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Passes the Bechdel test

Alien

1979. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    3 women characters. 7 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 9 scenes out of 180.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

Poster for Alien

The film

In the distant future, the commercial spaceship "Nostromo" crew is on its way home when the crew picks up a distress call from a distant moon. The crew must investigate, and the spaceship descends on the small planetoid afterwards. After a rough landing, three crew members leave the spaceship to explore the area on the planetoid. At the same time, the ship's computer deciphers the message. When the crew realizes it is not alone on the spaceship, they must deal with the consequences.

Released
22 Jun 1979
Genres
Sci-Fi
Rated
R
IMDb
8.4 / 10
Metascore
89 / 100
Awards
Won 1 Oscar. 19 wins & 22 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Dallas 132 lines, man
  2. Ripley 126 lines, woman
  3. Ash 77 lines, man
  4. Lambert 70 lines, woman
  5. Parker 70 lines, man
  6. Kane 56 lines, man
  7. Brett 38 lines, man
  8. Ase 3 lines
  9. Mother 3 lines, woman
  10. Ripley - 3 lines, woman
Full cast, 9 people
  • Tom Skerritt as Dallas
  • Sigourney Weaver as Ripley
  • Veronica Cartwright as Lambert
  • Harry Dean Stanton as Brett
  • John Hurt as Kane
  • Ian Holm as Ash
  • Yaphet Kotto as Parker
  • Bolaji Badejo as Alien
  • Helen Horton as Mother (voice)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 180

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 400
5 to 815
9 to 12519
13 to 16612
17 to 201032
21 to 2422
25 to 2821
29 to 32312
33 to 36617
37 to 40617
41 to 4429
45 to 48912
49 to 52014
53 to 56616
57 to 60721
61 to 6411
65 to 6855
69 to 72515
73 to 761225
77 to 8015
81 to 84714
85 to 8823
89 to 9234
93 to 9602
97 to 100929
101 to 1041417
105 to 1081718
109 to 11256
113 to 11601
117 to 12033
121 to 12479
125 to 12802
129 to 13201
133 to 13650
137 to 14000
141 to 1442619
145 to 14893
149 to 15234
153 to 15632
157 to 16020
161 to 16420
165 to 16800
169 to 17200
173 to 17600
177 to 18010

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.
RIPLEY: Transmission? Out here? LAMBERT: What kind of transnission? Cont.
RIPLEY: What the hell is it. It doesn't sound like any racio signal I've ever heard. LAMBERT: Maybe it's a voice.
LAMBERT: One kilometer on ascension. RIPLEY: Engage artificial gravity. Lambert throws a switch. The ship lurches. LAMBERT: Engaged. Cont.
LAMBERT: We can't kill it. If we do, it will spill its body acids right through the hull... Cont. 117 Cont RIPLEY: We have to catch it and eject it from the ship.
LAMBERT: Anything down there. RIPLEY: Nothing. RIPLEY: Hold it. I've got something. Cont.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.

207 lines from women, 377 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

3 women and 6 men in the cast. 7 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 604. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 19 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 36% of the words (2,424), men 64% (4,381). Women have 35% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 7% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Ridley Scott (man)
Written by
Dan O'Bannon (man)
Story by
Dan O'Bannon (man), Ronald Shusett (man)
Produced by
Gordon Carroll (man), David Giler (man), Walter Hill (man)
Shot by
Derek Vanlint (man)
Edited by
Terry Rawlings (man), Peter Weatherley (man)
Music by
Jerry Goldsmith (man)
Production design by
Michael Seymour (man)
Costumes by
John Mollo (man)
Cast by
Mary Goldberg (woman), Mary Selway (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Art

    0 women, 8 men, 5 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 8 men, 5 not listed

  • Production

    2 women, 6 men, 5 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 8 men, 3 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 3 men, 4 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 38 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Sigourney Weaver 29, Veronica Cartwright 30, Helen Horton 55

Men

Bolaji Badejo 25, John Hurt 39, Yaphet Kotto 39, Tom Skerritt 45, Ian Holm 47, Harry Dean Stanton 52

Exhibit H: the money

It made 9.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$11 million
Box office
$105 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 180 scenes and 604 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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