Fails the Bechdel test

Basket Case

Name: Basket Case
Released: 1982

1982. Directed by Frank Henenlotter, written by Frank Henenlotter.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
2 women characters. 1 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.

Second opinion

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

The film

While leaving home, Dr Julius Lifflander feels something strange on the street and returns home. He locks up in the house, tries to call the police but is attacked and murdered. In New York City, a man named Duane Bradley arrives from Glenn Falls and check in the very low-budget Hotel Broslin. He pays the manager Anthony in cash and stays in room 7, where he opens a basket and feeds something with many hamburgers and reads the medical record from Dr. Lifflander. He looks in the phone book for the address of Dr Harold Needleman and goes to visit him with his basket. The receptionist Sharon hits on Duane and they schedule a date. When Dr. Needleman sees the scars on Duane, he sends him away and unsuccessfully tries to contact Dr. Lifflander. He calls Dr. Judith Kutter, who does not give much attention to him, but advises Dr. Needleman to deny anything about Glenn Falls. What is the secret of Duane's basket and what is the mystery of the three doctors?

Released: 02 Apr 1982
Genres: Comedy, Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.2 / 10
Metascore: 77 / 100
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Duane 178 lines, man
Sharon 66 lines, woman
Casey 49 lines, woman
Manager 29 lines, man
Pillsbury 22 lines, man
Needleman 19 lines, man
Detective 16 lines
Kutter 15 lines
Dirty Lou 12 lines, man
Father 11 lines, man

Full cast, 34 people

Kevin Van Hentenryck as Duane Bradley
Terri Susan Smith as Sharon
Beverly Bonner as Casey
Robert Vogel as Hotel Manager
Diana Browne as Dr. Judith Kutter
Lloyd Pace as Dr. Harold Needleman
Bill Freeman as Dr. Julius Lifflander
Ruth Neuman as Duane's Aunt
Richard Pierce as Duane's Father
Sean McCabe as Young Duane
Dorothy Strongin as Josephine
Kerry Ruff as Detective
Ilze Balodis as Social Worker
Tom Robinson as Thief in Theater
Chris Babson as Kutter's Date
Maria T. Newland as Patient
Florence Shultz as Nurse
Mary Ellen Shultz as Nurse
Constantine Scopas as Hotel Tenant
Charles Stanley as Hotel Tenant
Sydney Best as Hotel Tenant
Johnny Ray Williams as Hotel Tenant
Yousef Abuhamdeh as Hotel Tenant
Lubi Kirsch as Hotel Tenant
Catherine Russell as Hotel Tenant
Mitchell Huval as Hotel Tenant
Noel Hall as Drug Dealer
Bruce Frankel as Second Detective
Pat Ivers as Street Girl
Emily Armstrong as Street Girl
Russell Fritz as Casey's John
Jerry Butler as Casey Greeter (uncredited)
Frank Henenlotter as Theater Patron (uncredited)
Joe Clarke

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 91

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	5
3 to 4	0	5
5 to 6	0	0
7 to 8	0	1
9 to 10	0	14
11 to 12	0	2
13 to 14	1	18
15 to 16	21	18
17 to 18	31	14
19 to 20	0	38
21 to 22	5	6
23 to 24	1	2
25 to 26	0	1
27 to 28	5	2
29 to 30	0	1
31 to 32	0	0
33 to 34	0	0
35 to 36	0	2
37 to 38	0	6
39 to 40	0	1
41 to 42	6	3
43 to 44	4	17
45 to 46	2	2
47 to 48	6	24
49 to 50	0	0
51 to 52	22	25
53 to 54	2	1
55 to 56	1	0
57 to 58	0	13
59 to 60	0	6
61 to 62	2	10
63 to 64	2	4
65 to 66	1	4
67 to 68	0	17
69 to 70	0	1
71 to 72	0	7
73 to 74	6	4
75 to 76	14	4
77 to 78	4	8
79 to 80	0	0
81 to 82	0	0
83 to 84	0	0
85 to 86	0	0
87 to 88	1	6
89 to 90	1	2
91 to 91	0	0

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, 32 are women's.

138 lines from women, 294 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

2 women and 5 men in the cast. 1 women and 3 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 49 of 496. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 48 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 39% of the words (2,202), men 61% (3,515). Women have 32% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

None of the 6 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Frank Henenlotter (man)
Written by: Frank Henenlotter (man)
Produced by: Edgar Ievins (gender not listed)
Shot by: Bruce Torbet (gender not listed)
Edited by: Frank Henenlotter (man)
Music by: Gus Russo (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

Production

0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
Sound

0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
Camera

0 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
Directing

0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Editing

1 women, 1 men
Writing

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 38 on average. Men: 26 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Beverly Bonner 38

Men

Sean McCabe 17, Kevin Van Hentenryck 28, Robert Vogel 32

Exhibit G: the money

What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.

Budget: $35,000
Box office: Not listed

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 91 scenes and 496 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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