |
| 61 to 64 | 14 | 45 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 5 | 26 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 3 |
| 77 to 80 | 5 | 3 |
| 81 to 84 | 1 | 3 |
| 85 to 88 | 7 | 13 |
| 89 to 92 | 6 | 14 |
| 93 to 96 | 13 | 65 |
| 97 to 100 | 3 | 16 |
| 101 to 104 | 3 | 17 |
| 105 to 108 | 8 | 49 |
| 109 to 112 | 6 | 37 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 4 |
| 117 to 120 | 8 | 15 |
| 121 to 124 | 4 | 6 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 15 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 5 |
| 133 to 136 | 3 | 5 |
| 137 to 140 | 4 | 11 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 3 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 24 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 1 |
| 157 to 160 | 2 | 11 |
| 161 to 164 | 6 | 5 |
| 165 to 167 | 5 | 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, 19 are women's.
136 lines from women, 585 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
21 women and 31 men in the cast. 4 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 126 of 735.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 125 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 15% of the words (928), men 85% (5,161). Women have 19% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
3
Two men
61
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jan de Bont (man)
- Written by
- Graham Yost (man), Joss Whedon (man)
- Produced by
- Mark Gordon (man)
- Shot by
- Andrzej Bartkowiak (man)
- Edited by
- John Wright (man)
- Music by
- Mark Mancina (man)
- Production design by
- Jackson De Govia (man)
- Costumes by
- Ellen Mirojnick (woman)
- Cast by
- Risa Bramon Garcia (woman), Billy Hopkins (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 35 men, 15 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 22 men, 19 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 6 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 7 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 4 men
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sandra Bullock 29, Beth Grant 44
Men
Keanu Reeves 29, Glenn Plummer 32, Alan Ruck 37, Jeff Daniels 39, Richard Lineback 42, Joe Morton 46, Dennis Hopper 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 11.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $30 million
- Box office
- $350 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 167 scenes and 735 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
