Fails the Bechdel test
U Turn
1997. Directed by Oliver Stone, written by John Ridley.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 4 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
When Bobby's car breaks down in the desert while on the run from some of the bookies who have already taken two of his fingers, he becomes trapped in the nearby small town where the people are stranger than anyone he's encountered. After becoming involved with a (unbeknownst to him) young married woman, her husband hires Bobby to kill her. Later, she hires Bobby to kill the husband.
- Released
- 03 Oct 1997
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 54 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bobby 456 lines, man
- Grace 209 lines, woman
- Jake 116 lines, man
- Darrell 69 lines, man
- Blind Man 47 lines, man
- Sheriff 43 lines
- Toby 31 lines, man
- Jenny 27 lines, woman
- Flo 17 lines, woman
- Mr. Arkady 17 lines, man
Full cast, 22 people
- Sean Penn as Bobby Cooper
- Nick Nolte as Jake McKenna
- Jennifer Lopez as Grace McKenna
- Joaquin Phoenix as Toby N. Tucker
- Claire Danes as Jenny
- Powers Boothe as Sheriff Virgil Potter
- Billy Bob Thornton as Darrell
- Jon Voight as Blind Man
- Abraham Benrubi as Biker #1
- Richard Rutowski as Biker #2
- Aida Linares as Jamilla
- Sean Stone as Boy in Grocery Store
- Ilia Volok as Sergi
- Brent Briscoe as Boyd
- Bo Hopkins as Ed
- Julie Hagerty as Flo
- Annie Tien as Short Order Cook
- Sheri Foster as Grace's Mother
- Laurie Metcalf as Bus Station Clerk
- Liv Tyler as Girl in Bus Station
- Jeff Flach as Yes Man (uncredited)
- Valery Nikolaev as Mr. Arkady
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 81
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 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 43 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 34 | 65 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 to 16 | 15 | 14 |
| 17 to 18 | 17 | 78 |
| 19 to 20 | 11 | 27 |
| 21 to 22 | 28 | 82 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 4 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 35 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 4 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 45 |
| 31 to 32 | 2 | 5 |
| 33 to 34 | 44 | 37 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 31 |
| 37 to 38 | 11 | 69 |
| 39 to 40 | 10 | 11 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 2 |
| 43 to 44 | 5 | 20 |
| 45 to 46 | 16 | 17 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 24 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 to 56 | 3 | 5 |
| 57 to 58 | 5 | 15 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 7 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 8 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 9 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 7 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 1 | 1 |
| 73 to 74 | 6 | 11 |
| 75 to 76 | 4 | 24 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 80 | 36 | 29 |
| 81 to 81 | 26 | 36 |
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, 26 are women's.
274 lines from women, 773 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 13 men in the cast. 4 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 81 of 1,104.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 99 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (3,778), men 73% (10,139). Women have 26% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
0
Two men
44
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Oliver Stone (man)
- Written by
- John Ridley (man)
- From the novel by
- John Ridley (man)
- Produced by
- Dan Halsted (man), Clayton Townsend (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Richardson (man)
- Edited by
- Thomas J. Nordberg (man), Hank Corwin (man)
- Music by
- Ennio Morricone (man)
- Production design by
- Victor Kempster (man)
- Costumes by
- Beatrix Aruna Pasztor (woman)
- Cast by
- Mary Vernieu (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 8 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 23 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Claire Danes 18, Jennifer Lopez 28
Men
Joaquin Phoenix 22, Abraham Benrubi 27, Sean Penn 37, Billy Bob Thornton 42, Powers Boothe 49, Richard Rutowski 51, Nick Nolte 56, Jon Voight 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 35% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $19 million
- Box office
- $6.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 81 scenes and 1,104 lines of dialogue. How the test works
