Fails the Bechdel test

The Usual Suspects

Name: The Usual Suspects
Released: 1995

1995. Directed by Bryan Singer, written by Christopher McQuarrie.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 1 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

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

The film

Following a truck hijack in New York, five criminals are arrested and brought together for questioning. As none of them are guilty, they plan a revenge operation against the police. The operation goes well, but then the influence of a legendary mastermind criminal called Keyser Söze is felt. It becomes clear that each one of them has wronged Söze at some point and must pay back now. The payback job leaves 27 men dead in a boat explosion, but the real question arises now: Who actually is Keyser Söze?

Released: 16 Aug 1995
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Rated: R
IMDb: 8.5 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: Won 2 Oscars. 37 wins & 17 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Verbal 145 lines, man
Keaton 128 lines, man
Kujan 116 lines, man
Hockney 46 lines, man
Mcmanus 44 lines, man
Baer 31 lines, man
Kobayashi 30 lines, man
Voice 28 lines
Edie 26 lines, woman
Fenster 23 lines, man

Full cast, 35 people

Stephen Baldwin as McManus
Gabriel Byrne as Keaton
Benicio del Toro as Fenster
Kevin Pollak as Hockney
Kevin Spacey as Verbal
Chazz Palminteri as Dave Kujan
Pete Postlethwaite as Kobayashi
Suzy Amis as Edie Finneran
Giancarlo Esposito as Jack Baer
Dan Hedaya as Jeff Rabin
Paul Bartel as Smuggler
Carl Bressler as Saul Berg
Phillipe Simon as Fortier
Jack Shearer as Renault
Christine Estabrook as Dr. Plummer
Clark Gregg as Dr. Walters
Morgan Hunter as Arkosh Kovash
Ken Daly as Translator
Michelle Clunie as Sketch Artist
Louis Lombardi as Strausz
Frank Medrano as Rizzi
Ron Gilbert as Daniel Metzheiser
Vito D'Ambrosio as Arresting Officer
Gene Lythgow as Cop on Pier
Bob Elmore as Bodyguard #1
David Powledge as Bodyguard #2
Bob Pennetta as Bodyguard #3
Billy Bates as Bodyguard #4
Smadar Hanson as Keyser's Wife
Castulo Guerra as Arturro Marquez
Peter Rocca as Arturro's Bodyguard
Bert Williams as Old Cop
Peter Greene as Redfoot the Fence (uncredited)
Christopher McQuarrie as Interrogation Cop (uncredited)
Scott B. Morgan as Keyser Söze (flashback)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 133

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	5
4 to 6	4	6
7 to 9	2	24
10 to 12	0	9
13 to 15	0	16
16 to 18	0	64
19 to 21	0	19
22 to 24	0	15
25 to 27	12	35
28 to 30	8	53
31 to 33	0	3
34 to 36	0	3
37 to 39	0	4
40 to 42	0	17
43 to 45	0	26
46 to 48	1	61
49 to 51	0	10
52 to 54	0	21
55 to 57	0	59
58 to 60	0	7
61 to 63	0	15
64 to 66	0	19
67 to 69	0	26
70 to 72	0	1
73 to 75	0	19
76 to 78	0	15
79 to 81	0	16
82 to 84	0	1
85 to 87	0	1
88 to 90	0	1
91 to 93	0	1
94 to 96	0	0
97 to 99	0	11
100 to 102	0	12
103 to 105	0	5
106 to 108	0	1
109 to 111	0	0
112 to 114	0	17
115 to 117	0	47
118 to 120	0	1
121 to 123	0	6
124 to 126	0	0
127 to 129	0	2
130 to 132	0	0
133 to 133	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, 4 are women's.

27 lines from women, 674 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

4 women and 30 men in the cast. 1 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 19 of 779. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 393 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 3% of the words (300), men 97% (9,194). Women have 4% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Bryan Singer (man)
Written by: Christopher McQuarrie (man)
Produced by: Bryan Singer (man), Michael McDonnell (man)
Shot by: Newton Thomas Sigel (man)
Edited by: Peter S. Elliot (man), John Ottman (man)
Music by: John Ottman (man)
Production design by: Howard Cummings (man)
Costumes by: Louise Mingenbach (woman)
Cast by: Francine Maisler (woman)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

0 women, 15 men, 16 not listed
Sound

6 women, 18 men, 7 not listed
Camera

0 women, 12 men, 9 not listed
Production

5 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
Art

1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
Directing

2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
Lighting

0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

3 women, 0 men, 2 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 33 on average. Men: 40 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Suzy Amis 33

Men

Benicio del Toro 28, Stephen Baldwin 29, Kevin Spacey 35, Kevin Pollak 37, Giancarlo Esposito 37, Chazz Palminteri 43, Gabriel Byrne 45, Pete Postlethwaite 49, Dan Hedaya 54

Exhibit G: the money

It made 3.9 times what it cost.

Budget: $6 million
Box office: $23.3 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 133 scenes and 779 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf