Passes the Bechdel test
True Lies
1994. Directed by James Cameron, written by James Cameron and Claude Zidi and Simon Michaël.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 298. -
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
Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) leads a double life. At work he is a government agent with a license to do just about anything, while at home he pretends to be a dull computer salesman. He is on the trail of stolen nuclear weapons that are in the hands of fanatic terrorists when something more important comes up. Harry finds his wife is seeing another man (Bill Paxton) because she needs some adventure in her life. Harry decides to give it to her, juggling pursuit of terrorists on one hand and an adventure for his wife on the other while showing he can Tango all at once.
- Released
- 15 Jul 1994
- Genres
- Action, Comedy, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 63 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 23 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Harry 275 lines, man
- Helen 169 lines, woman
- Gib 148 lines, man
- Simon 69 lines, man
- Juno 48 lines, woman
- Dana 30 lines, woman
- Malik 23 lines
- Faisil 22 lines, man
- Trilby 11 lines, man
- Allison 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 48 people
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as Harry
- Jamie Lee Curtis as Helen
- Tom Arnold as Gib
- Bill Paxton as Simon
- Tia Carrere as Juno
- Art Malik as Aziz
- Eliza Dushku as Dana
- Grant Heslov as Faisil
- Charlton Heston as Spencer Trilby
- Marshall Manesh as Khaled
- James Allen as Colonel
- Dieter Rauter as Boathouse Guard
- Jane Morris as Janice
- Katsy Chappell as Allison
- Crystina Wyler as Charlene
- Ofer Samra as Yusif
- Paul Barselou as Old Guy in Bathroom
- Charles A. Tamburro as Helicopter Pilot
- Jean-Claude Parachini as Jean-Claude
- Uzi Gal as Lead Terrorist
- Majed Ibrahim as High Rise Terrorist
- Armen Ksajikian as Juno's Chauffeur
- Mike Akrawi as Jihad Cameraman
- Mike Cameron as Citation Pilot
- Charles Cragin as Samir
- Louai Mardini as Bread Van Terrorist #1
- Gino Salvano as Bread Van Terrorist #2
- Scott Dotson as Harrier Pilot
- Tom Isbell as Reporter at Hi-Rise
- John Bruno as Custodian
- Sergio Kato as Bread Van Terrorist #3 (uncredited)
- Sayed Badreya as Arab Terrorist (uncredited)
- Ray Buffer as Police Captain (uncredited)
- Max Daniels as Bathroom Terrorist (uncredited)
- Loren Janes as Man in Elevator (uncredited)
- Lane Leavitt as Bellhop (uncredited)
- Jody Millard as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
- Erik Parillo as French Chef (uncredited)
- Manny Perry as Bass Player (uncredited)
- Charlie Picerni as Man in Hotel Lobby (uncredited)
- Dale Resteghini as Snow Assassin (uncredited)
- William Shipman as Office Worker (uncredited)
- Matt Sigloch as SWAT Team Leader (uncredited)
- Ryken Zane as Snowboarder (uncredited)
- Al Conti as UN Ambassador (uncredited)
- Janet Dey as Banquet Guest (uncredited)
- Mark Winn as Arab Terrorist (uncredited)
- James Cameron as Helicopter pilot (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 7 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 298
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 7 | 0 | 4 |
| 8 to 14 | 0 | 5 |
| 15 to 21 | 2 | 11 |
| 22 to 28 | 2 | 9 |
| 29 to 35 | 0 | 15 |
| 36 to 42 | 12 | 17 |
| 43 to 49 | 17 | 41 |
| 50 to 56 | 14 | 28 |
| 57 to 63 | 12 | 11 |
| 64 to 70 | 6 | 13 |
| 71 to 77 | 8 | 7 |
| 78 to 84 | 0 | 7 |
| 85 to 91 | 0 | 5 |
| 92 to 98 | 11 | 13 |
| 99 to 105 | 1 | 9 |
| 106 to 112 | 3 | 17 |
| 113 to 119 | 13 | 29 |
| 120 to 126 | 1 | 5 |
| 127 to 133 | 5 | 13 |
| 134 to 140 | 7 | 11 |
| 141 to 147 | 2 | 13 |
| 148 to 154 | 3 | 38 |
| 155 to 161 | 1 | 22 |
| 162 to 168 | 4 | 9 |
| 169 to 175 | 3 | 6 |
| 176 to 182 | 7 | 7 |
| 183 to 189 | 29 | 37 |
| 190 to 196 | 0 | 21 |
| 197 to 203 | 15 | 14 |
| 204 to 210 | 8 | 13 |
| 211 to 217 | 25 | 10 |
| 218 to 224 | 29 | 40 |
| 225 to 231 | 4 | 7 |
| 232 to 238 | 3 | 0 |
| 239 to 245 | 2 | 7 |
| 246 to 252 | 0 | 7 |
| 253 to 259 | 2 | 1 |
| 260 to 266 | 0 | 4 |
| 267 to 273 | 2 | 18 |
| 274 to 280 | 4 | 2 |
| 281 to 287 | 0 | 1 |
| 288 to 294 | 0 | 2 |
| 295 to 298 | 5 | 4 |
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.
DANA: Fine. HELEN: So. You came by to see me today?
HELEN: Oh, sure. Fine. I'll get some more gravy. DANA: I'm done.
DANA: I'm done. HELEN: Where are you off to young lady? DANA: I have a book report.
HELEN: Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Then where did I get this? JUNO: Something before take-off? HELEN: Oooowww!! That hurt. You biii-- JUNO: She was telling the truth, wasn't she Harry? She really doesn't know. Interesting.
HELEN: Don't call me honey! You don't ever get to call me honey again. You understand?! You pig! JUNO: Here you go, dear.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 32 are women's.
262 lines from women, 553 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 31 men in the cast. 6 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 855.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 28% of the words (2,385), men 72% (6,063). Women have 32% 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
20
Two men
66
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- James Cameron (man)
- Written by
- James Cameron (man)
- Produced by
- Stephanie Austin (woman), James Cameron (man)
- Shot by
- Russell Carpenter (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Goldblatt (man), Conrad Buff IV (man), Richard A. Harris (man)
- Music by
- Brad Fiedel (man)
- Production design by
- Peter Lamont (man)
- Costumes by
- Marlene Stewart (woman)
- Cast by
- Mali Finn (woman), Ellen Jacoby (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
5 women, 12 men, 36 not listed
-
Other crew
5 women, 24 men, 23 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 27 men, 18 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 17 men, 21 not listed
-
Production
9 women, 8 men, 14 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 2 men, 10 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 11 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
4 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Eliza Dushku 13, Tia Carrere 27, Jamie Lee Curtis 35
Men
Grant Heslov 31, Tom Arnold 35, Bill Paxton 39, Art Malik 41, Marshall Manesh 43, Arnold Schwarzenegger 46, Charlton Heston 70
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $115 million
- Box office
- $379 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 298 scenes and 855 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
