Passes the Bechdel test
Under Fire
1983. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, written by Ron Shelton and Clayton Frohman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 109. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Nicaragua 1979: Star photographer Russel Price covers the civil war against president Somoza. Facing the cruel fighting - people versus army - it's often hard for him to stay neutral. When the Guerillas have him take a picture of the leader Rafael, who's believed to be dead, he gets drawn into the happenings. Together with his reporter friends Claire and Alex he has to hide from the army.
- Released
- 21 Oct 1983
- Genres
- Drama, War
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Price 210 lines, man
- Claire 186 lines, woman
- Alex 92 lines, man
- Jazy 48 lines, man
- Oates 38 lines, man
- Isela 17 lines, woman
- Hub 15 lines, man
- Regis 14 lines, man
- Somoza 13 lines, man
- Sandinista #1 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 19 people
- Nick Nolte as Russell Price
- Gene Hackman as Alex Grazier
- Joanna Cassidy as Claire
- Ed Harris as Oates
- Jean-Louis Trintignant as Marcel Jazy
- Richard Masur as Hub Kittle
- Alma Martinez as Isela
- René Enríquez as President Anastasio Somoza
- Hamilton Camp as Regis Seydor
- Jenny Gago as Miss Panama
- Eloy Casados as Pedro
- Martin LaSalle as Commandante Cinco
- Jorge Zepeda as Rafael
- Holly Palance as Journalist
- Elpidia Carrillo as Sandinista
- Ella Laboriel as Nightclub Singer
- Enrique Lucero as Prison Priest
- Jorge Santoyo as Guerrilla leader
- Bruno Bichir
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 109
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 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 19 |
| 7 to 9 | 13 | 27 |
| 10 to 12 | 11 | 14 |
| 13 to 15 | 25 | 45 |
| 16 to 18 | 3 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 5 | 18 |
| 22 to 24 | 2 | 18 |
| 25 to 27 | 12 | 22 |
| 28 to 30 | 21 | 30 |
| 31 to 33 | 7 | 5 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 39 | 7 | 10 |
| 40 to 42 | 17 | 13 |
| 43 to 45 | 8 | 11 |
| 46 to 48 | 7 | 19 |
| 49 to 51 | 5 | 37 |
| 52 to 54 | 5 | 11 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 1 |
| 58 to 60 | 12 | 12 |
| 61 to 63 | 8 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 13 | 32 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 35 |
| 76 to 78 | 9 | 3 |
| 79 to 81 | 12 | 24 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 8 |
| 85 to 87 | 3 | 6 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 3 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 9 | 23 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 1 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 6 |
| 109 to 109 | 1 | 7 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
CLAIRE: I don't know. ISELA: Venga por favor! Alli! CLAIRE: What're you talking about?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.
236 lines from women, 473 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
5 women and 13 men in the cast. 9 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 39 of 758.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 47 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 33% of the words (2,450), men 67% (5,018).
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
4
Two men
48
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 12% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Roger Spottiswoode (man)
- Written by
- Ron Shelton (man), Clayton Frohman (man)
- Story by
- Clayton Frohman (man)
- Produced by
- Jonathan T. Taplin (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- John Alcott (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Conte (man), John Bloom (man)
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith (man)
- Costumes by
- Cynthia Bales (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Wallis Nicita (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
2 women, 11 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alma Martinez 30, Jenny Gago 30, Joanna Cassidy 38
Men
Ed Harris 32, Richard Masur 34, Nick Nolte 42, Hamilton Camp 48, René Enríquez 49, Jean-Louis Trintignant 52, Gene Hackman 53
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 109 scenes and 758 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
