Does it pass? bechdel.io

Fails the Bechdel test

The Hunt for Red October

1990. Directed by John McTiernan, written by Tom Clancy and Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

  1. No 1. At least two women
    Fewer than two women characters.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

Poster for The Hunt for Red October

The film

This movie tells the story of Captain Marko Ramius (Sir Sean Connery), the skipper of the Soviet Union's newest nuclear submarine, the "Red October." Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) of the C.I.A. gets involved in a tense, tangled hunt for this sub, when Ramius defects, taking the "Red October" with him. The story is an action packed techno-thriller.

Released
02 Mar 1990
Genres
Action, Adventure, Drama
Rated
PG
IMDb
7.5 / 10
Metascore
58 / 100
Awards
Won 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Ramius 91 lines, man
  2. Ryan 82 lines, man
  3. Mancuso 67 lines, man
  4. Jones 41 lines, man
  5. Greer 33 lines, man
  6. Pelt 21 lines, man
  7. Borodin 16 lines, man
  8. Tupolev 16 lines, man
  9. Thompson 15 lines, man
  10. Petrov 14 lines, man
Full cast, 60 people
  • Alec Baldwin as Dr. Jack Ryan
  • Sean Connery as Capt. 1st Marko Ramius
  • Scott Glenn as CDR Bart Mancuso (USS Dallas)
  • Sam Neill as Capt. 2nd Vasily Borodin
  • James Earl Jones as Vice ADM James Greer
  • Joss Ackland as Ambassador Andrei Lysenko
  • Richard Jordan as Dr. Jeffrey Pelt, National Security Advisor
  • Peter Firth as Capt. 2nd Ivan Putin (Political Officer, Red October)
  • Tim Curry as Dr. Yevgeni Petrov (Red October)
  • Courtney B. Vance as Petty Officer Ronald 'Jonesy' Jones (USS Dallas)
  • Stellan Skarsgård as Capt. 2nd Viktor Tupolev (V.K. Konovalov)
  • Jeffrey Jones as Skip Tyler
  • Fred Thompson as Rear ADM Joshua Painter (Enterprise Carrier Battle Group)
  • Timothy Carhart as Bill Steiner
  • Larry Ferguson as Chief of the Boat (USS Dallas)
  • Daniel Davis as CPT Charlie Davenport (USS Enterprise)
  • Tomas Arana as Igor Loginov (Cook, Red October)
  • Anatoli Davydov as Officer #1 (Red October)
  • Rick Ducommun as Navigator C-2A
  • Ronald Guttman as Lt. Alexander Melekhin (Red October)
  • Krzysztof Janczar as Andrei Bonovia (V.K. Konovalov)
  • Anthony Peck as Lt. CDR Philip Thompson (USS Dallas)
  • Ned Vaughn as Seaman Beaumont (USS Dallas)
  • Mark Draxton as Seaman (USS Dallas)
  • Tom Fisher as Seaman (USS Dallas)
  • Pete Antico as Seaman (USS Dallas)
  • Michael George Benko as Ivan (Red October)
  • Ivan G'Vera as Officer #2 (Red October)
  • Artur Cybulski as Diving Officer (Red October)
  • Sven-Ole Thorsen as Russian COB (Red October)
  • Michael Welden as Gregoriy Kamarov (Red October)
  • Boris Lee Krutonog as Viktor Slavin (Red October)
  • Kenton Kovell as Seaman (Red October)
  • Radu Gavor as Seaman (Red October)
  • Ivan Ivanov as Seaman (Red October)
  • Ping Wu as Seaman (Red October)
  • Herman Sinitzyn as Seaman (Red October)
  • Vlado Benden as Seaman (V.K. Konovalov)
  • George Saunders as Seaman (V.K. Konovalov)
  • Don Oscar Smith as Helicopter Pilot
  • George H. Billy as DSRV Officer (Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle)
  • Reed Popovich as Lt. Jim Curry
  • Andrew Divoff as Officer Andrei Amalric (Russian Foxtrot Bomber)
  • Peter Zinner as ADM Yuri Padorin, Chief Political Officer, Soviet Navy
  • Tony Veneto as Padorin's Orderly
  • Ben Hartigan as Admiral (Briefing)
  • Ray Reinhardt as Judge Moore (Briefing)
  • F.J. O'Neil as General (Briefing)
  • Robert Buckingham as Admiral #2 (Briefing)
  • A.C. Lyles as Advisor #1
  • John McTiernan Sr. as Advisor #2
  • David Sederholm as Sunglasses
  • John Shepherd as Russian Foxtrot Pilot
  • William Bell Sullivan as Lt. CDR Mike Hewitt
  • Gates McFadden as Caroline Ryan
  • Louise Borras as Sally Ryan
  • Denise E. James as Stewardess
  • Peter Jason as Commander, USS Reuben James (uncredited)
  • Shane Black as Crewman, USS Reuben James (uncredited)
  • Mark Rodney as Assistant Joint Chief of Staff (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.

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, 2 are women's.

12 lines from women, 548 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

2 women and 47 men in the cast. 1 women and 38 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 20 of 653. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 607 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 1% of the words (111), men 99% (7,912). Women have 2% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
John McTiernan (man)
Written by
Larry Ferguson (man), Donald E. Stewart (man)
From the novel by
Tom Clancy (man)
Produced by
Mace Neufeld (man)
Shot by
Jan de Bont (man)
Edited by
John Wright (man), Dennis Virkler (man)
Music by
Basil Poledouris (man)
Production design by
Terence Marsh (man)
Cast by
Amanda Mackey (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    2 women, 30 men, 11 not listed

  • Sound

    4 women, 16 men, 15 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    3 women, 11 men, 17 not listed

  • Production

    3 women, 8 men, 7 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 9 men, 5 not listed

  • Camera

    1 women, 8 men, 5 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Men: 46 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Men

Courtney B. Vance 29, Alec Baldwin 31, Peter Firth 36, Sam Neill 42, Tim Curry 43, Scott Glenn 51, Richard Jordan 52, Sean Connery 59, James Earl Jones 59, Joss Ackland 62

Exhibit G: the money

It made 6.7 times what it cost.

Budget
$30 million
Box office
$201 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 653 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf