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Passes the Bechdel test

Tango & Cash

1989. Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky and Peter MacDonald and Albert Magnoli, written by Randy Feldman.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    9 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 126.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

Poster for Tango & Cash

The film

Intense professional rivalry prolongs the instinctive antipathy between the impeccably dressed BHPD Lieutenant Ray Tango and his impulsive polar opposite, LAPD Lieutenant Gabe Cash. And as they get in each other's way, Yves Perret, a ruthless international drug lord, plans his next move. But instead of bringing down their arch-nemesis, falsified evidence condemns the crime fighters to rot in a maximum-security prison. As their former enemies, hardened criminals incarcerated by them, ache to get their sweet revenge on their captors, Tango and Cash must put their differences aside to survive imprisonment and clear their names. But good plans are hard to come by. Can the mismatched partners learn how to work together and get even with the brutal crime baron?

Released
22 Dec 1989
Genres
Action, Comedy, Crime
Rated
R
IMDb
6.4 / 10
Metascore
41 / 100
Awards
2 wins & 3 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Cash 215 lines, man
  2. Tango 167 lines, man
  3. Kiki 48 lines, woman
  4. Owen 22 lines, man
  5. Nolan 21 lines, man
  6. Sokowski 16 lines, man
  7. Shroeder 15 lines, man
  8. Perret 14 lines, man
  9. Judge 12 lines
  10. Prosecutor 12 lines, woman
Full cast, 76 people
  • Sylvester Stallone as Raymond 'Ray' Tango
  • Kurt Russell as Gabriel 'Gabe' Cash
  • Teri Hatcher as Katherine 'Kiki' Tango
  • Jack Palance as Yves Perret
  • Brion James as Requin
  • James Hong as Quan
  • Marc Alaimo as Lopez
  • Philip Tan as Chinese Gunman
  • Michael J. Pollard as Owen
  • Robert Z'Dar as Face
  • Lewis Arquette as Wyler
  • Edward Bunker as Capt. Holmes
  • Leslie Morris as Hendricks
  • Roy Brocksmith as Fed. Agent Davis
  • Susan Krebs as Prosecutor
  • David Byrd as Judge McCormick
  • Richard Fancy as Nolan
  • Jerry Martinez as Santos
  • Michael Jeter as Skinner
  • Bing Russell as Van Driver
  • Alphonse Walter as Station Cop
  • Peter Stensland as Kagan
  • Phil Rubenstein as Assistant Warden Matt Sokowski
  • Elizabeth Sung as Interpreter
  • Clint Howard as Slinky
  • Ed DeFusco as Federal Agent
  • Jack Goode Jr. as Federal Agent
  • Geoff Vanderstock as Federal Agent
  • Larry Humburger as Federal Agent
  • Mark Wood as Desk Cop
  • Andre Rosey Brown as Cash's Cellmate
  • Savely Kramarov as Car Owner
  • Michael Francis Clarke as Reporter
  • Anne Cooper as Reporter
  • Tammy Richardson as Reporter
  • Patti Davis as Reporter
  • Richard L. Duran as Prisoner
  • Doug Ford as Prisoner
  • Kenneth Pruitt as Prisoner
  • Ronald Moss as Prisoner
  • Rick Dominguez as Prisoner
  • Kristen Dalton as Lynn
  • Tamara Landry as Girl in Bar
  • Anna Joyner as Girl in Bar
  • Melissa Bremner as Dance Double
  • Christie Mucciante as Dressing Room Girl
  • Lucia Neal as Dressing Room Girl
  • Roxanne Kernohan as Dressing Room Girl
  • Dori Courtney as Dressing Room Girl
  • Dale Swann as Captain
  • John Walter Davis as Slobber
  • Adolfo Quinones as Dancer
  • David Lea as Sonny
  • Glenn Morshower as Co-Worker
  • Salvador Espinoza as Weasel
  • Christopher Wolf as State Trooper
  • Larry White as Cop
  • Richard J. Larson as Detective
  • Fred Trombley as Detective
  • Matt Tufo as Detective
  • David Phillips as Inmate
  • Lewis Guido as Inmate
  • James Reilley as Inmate
  • Gilbert Esparza as Inmate
  • Martin Valinsky as Bailiff
  • Donald Zinn as Guard
  • Duane Allen as Guard
  • Robert David Armstrong as Club Doorman
  • Philip Weyland as Customer
  • Ron Cummins as Customer
  • Benny Urquidez as Thug (uncredited)
  • Billy Blanks as Prison Thug (uncredited)
  • Geoffrey Lewis as Captain Schroeder (uncredited)
  • Michael Lent as Dead Lopez (uncredited)
  • Roberto Rodriquez as Detective
  • George Sasaki as Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 126

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 309
4 to 6037
7 to 903
10 to 1206
13 to 15021
16 to 1808
19 to 2100
22 to 2400
25 to 2700
28 to 3000
31 to 33016
34 to 36016
37 to 391243
40 to 42144
43 to 4529
46 to 4800
49 to 51015
52 to 54027
55 to 5706
58 to 60029
61 to 63013
64 to 66013
67 to 6900
70 to 7206
73 to 7500
76 to 78013
79 to 8107
82 to 84021
85 to 8707
88 to 90033
91 to 931213
94 to 9647
97 to 992034
100 to 1021229
103 to 10507
106 to 108061
109 to 111016
112 to 11403
115 to 11700
118 to 12005
121 to 12300
124 to 12601

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
INTERPRETER: No. PROSECUTOR: No further questions.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 10 are women's.

63 lines from women, 578 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 42 men in the cast. 3 women and 22 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 148 of 691. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 215 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 9% of the words (531), men 91% (5,118). Women have 10% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

None of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 5% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Andrei Konchalovsky (man)
Written by
Randy Feldman (man)
Produced by
Jon Peters (man), Peter Guber (man), Christine Forsyth-Peters (gender not listed)
Shot by
Donald E. Thorin (man)
Edited by
Hubert de La Bouillerie (man), Robert A. Ferretti (man)
Music by
Harold Faltermeyer (man)
Production design by
J. Michael Riva (man)
Costumes by
Bernie Pollack (man)
Cast by
Glenn Daniels (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    3 women, 46 men, 8 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 8 men, 7 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 6 men, 4 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 8 men, 4 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 7 men, 4 not listed

  • Lighting

    0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 25 on average. Men: 47 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Teri Hatcher 25

Men

Philip Tan 29, Kurt Russell 38, Robert Z'Dar 39, Sylvester Stallone 43, Brion James 44, Marc Alaimo 47, Michael J. Pollard 50, James Hong 60, Jack Palance 70

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.2 times what it cost.

Budget
$55 million
Box office
$63.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 126 scenes and 691 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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