Passes the Bechdel test

The Phantom

Name: The Phantom
Released: 1996

1996. Directed by Simon Wincer, written by Lee Falk and Jeffrey Boam.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 97.
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

Four hundred years ago, a young boy witnessed his father's death during an attack on their ship by the bloodthirsty Sengh Brotherhood. He was washed ashore on Bengalla Island where he swore to devote his life to bring down piracy, greed, cruelty and injustice. He became The Phantom, a masked avenger whose role was passed down from father to son, leading people to believe in an immortal figure called "The Ghost Who Walks". The 21st successor to the role of Bengalla's resident superhero must travel to New York City to prevent a power-hungry businessman from obtaining three magic skulls that would give him the secret to ultimate power.

Released: 07 Jun 1996
Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Rated: PG
IMDb: 5.1 / 10
Metascore: 53 / 100
Awards: 3 wins total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Phantom 123 lines, man
Diana 115 lines, woman
Drax 72 lines, man
Quill 47 lines, man
Kit 40 lines, man
Sala 32 lines, woman
Morgan 22 lines, man
Uncle Dave 20 lines, man
Dad 17 lines, man
Horton 17 lines, man

Full cast, 35 people

Billy Zane as The Phantom / Kit Walker
Kristy Swanson as Diana Palmer
Treat Williams as Xander Drax
Catherine Zeta-Jones as Sala
James Remar as Quill
Jon Tenney as Jimmy Wells
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as The Great Kabai Sengh
Patrick McGoohan as Phantom's Dad
Bill Smitrovich as Uncle Dave Palmer
Casey Siemaszko as Morgan
David Proval as Charlie Zephro
Joseph Ragno as Ray Zephro
Samantha Eggar as Lily Palmer
Robert Coleby as Capt. Philip Horton
Al Ruscio as Police Commissioner Farley
Leon Russom as Mayor Krebs
Bernard Kates as Falkmoore the Butler
John Capodice as Al the Cabby
Bo Kane as Mounted Cop
William Jones as Cycle Cop
John Prosky as Cycle Cop
Alan Zitner as Dr. Fleming
Dane Carson as Corporal Weeks
Chatpong 'Jim' Petchlor as Zak
Dane Farwell as Breen
Jared Chandler as Styles
Radmar Agana Jao as Guran
William Zappa as Ugly Pirate
Agoes Widjaya Soedjarwo as Pirate #1
Clint Lilley as Gangster #1
Jo Phillips as Female Pilot
Austin Peters as Boy Phantom
Victor Madrona as Shaman
Valerie Flueger Veras as Drax's Receptionist
Rod Dailey as Short Order Cook

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 97

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	1
4 to 6	0	17
7 to 9	0	4
10 to 12	0	26
13 to 15	0	6
16 to 18	0	9
19 to 21	0	13
22 to 24	8	26
25 to 27	10	34
28 to 30	0	1
31 to 33	0	14
34 to 36	3	17
37 to 39	7	4
40 to 42	5	0
43 to 45	11	12
46 to 48	2	8
49 to 51	0	0
52 to 54	11	15
55 to 57	13	4
58 to 60	17	30
61 to 63	0	7
64 to 66	10	57
67 to 69	10	13
70 to 72	11	22
73 to 75	6	11
76 to 78	4	17
79 to 81	0	8
82 to 84	0	19
85 to 87	3	3
88 to 90	7	39
91 to 93	3	6
94 to 96	12	20
97 to 97	1	0

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.

LILY: Oh, Diana!... DIANA: Mother, you look absolutely stunning! LILY: Oh, Diana ... you’re timing couldn’t be worse. But how are you anyway, dear? LILY: That’s nice.

DIANA: Oh, it’s just fabulous. Look ‘how much fun I’a having now. SALA: Nice boots. Expensive, huh? DIANA: Not really. SALA: C’mon. We can talk. It’s just us girls. ' Due f Mind if I take a look?

DIANA: You’re despicable. And you’re just jealous. WHAP! She slaps Diana across the face. SALA: Now I’m one up on you.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.

154 lines from women, 463 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 27 men in the cast. 4 women and 27 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 107 of 638. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 106 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 20% of the words (1,552), men 80% (6,076). Women have 25% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Simon Wincer (man)
Written by: Jeffrey Boam (man)
Produced by: Robert Evans (man), Alan Ladd Jr. (man), Christine Forsyth-Peters (gender not listed)
Shot by: David Burr (man)
Edited by: O. Nicholas Brown (man), Bryan H. Carroll (man)
Music by: David Newman (man)
Production design by: Paul Peters (man)
Costumes by: Marlene Stewart (woman)
Cast by: Deborah Aquila (woman)