Passes the Bechdel test

Anatomy of a Murder

Name: Anatomy of a Murder
Released: 1959

1959. Directed by Otto Preminger, written by Wendell Mayes and John D. Voelker.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 77.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), a lieutenant in the army, is arrested for the murder of a bartender, Barney Quill. He claims, in his defense, that the victim had raped and beaten up his wife Laura (Lee Remick). Although Laura supports her husband's story, the local paper has reported that the police surgeon can find no evidence that she has been raped. Manion is defended by Paul Biegler (James Stewart), a humble small-town lawyer and recently deposed district attorney. During the course of interviews, Biegler discovers that Manion is violently possessive and jealous, and also that his wife has a reputation for flirting with other men. Biegler realizes that the prosecution will try to make the court believe that Laura had been drunk and was picked up by the bartender and then her husband killed him and beat her up when he discovered they had been together. Manion pleads "not guilty" and Biegler, who knows that his case is weak, tries to find evidence that will save Manion.

Released: 13 Jul 1959
Genres: Drama, Mystery
Rated: Approved
IMDb: 8 / 10
Metascore: 95 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 7 Oscars. 10 wins & 18 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Paul 574 lines, man
Dancer 195 lines, man
Laura 158 lines, woman
Judge Weaver 114 lines, man
Manion 114 lines, man
Mitch 107 lines, man
Paquette 86 lines, man
Parnell 71 lines, man
Mary 45 lines, woman
Maida 34 lines, woman

Full cast, 28 people

James Stewart as Paul Biegler
Lee Remick as Laura Manion
Ben Gazzara as Lt. Frederick Manion
Arthur O'Connell as Parnell Emmett McCarthy
Eve Arden as Maida Rutledge
Kathryn Grant as Mary Pilant
George C. Scott as Claude Dancer
Orson Bean as Dr. Matthew Smith
Russ Brown as George Lemon
Murray Hamilton as Alphonse Paquette
Brooks West as Dist. Atty. Mitch Lodwick
Ken Lynch as Det. Sgt. James Durgo
John Qualen as Deputy Sheriff Sulo
Howard McNear as Dr. Dompierre
Alexander Campbell as Dr. W. Gregory Harcourt
Ned Wever as Dr. Raschid
Jimmy Conlin as Clarence Madigan
Joseph N. Welch as Judge Weaver
Royal Beal as Sheriff Battisfore
Joseph Kearns as Lloyd Burke
Don Ross as Duane 'Duke' Miller
Lloyd Le Vasseur as Court clerk
James Waters as Army Sergeant 1st Class
Duke Ellington as Pie Eye (uncredited)
Irv Kupcinet as Distinguished Gentleman (uncredited)
Chuck Ramsay as Orderly (uncredited)
Agnes Rodgers Brown as Juror (uncredited)
Lawrence K. Paquin as Jury Foreman

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 77

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	4
5 to 6	0	0
7 to 8	0	0
9 to 10	0	1
11 to 12	0	0
13 to 14	2	27
15 to 16	5	4
17 to 18	0	3
19 to 20	0	0
21 to 22	12	12
23 to 24	6	82
25 to 26	0	42
27 to 28	52	85
29 to 30	0	17
31 to 32	11	15
33 to 34	3	14
35 to 36	0	24
37 to 38	0	3
39 to 40	12	22
41 to 42	18	38
43 to 44	3	32
45 to 46	0	19
47 to 48	0	0
49 to 50	0	0
51 to 52	0	9
53 to 54	1	93
55 to 56	6	6
57 to 58	0	0
59 to 60	4	379
61 to 62	0	1
63 to 64	0	10
65 to 66	8	72
67 to 68	56	119
69 to 70	1	63
71 to 72	30	215
73 to 74	10	15
75 to 76	0	4
77 to 77	0	10

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.

MAIDA: Why? I've been around. LAURA: Hi.

MARY: .A.menu?· MAIDA: Thank you.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 14 are women's.

240 lines from women, 1440 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 20 men in the cast. 3 women and 23 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 35 of 1,741. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 201 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 14% of the words (2,904), men 86% (18,291).

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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Otto Preminger (man)
Written by: Wendell Mayes (man)
From the novel by: John D. Voelker (man)
Produced by: Otto Preminger (man)
Shot by: Sam Leavitt (man)
Edited by: Louis R. Loeffler (man)
Music by: Duke Ellington (man)
Production design by: Boris Leven (man)
Costumes by: Paula Giokaris (gender not listed), Hope Bryce (woman), Vou Lee Giokaris (gender not listed)