Passes the Bechdel test
Black Christmas
1974. Directed by Bob Clark, written by Roy Moore.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 32. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
It's time for Christmas break, and the sorority sisters make plans for the holiday, but the strange anonymous phone calls are beginning to put them on edge. When Clare disappears, they contact the police, who don't express much concern. Meanwhile Jess is planning to get an abortion, but boyfriend Peter is very much against it. The police finally begin to get concerned when a 13-year-old girl is found dead in the park. They set up a wiretap to the sorority house, but will they be in time to prevent a sorority girl attrition problem?
- Released
- 11 Oct 1974
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 65 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jess 127 lines, woman
- Lieutenant Fuller 55 lines, man
- Barb 43 lines, woman
- Phil 37 lines
- Mrs. Mac 33 lines, woman
- Peter 27 lines, man
- Mr. Harrison 15 lines, man
- Sergeant 14 lines
- Caller 13 lines
- Chris 12 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- Olivia Hussey as Jess
- Keir Dullea as Peter
- Margot Kidder as Barb
- John Saxon as Lt. Fuller
- Marian Waldman as Mrs. Mac
- Andrea Martin as Phyl
- James Edmond as Mr. Harrison
- Doug McGrath as Sargeant Nash
- Art Hindle as Chris
- Lynne Griffin as Clare
- Michael Rapport as Patrick
- Leslie Carlson as Graham
- Martha Gibson as Mrs. Quaife
- John Rutter as Laughing Detective
- Robert Warner as Doctor
- Sydney Brown as Farmer
- Jack Van Evera as Search Party
- Les Rubie as Search Party
- Marcia Diamond as Woman
- Pam Barney as Jean
- Robert Hawkins as Wes
- David Clement as Cogan
- Dave Mann as Cop
- John Stoneham Sr. as Cop
- Danny Gain as Cop
- Tom Foreman as Cop
- Bob Clark as Prowler Shadow / Phone Voice (uncredited)
- Nick Mancuso as The Prowler / Phone Voice (uncredited)
- Ann Sweeny as Phone Voice (voice) (uncredited)
- Gerry Arbeid as Cab Driver (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 26% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 32
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 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 3 | 34 | 4 |
| 4 to 4 | 18 | 7 |
| 5 to 5 | 2 | 0 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 to 8 | 3 | 3 |
| 9 to 9 | 4 | 3 |
| 10 to 10 | 17 | 15 |
| 11 to 11 | 4 | 5 |
| 12 to 12 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 to 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 to 14 | 13 | 0 |
| 15 to 15 | 29 | 4 |
| 16 to 16 | 9 | 13 |
| 17 to 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 19 | 1 | 0 |
| 20 to 20 | 1 | 1 |
| 21 to 21 | 2 | 5 |
| 22 to 22 | 10 | 3 |
| 23 to 23 | 0 | 1 |
| 24 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 to 26 | 19 | 30 |
| 27 to 27 | 1 | 1 |
| 28 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 29 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 to 30 | 6 | 5 |
| 31 to 31 | 59 | 33 |
| 32 to 32 | 2 | 13 |
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.
JESS: Sure, Barb! BARB: My mother's taking a place up at Mount Holly. Anybody else want to come?
MRS. MAC: Oh Girls, it's lovely. I got about as much uSe for this as I do a chastity belt! JESS: Do the opening for us, Mrs. Mac. PHYL: Come on, Mrs. Mac... You haven't done it for us in months.
JESS: Yeah, I know. But you've got to find some time. I've got to talk to you. MRS. MAC: Turn out the lights, dear!
BARB: Jesus, they ought to call you Santa Crotch, instead of Santa Claus. PHYL: You're going to blow your image, Santa.
BARB: Little -known fact.... There are some species of turtles... or is 1t tortoises...no, it's turtles. There are some species of turtles... that… BARB: Oh, yes,... you may not believe me but I'm not making it up. They screw for three days. MRS. MAC: Barb, dear BARB: You don't believe me, do you? Well, it's true... three days without stopping! I'm lucky if I can get three minutes. Three days, honest 1inju…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 61 are women's.
234 lines from women, 150 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 14 men in the cast. 8 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 516.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 43 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 62% of the words (3,924), men 38% (2,420). Women have 61% 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
Two women
16
Two men
12
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 6 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 7% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bob Clark (man)
- Written by
- Roy Moore (man)
- Produced by
- Bob Clark (man)
- Shot by
- Reginald H. Morris (man)
- Edited by
- Stan Cole (man)
- Music by
- Carl Zittrer (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 0 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lynne Griffin 22, Olivia Hussey 23, Margot Kidder 25, Andrea Martin 27, Marian Waldman 49
Men
Art Hindle 26, Keir Dullea 38, John Saxon 39, Doug McGrath 39
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $686,000
- Box office
- $4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 32 scenes and 516 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
