Passes the Bechdel test
Body Heat
1981. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, written by Lawrence Kasdan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 194. -
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 2 out of 3.
The film
Ned Racine is a seedy small town lawyer in Florida. During a searing heatwave he's picked up by married Matty Walker. A passionate affair commences but it isn't long before they realise the only thing standing in their way is Matty's rich husband Edmund. A plot hatches to kill him but will they pull it off?
- Released
- 28 Aug 1981
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 77 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award. 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Racine 342 lines, man
- Matty 247 lines, woman
- Lowenstein 59 lines, man
- Grace 39 lines, man
- Walker 38 lines
- Hardin 33 lines, man
- Teddy 17 lines, man
- Stella 16 lines, woman
- Beverly 12 lines, woman
- Glenn 11 lines, man
Full cast, 25 people
- William Hurt as Ned Racine
- Kathleen Turner as Matty Walker
- Richard Crenna as Edmund Walker
- Ted Danson as Peter Lowenstein
- J.A. Preston as Oscar Grace
- Mickey Rourke as Teddy Lewis
- Kim Zimmer as Mary Ann
- Jane Hallaren as Stella
- Lanna Saunders as Roz Kraft
- Carola McGuinness as Heather Kraft
- Michael M. Ryan as Miles Hardin
- Larry Marko as Judge Costanza
- Deborah Lucchesi as Beverly
- Lynn Hallowell as Angela
- Thom Sharp as Michael Glenn
- Ruth Thom as Mrs. Singer
- Diane Lewis as Glenda
- Robert Traynor as Prison Trustee
- Meg Kasdan as Nurse
- Ruth P. Strahan as Betty the Housekeeper
- Filomena Triscari as Hostess at Tulio's
- Bruce A. Lee as Man on Beach
- Ramiro Velasco as Cuban Trio
- Tomas Choy as Cuban Trio
- Servio T. Moreno as Cuban Trio
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 194
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 5 | 15 | 26 |
| 6 to 10 | 26 | 25 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 25 | 35 | 33 |
| 26 to 30 | 7 | 6 |
| 31 to 35 | 6 | 7 |
| 36 to 40 | 6 | 7 |
| 41 to 45 | 10 | 6 |
| 46 to 50 | 10 | 6 |
| 51 to 55 | 23 | 41 |
| 56 to 60 | 3 | 3 |
| 61 to 65 | 14 | 17 |
| 66 to 70 | 18 | 34 |
| 71 to 75 | 5 | 19 |
| 76 to 80 | 5 | 5 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 0 |
| 86 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 95 | 2 | 0 |
| 96 to 100 | 4 | 0 |
| 101 to 105 | 8 | 3 |
| 106 to 110 | 27 | 17 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 0 |
| 116 to 120 | 7 | 0 |
| 121 to 125 | 0 | 2 |
| 126 to 130 | 0 | 2 |
| 131 to 135 | 1 | 4 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 1 |
| 141 to 145 | 20 | 61 |
| 146 to 150 | 7 | 41 |
| 151 to 155 | 10 | 45 |
| 156 to 160 | 10 | 8 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 0 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 22 |
| 171 to 175 | 3 | 18 |
| 176 to 180 | 11 | 21 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 2 |
| 186 to 190 | 15 | 14 |
| 191 to 194 | 4 | 14 |
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.
MATTY: Do you want to stay for dinner? MARY ANN: Got to go, got to go. MARY ANN: You two have fun now.
HEATHER: Hi, Aunt Matty! MATTY: Heather. What a surprise.
ROZ: What do you say? HEATHER: I did. MATTY: She did. HEATHER: Thank you, Aunt Matty.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.
312 lines from women, 510 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 9 men in the cast. 8 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 868.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 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 (3,572), men 64% (6,372). Women have 38% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
5
Two men
21
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lawrence Kasdan (man)
- Written by
- Lawrence Kasdan (man)
- Produced by
- Fred T. Gallo (man)
- Shot by
- Richard H. Kline (man)
- Edited by
- Carol Littleton (woman)
- Music by
- John Barry (man)
- Production design by
- Bill Kenney (man)
- Costumes by
- Renié (woman)
- Cast by
- Wallis Nicita (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kim Zimmer 26, Kathleen Turner 27, Lanna Saunders 39, Jane Hallaren 41
Men
Mickey Rourke 28, William Hurt 31, Ted Danson 33, J.A. Preston 48, Richard Crenna 54
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $9 million
- Box office
- $24.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 194 scenes and 868 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
