Passes the Bechdel test
Starship Troopers
1997. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Edward Neumeier and Robert A. Heinlein.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
19 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 162. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In a not-so-distant future, with the Earth governed by the militaristic United Citizen Federation and multitudes of highly evolved Klendathu Arachnids threatening the safety of our solar system, high-school athlete Johnny Rico and three of his hometown friends join up to do their part. And to ensure humankind's future, an all-out invasion has begun; however, in this far-off exoplanet hostile to life as we know it, brute force alone and conventional strategies won't cut it. Now, the unstoppable Bug Army is at the gates. Will Rico and his fellow Starship Troopers end up serving as cannon fodder?
- Released
- 07 Nov 1997
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 16 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Johnny 286 lines, man
- Carmen 141 lines, woman
- Rasczak 76 lines, man
- Zander 67 lines, man
- Dizzy 64 lines, woman
- Ace 50 lines, man
- Zim 43 lines, man
- Carl 37 lines, man
- Official Voice 27 lines
- Deladier 22 lines, woman
Full cast, 90 people
- Casper Van Dien as Johnny D. Rico
- Dina Meyer as Dizzy Flores
- Denise Richards as Carmen Ibañez
- Jake Busey as Private Ace Levy
- Neil Patrick Harris as Colonel Carl Jenkins
- Clancy Brown as Career Sergeant Zim
- Michael Ironside as Lieutenant Jean Rasczak
- Patrick Muldoon as Zander Barcalow
- Seth Gilliam as Private Sugar Watkins
- Rue McClanahan as Biology Teacher
- Blake Lindsley as Katrina McIntire
- Steven Ford as Lieutenant Willy
- Ungela Brockman as Corporal Birdie
- Bruce Gray as Sky Marshal Dienes
- Denise Dowse as Sky Marshal Tehat Meru
- Amy Smart as Cadet Lumbreiser
- Tami-Adrian George as Djana'D
- Julianna McCarthy as Expert
- Dale Dye as General
- Dean Norris as Commanding Officer
- Marshall Bell as General Owen
- Eric Bruskotter as Breckinridge
- Matt Levin as Kitten Smith
- Anthony Ruivivar as Shujimi
- Brenda Strong as Captain Deladier
- Christopher Curry as Mr. Bill Rico
- Lenore Kasdorf as Mrs. Rico
- Teo as Corporal Bronski
- Curnal Achilles Aulisio as Sgt. Gillespie
- Greg Travis as Net Correspondent
- John Cunningham as Fed Net Announcer (voice)
- Timothy McNeil as Expert
- Robert David Hall as Recruiting Sergeant
- Brad Caleb Kane as Lanny
- Timothy Omundson as Psychic
- Patrick Bishop as Engineering Officer
- Hunter Bodine as Young Cap Trooper
- Travis Lowen as Little Boy Trooper
- Patrick Wolff as Late Cadet
- Mara Duronslet as Communications Officer
- Tyrone Tann as Student
- Matt Entriken as Marco
- Eric DaRe as Medic
- Ronald L. Botchan as Jumpball Referee
- Walter Adrian as Judge
- Stephanie Erb as Young Mother
- Alexi Lakatos as Stomping Kid
- Nathaniel Marshall as Stomping Kid
- Austin Sanderford as Stomping Kid
- Rhiannon Vigil as Stomping Kid
- Mylin Brooks as Female Trooper
- Julie Pinson as Female Trooper
- Armand Darrius as Male Trooper
- Kai Lennox as Male Trooper
- Brooke Morales as Cheerleader
- Mike Stokey as Officer with Morita
- Mary Ann Schmidt as Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Aaron Stielstra as Trooper (uncredited)
- Edward Neumeier as Defendant (uncredited)
- Michael Papajohn as Dead Trooper (uncredited)
- Michael A. Valenzano as Trooper (uncredited)
- Mo Faisal as Trooper (uncredited)
- R. Lee Ermey as Voice heard on speaker (voice) (uncredited)
- Matt Duggan as Wounded Soldier on Gurney (uncredited)
- Whitney Hall as Judge (uncredited)
- Betty Hankins as Sky Marshal (uncredited)
- Kaius Harrison as Cpl. Allen (uncredited)
- Bruce Holman as Jump Ball Referee (uncredited)
- Michael Gerald as Football Quarterback (uncredited)
- Jon Davison as Buenos Aires Survivor (uncredited)
- Dawn E. Anderson as Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Tony Nichols as Cadet 'Flipper' (uncredited)
- Dan Olivo as Academy Soilder (uncredited)
- Zoë Poledouris as School Prom Lead Singer (uncredited)
- Ashley Prendergast as Hot Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Ray Quiroga as Male Trooper Leader (uncredited)
- David Rey as Trooper (uncredited)
- Dennis Collins as Soldier (uncredited)
- Farnaz Samiinia as Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Joleen Sanders as Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Julia Self as Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Claude Stuart as Student / Male Trooper (uncredited)
- Parry Shen as Student (uncredited)
- Cari Vega as Student / Female Trooper (uncredited)
- Jim Temple as Male Trooper (uncredited)
- Justin Ward as Medic (uncredited)
- Sam P. Whitehead as Trooper (uncredited)
- Melissa J. Ward as Trooper (uncredited)
- Johnny Mansbach as Marine (uncredited)
- David Beckett as Businessman (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 162
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 | 3 | 26 |
| 5 to 8 | 23 | 23 |
| 9 to 12 | 2 | 26 |
| 13 to 16 | 3 | 3 |
| 17 to 20 | 6 | 7 |
| 21 to 24 | 15 | 26 |
| 25 to 28 | 14 | 24 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 9 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 6 |
| 37 to 40 | 7 | 21 |
| 41 to 44 | 12 | 37 |
| 45 to 48 | 8 | 22 |
| 49 to 52 | 7 | 25 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 3 |
| 57 to 60 | 16 | 9 |
| 61 to 64 | 5 | 11 |
| 65 to 68 | 8 | 33 |
| 69 to 72 | 12 | 18 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 80 | 16 | 15 |
| 81 to 84 | 3 | 18 |
| 85 to 88 | 14 | 38 |
| 89 to 92 | 3 | 3 |
| 93 to 96 | 2 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 7 | 19 |
| 101 to 104 | 11 | 10 |
| 105 to 108 | 7 | 18 |
| 109 to 112 | 6 | 31 |
| 113 to 116 | 5 | 19 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 10 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 9 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 21 |
| 129 to 132 | 8 | 35 |
| 133 to 136 | 14 | 27 |
| 137 to 140 | 2 | 16 |
| 141 to 144 | 7 | 0 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 3 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 1 |
| 153 to 156 | 2 | 26 |
| 157 to 160 | 11 | 24 |
| 161 to 162 | 2 | 6 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
KATRINA: Improper Attitude ! They'll kick you out for talking like that... DJANA'D: They can kick you out for anything. Improper Conduct, Unsatisfactory Performance...
KATRINA: Hey, what's going on ? DIZZY: I bet it's that girl I was talking about... Her name's Carmen, I think.
CARMEN: Pilot Trainee Ibanez reporting for duty, ma'am. DELADIER: Take the number one chair, Ibanez. Follow all instructions of you supervisor. CARMEN: Yes, ma'am ! CARMEN: Hey ! What are you doing here ?
DELADIER: Prepare for departure. CARMEN: It's amazing, us running into each other like this. Maybe it's fate.
DELADIER: Alright, take her out, Ibanez. CARMEN: Yes, ma'am. CARMEN: In simulation, my supervisors could never keep up.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 29 are women's.
275 lines from women, 679 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
19 women and 46 men in the cast. 8 women and 26 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 24 of 1,031.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (2,533), men 73% (6,942). Women have 29% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
19
Two men
91
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Paul Verhoeven (man)
- Written by
- Edward Neumeier (man)
- From the novel by
- Robert A. Heinlein (man)
- Produced by
- Jon Davison (man), Alan Marshall (man)
- Shot by
- Jost Vacano (man)
- Edited by
- Caroline Ross (woman), Mark Goldblatt (man)
- Music by
- Basil Poledouris (man)
- Production design by
- Allan Cameron (man)
- Costumes by
- Ellen Mirojnick (woman)
- Cast by
- Johanna Ray (woman), Elaine J. Huzzar (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
4 women, 29 men, 110 not listed
-
Other crew
9 women, 43 men, 41 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 27 men, 17 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 14 men, 28 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 18 men, 21 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 10 men, 17 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 10 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Denise Richards 26, Dina Meyer 28, Rue McClanahan 63
Men
Neil Patrick Harris 24, Jake Busey 26, Casper Van Dien 28, Patrick Muldoon 29, Seth Gilliam 29, Clancy Brown 38, Michael Ironside 47
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $105 million
- Box office
- $121 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 162 scenes and 1,031 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
