Fails the Bechdel test
The Crow
1994. Directed by Alex Proyas, written by James O'Barr and David J. Schow and John Shirley.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
A poetic guitarist Eric Draven is brought back to life by a crow a year after he and his fiancée are murdered. The crow guides him through the land of the living, and leads him to his killers: knife thrower Tin-tin, drugetic Funboy, car buff T-Bird, and the unsophisticated Skank. One by one, Eric gives these thugs a taste of their own medicine. However their leader Top-Dollar, a world-class crime lord who will dispatch his enemies with a Japanese sword and joke about it later, will soon learn the legend of the crow and the secret to the vigilante's invincibility.
- Released
- 13 May 1994
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- 5 wins & 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Eric 153 lines, man
- Albrecht 71 lines, man
- Elly 48 lines
- Lao 43 lines, man
- Grange 28 lines, man
- T-Bird 23 lines, man
- Flash 22 lines, man
- Top Dollar 22 lines, man
- Funboy 19 lines, man
- Gideon 18 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- Brandon Lee as Eric
- Rochelle Davis as Sarah
- Ernie Hudson as Albrecht
- Michael Wincott as Top Dollar
- Bai Ling as Myca
- Sofia Shinas as Shelly
- Anna Thomson as Darla
- David Patrick Kelly as T-Bird
- Angel David as Skank
- Laurence Mason as Tin Tin
- Michael Massee as Funboy
- Tony Todd as Grange
- Jon Polito as Gideon
- Bill Raymond as Mickey
- Marco Rodríguez as Torres
- Kim Sykes as Annabella
- Rock Taulbee as Lead Cop
- Norman Max Maxwell as Roscoe
- Jeff Cadiente as Waldo
- Henry Kingi Jr. as MJ
- Erik Stabenau as Speeg
- Cassandra Lawton as Newscaster
- Lou Criscuolo as Uniform Cop #1
- Todd Brenner as Paramedic #1
- Joe West as Paramedic #2
- Thomas Rosales Jr. as Sanchez
- Jeff Imada as Braeden
- Tierre Turner as Jugger
- Tim Parati as Bad Ass Criminal
- Jennifer Blanc-Biehn as Additional Voices (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% 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
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 9 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 9 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 4 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 17 |
| 19 to 21 | 2 | 6 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 18 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 14 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 18 |
| 34 to 36 | 2 | 16 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 55 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 3 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 3 | 22 |
| 49 to 51 | 4 | 10 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 4 | 34 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 27 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 6 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 4 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 12 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 2 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 2 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 1 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 22 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 2 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 37 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 20 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 19 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 11 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 5 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 13 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 18 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 9 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 13 |
| 118 to 120 | 3 | 4 |
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.
26 lines from women, 491 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 21 men in the cast. 3 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 47 of 586.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 130 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 (252), men 95% (4,400).
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
0
Two men
45
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Alex Proyas (man)
- Written by
- David J. Schow (man), John Shirley (man)
- Produced by
- Jeff Most (man), Edward R. Pressman (man), Alex Proyas (man)
- Shot by
- Dariusz Wolski (man)
- Edited by
- M. Scott Smith (man), Dov Hoenig (man)
- Music by
- Graeme Revell (man)
- Production design by
- Alex McDowell (man)
- Costumes by
- Arianne Phillips (woman)
- Cast by
- Billy Hopkins (man), Suzanne Smith Crowley (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
2 women, 15 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
7 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Rochelle Davis 13, Sofia Shinas 26, Bai Ling 27, Anna Thomson 40
Men
Angel David 23, Laurence Mason 28, Brandon Lee 29, Michael Wincott 36, David Patrick Kelly 43, Ernie Hudson 48
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $23 million
- Box office
- $93.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 120 scenes and 586 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
