Passes the Bechdel test
The Long Kiss Goodnight
1996. Directed by Renny Harlin, written by Shane Black.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 151. -
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
Samantha Caine, suburban homemaker, is the ideal mom to her 8 year old daughter Caitlin. She lives in Honesdale, PA, has a job teaching school and makes the best Rice Krispie treats in town. But when she receives a bump on her head, she begins to remember small parts of her previous life as a lethal, top-secret agent. Her old chums in the Chapter are now out to kill her so she enlists the help of a cheap detective named Mitch. As Samantha remembers more and more of her previous life, she becomes deadlier and more resourceful. Both Mitch and Charly proceed to do the killing thing, the bleeding thing and the shooting thing.
- Released
- 11 Oct 1996
- Genres
- Action, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 43 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Charly 174 lines, woman
- Henessey 152 lines, man
- Samantha 125 lines, woman
- Timothy 73 lines, man
- Nathan 39 lines, man
- Caitlin 30 lines, woman
- Perkins 26 lines, man
- Voice 14 lines
- Daedalus 13 lines, man
- Hal 13 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
- Geena Davis as Samantha Caine / Charly Baltimore
- Samuel L. Jackson as Mitch Henessey
- Patrick Malahide as Leland Perkins
- Craig Bierko as Timothy
- Brian Cox as Dr. Nathan Waldman
- Sharon Washington as Fran Henessey
- David Morse as Luke / Daedalus
- G.D. Spradlin as President
- Tom Amandes as Hal
- Yvonne Zima as Caitlin Caine
- Melina Kanakaredes as Trin
- Alan North as Earl
- Edwin Hodge as Todd Henessey
- Joseph McKenna as One-Eyed Jack
- Dan Warry-Smith as Raymond
- Kristen Bone as Girl #1
- Jennifer Pisana as Girl #2
- Rex Linn as Man in Bed
- Bill MacDonald as Hostage Agent
- Gladys O'Connor as Alice
- Frank Moore as Surveillance Man
- Graham McPherson as CIA Director
- Judah Katz as Harry (Perkin's Aide)
- Robert Thomas as Alley Agent
- John Stead as Deer Lick Sentry
- Marc Cohen as Teenage Burnout #1
- Chad Donella as Teenage Burnout #2
- Deborah Kirshenbaum as Operator
- Shawn Doyle as Donlevy Bum Cop
- Ken Ryan as News Anchor
- Susan Henley as Church Mother
- Craig Eldridge as Crime Scene Reporter
- Charles A. Tamburro as Helicopter Pilot
- Larry King as Self
- Gerry Bamman as CIA Man (uncredited)
- Ivar Brogger as Intelligence Analyst Jack Wadsworth (uncredited)
- Michael G. Brown as Assassin (uncredited)
- Reginald Doresa as Bar Patron (uncredited)
- Paul Essiembre as Press Aide (uncredited)
- Erin Gooderham as Church Lady (uncredited)
- Michael K. Jones as Bum Cop #2 (uncredited)
- Carrie Loring as Caroller (uncredited)
- Lisa Anita Wegner as Sara (uncredited)
- Brad Wozny as Sailor (uncredited)
- Sean Young as Parade Observer (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 151
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 | 27 | 9 |
| 5 to 8 | 8 | 14 |
| 9 to 12 | 4 | 12 |
| 13 to 16 | 10 | 16 |
| 17 to 20 | 25 | 4 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 4 |
| 25 to 28 | 8 | 10 |
| 29 to 32 | 12 | 17 |
| 33 to 36 | 2 | 5 |
| 37 to 40 | 5 | 5 |
| 41 to 44 | 12 | 19 |
| 45 to 48 | 17 | 19 |
| 49 to 52 | 4 | 10 |
| 53 to 56 | 2 | 6 |
| 57 to 60 | 13 | 38 |
| 61 to 64 | 14 | 17 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 16 |
| 69 to 72 | 18 | 14 |
| 73 to 76 | 21 | 18 |
| 77 to 80 | 12 | 9 |
| 81 to 84 | 6 | 5 |
| 85 to 88 | 1 | 0 |
| 89 to 92 | 15 | 14 |
| 93 to 96 | 9 | 14 |
| 97 to 100 | 10 | 9 |
| 101 to 104 | 20 | 21 |
| 105 to 108 | 11 | 13 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 2 |
| 113 to 116 | 5 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 11 | 10 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 1 |
| 129 to 132 | 3 | 2 |
| 133 to 136 | 5 | 2 |
| 137 to 140 | 17 | 9 |
| 141 to 144 | 7 | 4 |
| 145 to 148 | 6 | 9 |
| 149 to 151 | 3 | 2 |
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.
SAMANTHA: This is all I ever wanted. CAITLIN: How would you know?
SAMANTHA: More. Faster. CAITLIN: Tomato. Tomato. Tomato. SAMANTHA: Uh... chefs do that.
CAITLIN: Mommy...! SAMANTHA: GET OUUTTTTT!!!! SAMANTHA: NO!!!!
CAITLIN: Mom, it's cold in here-! CHARLY: Shhh. Just for a little bit. Polar bear, remember?
CHARLY: Open. CHARLY: Gimme a spark... show me, show me... CHARLY: Come on, come on... do it...! CHARLY: All this, just one fucking match, Goddamit ...!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 48 are women's.
356 lines from women, 382 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 32 men in the cast. 8 women and 22 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 795.
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 43% of the words (4,185), men 57% (5,449). Women have 48% 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
14
Two men
20
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Renny Harlin (man)
- Written by
- Shane Black (man)
- Produced by
- Stephanie Austin (woman), Shane Black (man), Renny Harlin (man), Geena Davis (woman)
- Shot by
- Guillermo Navarro (man)
- Edited by
- William Goldenberg (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Production design by
- Howard Cummings (man)
- Costumes by
- Michael Kaplan (man)
- Cast by
- Polly Hootkins (gender not listed), Clare Walker (gender not listed), Mary Vernieu (woman), Ronnie Yeskel (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
8 women, 43 men, 38 not listed
-
Sound
8 women, 34 men, 25 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 13 men, 48 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 11 men, 22 not listed
-
Production
9 women, 10 men, 14 not listed
-
Art
5 women, 17 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
9 women, 3 men, 11 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 48 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Yvonne Zima 7, Geena Davis 40
Men
Craig Bierko 32, Tom Amandes 37, David Morse 43, Samuel L. Jackson 47, Brian Cox 50, Patrick Malahide 51, G.D. Spradlin 76
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $65 million
- Box office
- $89.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 151 scenes and 795 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
