Fails the Bechdel test
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
1991. Directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams and David Zucker and Jerry Zucker.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
15 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Lieutenant Frank Drebin returns to save the day once again. This time, he's out to foil the "big boys" in the energy business. A top scientist (Dr. Albert Meinheimer) is about to publish his report on energy supply for the future. Things don't look good for the traditional suppliers; oil, coal, and nuclear. To save their industries, the suppliers kidnap Meinheimer and replace him with a decoy with a more favorable report. Jane Spencer, the doctor's secretary, is Drebin's old flame. Their passionate love affair is thus rekindled.
- Released
- 28 Jun 1991
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 65 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Frank 179 lines, man
- Jane 86 lines, woman
- Ed 68 lines, man
- Hapsburg 59 lines, man
- Prank 30 lines
- Meinheimer 22 lines, man
- Nordberg 13 lines, man
- Revised 10 lines
- Monique 9 lines, woman
- Brumford 8 lines, woman
Full cast, 67 people
- Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin
- Priscilla Presley as Jane Spencer
- George Kennedy as Ed Hocken
- O. J. Simpson as Nordberg
- Robert Goulet as Quentin Hapsburg
- Richard Griffiths as Dr. Meinheimer / Earl Hacker
- Jacqueline Brookes as Commissioner Brumford
- Anthony James as Hector Savage
- Lloyd Bochner as Baggett
- Tim O'Connor as Fenzwick
- Peter Mark Richman as Dunwell
- Ed Williams as Ted Olsen
- John Roarke as George Bush
- Margery Jane Ross as Barbara Bush
- Peter Van Norden as John Sununu
- Gail Neely as Winnie Mandela
- Colleen Fitzpatrick as Blues Singer
- Sally Rosenblatt as Mrs. Redmond
- Alexander Folk as Crackhouse Cop
- Jose Gonzales-Gonzales as Mariachi
- Larry McCormick as TV Reporter
- Cliff Bemis as Barbecue Dad
- D.D. Howard as Barbecue Mom
- William Woodson as TV Commercial Announcer
- Mel Tormé as Mel Tormé
- Zsa Zsa Gabor as Zsa Zsa Gabor
- Bill Chemerka as "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States and Mrs. Bush."
- Christopher J. Keene as "Hey Ken, Al! Look what I found."
- Ken Kerman as "Hey, that's a pretty nice clock."
- Al Fann as "It's 4 minutes too slow."
- Tom McGreevey as "Vert well, sir. It's from the lady."
- James Gilstrap as "Always nice to see nice people."
- 'Weird Al' Yankovic as "You pigs...say your prayers."
- Gina Mastrogiacomo as "Is this some kind of bust?"
- Jeff Wright as "Frank, we got that Sure-Grip suck machine..."
- C. Lindsay Workman as "Your coat, sir?"
- John Stevens as "Phone call, Commissioner"
- Gokul as "Hey, what the hell happened to the water pressure?"
- Charlotte Zucker as "For a man in a wheelchair, he gets around marvelously."
- Don Pugsley as "He's wired!"
- Carlos Betancourt as "¡Ojala que se mejoré pronto!"
- Bernardo Márquez as "Recuerdos a todos."
- Margarito Mendoza as "¿Puede decirme donde esta la casa de musica?"
- Lee Terri as "Hey, look what he's doing to that man in the wheelchair!"
- Claude Jay McLin as "Yeah!"
- Manny Perry as "Let's get him."
- Alex Zimmerman as "Yeah!"
- Raynor Scheine as "You're on my groin."
- John Fleck as "If that's your attitude, forget it."
- Susan Breslau as Party Guest
- Leslie Maier as Party Guest
- Ron Rosenblatt as Mr. Redmond
- Jennifer Kretchmer as Barbecue Daughter
- Ryan Harrison as Barbecue Boy
- David Zucker as Davy Crockett
- Robert K. Weiss as Obstetrician
- Robert LoCash as FBI Agent
- Burton Zucker as Lab Technician
- Lewis Friedman as Lab Technician
- Bob Reitman as Lab Technician
- Gene Mueller as Lab Technician
- Gino Salomone as Lab Technician
- Robert J. Elisberg as McTigue
- Mindy Newborn as Slave to the Composer
- Jan Campbell as Lady in Waiting
- Wendy Hogan as Lady in Waiting
- Françoise Ruggieri as White House Dinner Guest (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 16% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 112
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 | 10 | 14 |
| 4 to 6 | 8 | 10 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 19 | 62 |
| 13 to 15 | 10 | 24 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 44 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 to 24 | 3 | 5 |
| 25 to 27 | 6 | 13 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 18 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 1 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 7 |
| 49 to 51 | 10 | 23 |
| 52 to 54 | 1 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 1 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 17 | 13 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 1 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 9 | 13 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 11 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 2 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 2 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 2 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 8 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 23 |
| 91 to 93 | 3 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 6 |
| 97 to 99 | 1 | 12 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 6 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 17 |
| 109 to 111 | 11 | 34 |
| 112 to 112 | 0 | 0 |
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, 23 are women's.
114 lines from women, 383 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
15 women and 38 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 591.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 54 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (1,509), men 78% (5,427). Women have 23% 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
Two women
1
Two men
47
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Zucker (man)
- Written by
- Pat Proft (man), David Zucker (man)
- Produced by
- Robert K. Weiss (man)
- Shot by
- Robert M. Stevens (man)
- Edited by
- Christopher Greenbury (man), James R. Symons (man)
- Music by
- Ira Newborn (man)
- Production design by
- John J. Lloyd (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
8 women, 28 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 6 men
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 5 men
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 53 on average. Men: 56 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Priscilla Presley 46, Jacqueline Brookes 60
Men
O. J. Simpson 43, Richard Griffiths 43, Anthony James 48, Robert Goulet 57, Tim O'Connor 63, Leslie Nielsen 65, George Kennedy 66, Lloyd Bochner 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $23 million
- Box office
- $192 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 112 scenes and 591 lines of dialogue. How the test works
