Passes the Bechdel test

Bonnie and Clyde

1967. Directed by Arthur Penn, written by David Newman and Robert Benton and Robert Towne.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    4 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 5 scenes out of 163.
  3. 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.

Poster for Bonnie and Clyde

The film

1934. Young adults Bonnie Parker, a waitress, and Clyde Barrow, a criminal just released from prison, are immediately attracted to what the other represents for their life when they meet by chance in West Dallas, Texas. Bonnie is fascinated with Clyde's criminal past, and his matter-of-factness and bravado in talking about it. Clyde sees in Bonnie someone sympathetic to his goals. Although attracted to each other physically, a sexual relationship between the two has obstacles. They decide to join forces to embark on a life of crime, holding up whatever establishments, primarily banks, to make money and to have fun. They don't plan on hurting anyone or killing despite wielding loaded guns. They amass a small gang of willing accomplices, including C.W. Moss, a mechanic to fix whatever cars they steal which is important especially for their getaways, and Buck Barrow, one of Clyde's older brothers. The only reluctant tag-along is Buck's nervous wife, Blanche Barrow, a preacher's daughter. The gang's life changes after the first fatal shot is fired. After that, their willingness to shoot to kill increases to protect themselves and their livelihood. Their notoriety precedes them, so much so that no matter what one's opinion is of them, most want to have some association to the Barrow gang, to help them, to be spoken in the same breath as them, or to capture and or kill them. Of the many people they encounter in their crime spree, the one who may have the most profound effect on their lives is Texas Ranger, Frank Hamer, who seeks retribution.

Released
14 Aug 1967
Genres
Action, Biography, Crime
Rated
R
IMDb
7.7 / 10
Metascore
86 / 100
Awards
Won 2 Oscars. 23 wins & 29 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Clyde 238 lines, man
  2. Bonnie 183 lines, woman
  3. Buck 85 lines, man
  4. Blanche 41 lines, woman
  5. Malcolm 22 lines, man
  6. Eugene 13 lines, man
  7. Farmer 12 lines, man
  8. Hamer 11 lines, man
  9. Velma 8 lines, woman
  10. Man 7 lines, man
Full cast, 16 people
  • Warren Beatty as Clyde Barrow
  • Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker
  • Michael J. Pollard as C. W. Moss
  • Gene Hackman as Buck Barrow
  • Estelle Parsons as Blanche
  • Denver Pyle as Frank Hamer
  • Dub Taylor as Ivan Moss
  • Evans Evans as Velma Davis
  • Gene Wilder as Eugene Grizzard
  • Mabel Cavitt as Bonnie's mother (uncredited)
  • Patrick Cranshaw as Bank Teller (uncredited)
  • Owen Bush as Policeman (uncredited)
  • Clyde Howdy as Deputy (uncredited)
  • Russ Marker as Bank Guard (uncredited)
  • Ann Palmer as Bonnie's Sister (uncredited)
  • Ken Mayer as Sheriff Smoot (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 163

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 410
5 to 853
9 to 121615
13 to 1621
17 to 201012
21 to 241128
25 to 28310
29 to 3203
33 to 3604
37 to 40129
41 to 4489
45 to 4803
49 to 5202
53 to 5614
57 to 601210
61 to 64742
65 to 6839
69 to 721310
73 to 7653
77 to 801511
81 to 84435
85 to 8813
89 to 9208
93 to 961020
97 to 10013
101 to 104710
105 to 108719
109 to 1121214
113 to 116128
117 to 1201310
121 to 12410
125 to 12800
129 to 13274
133 to 13620
137 to 14042
141 to 14404
145 to 148122
149 to 1521413
153 to 156929
157 to 1601012
161 to 16312

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.

BONNIE: Hello. BLANCHE: Hello.
BLANCHE: Please! Please! BONNIE: Shut up! Just shut up your big mouth! At least do that, will ya, just shut up.
BONNIE: WHAT? BLANCHE: Well, why not? Say I earned my share! Same as everybody. I coulda got killed same as everybody, and I'm wanted by the law same as everybody.…
BONNIE: How old are you, honey? VELMA: Thirty-three.
BONNIE: Well, why don't you all go play with it somewhere else? BLANCHE: What's bothering her?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 37 are women's.

240 lines from women, 406 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 11 men in the cast. 3 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 30 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 33% of the words (2,331), men 67% (4,825). Women have 37% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 8 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Arthur Penn (man)
Written by
Robert Benton (man), David Newman (man)
Produced by
Warren Beatty (man)
Shot by
Burnett Guffey (man)
Edited by
Dede Allen (woman)
Music by
Charles Strouse (man)
Costumes by
Theadora Van Runkle (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    1 women, 11 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 3 men

  • Production

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 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

Faye Dunaway 26, Evans Evans 34, Estelle Parsons 39

Men

Michael J. Pollard 28, Warren Beatty 30, Gene Wilder 34, Gene Hackman 37, Denver Pyle 47, Dub Taylor 60

Exhibit H: the money

It made 28.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$2.5 million
Box office
$70 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 163 scenes and 660 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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