Fails the Bechdel test
White Squall
1996. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Charles Gieg Jr. and Felix Sutton and Todd Robinson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 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
A true story about a group of American teenage boys who crew a school sailing ship to gain experience, discipline, or whatever their parents feel they lack. The voyage is a true adventure for them all but it has its downs as well as ups.
- Released
- 02 Feb 1996
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 53 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Skipper 224 lines, man
- Chuck 144 lines, man
- Robin 79 lines, man
- John 72 lines, man
- Phil 62 lines, man
- Tod 49 lines, man
- Bill 48 lines, man
- Lawford 45 lines, man
- Rick 36 lines, man
- Terry 31 lines, man
Full cast, 22 people
- Jeff Bridges as Christopher 'Skipper' Sheldon
- Caroline Goodall as Alice Sheldon
- John Savage as McCrea
- Scott Wolf as Chuck Gieg
- Jeremy Sisto as Frank Beaumont
- Ryan Phillippe as Gil Martin
- David Lascher as Robert Marsh
- Eric Michael Cole as Dean Preston
- Jason Marsden as Shay Jennings
- David Selby as Francis Beaumont
- Julio Oscar Mechoso as Girard Pascal
- Ċ½eljko Ivanek as Sanders
- Balthazar Getty as Tod Johnstone
- Ethan Embry as Tracy Lapchick
- Jordan Clarke as Charles Gieg
- Lizbeth Mackay as Middy Gieg
- Jill Larson as Peggy Beaumont
- James Medina as Cuban Commander
- James Rebhorn as Tyler
- Nicole Ann Samuel as Girl in Brothel
- Becky Ann Baker as Ms. Boyde
- Camilla Overbye Roos as Bregitta
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 148
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 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 5 | 19 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 27 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 61 |
| 17 to 20 | 2 | 87 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 26 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 68 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 26 |
| 33 to 36 | 5 | 52 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 38 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 39 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 31 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 35 |
| 53 to 56 | 5 | 59 |
| 57 to 60 | 9 | 34 |
| 61 to 64 | 2 | 17 |
| 65 to 68 | 1 | 36 |
| 69 to 72 | 6 | 32 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 8 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 6 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 39 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 4 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 3 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 1 | 1 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 43 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 1 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 7 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 2 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 10 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 16 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 11 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 15 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 46 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 80 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 6 |
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.
43 lines from women, 991 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 16 men in the cast. 5 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 24 of 1,082.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 194 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 (283), men 97% (10,590). 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
0
Two men
91
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ridley Scott (man)
- Written by
- Todd Robinson (man)
- From the novel by
- Felix Sutton (gender not listed), Charles Gieg Jr. (gender not listed)
- Produced by
- Mimi Polk Gitlin (woman), Rocky Lang (man)
- Shot by
- Hugh Johnson (man)
- Edited by
- Gerry Hambling (man)
- Music by
- Jeff Rona (man)
- Production design by
- Leslie Tomkins (man), Peter J. Hampton (man)
- Costumes by
- Judianna Makovsky (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
0 women, 3 men
-
Production
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Caroline Goodall 36
Men
Eric Michael Cole 18, Jeremy Sisto 21, Ryan Phillippe 21, Jason Marsden 21, David Lascher 23, Scott Wolf 27, Jeff Bridges 46, John Savage 46, David Selby 54
Exhibit G: the money
It made 27% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $38 million
- Box office
- $10.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 148 scenes and 1,082 lines of dialogue. How the test works
