Fails the Bechdel test

Bottle Rocket

Name: Bottle Rocket
Released: 1996

1996. Directed by Wes Anderson, written by Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

No 1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

Upon his release from a mental hospital following a nervous breakdown, the directionless Anthony joins his friend Dignan, who seems far less sane than the former. Dignan has hatched a hare-brained scheme for an as-yet-unspecified crime spree that somehow involves his former boss, the (supposedly) legendary Mr. Henry. With the help of their pathetic neighbor and pal Bob, Anthony and Dignan pull a job and hit the road, where Anthony finds love with motel maid Inez. When our boys finally hook up with Mr. Henry, the ensuing escapade turns out to be far from what anyone expected.

Released: 21 Feb 1996
Genres: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.9 / 10
Metascore: 67 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Dignan 459 lines, man
Anthony 353 lines, man
Bob 174 lines, man
Mr. Henry 63 lines, man
Applejack 26 lines, man
Future Man 16 lines, man
Man 16 lines, man
Inez 8 lines, woman
Employee 7 lines
Kumar 7 lines, man

Full cast, 37 people

Luke Wilson as Anthony Adams
Owen Wilson as Dignan
Robert Musgrave as Bob Mapplethorpe
Lumi Cavazos as Inez
James Caan as Mr. Abe Henry
Andrew Wilson as John "Future Man" Mapplethorpe
Teddy Wilson as Hector Mapplethorpe
Donny Caicedo as Rocky
Ned Dowd as Dr. Nichols
Jenni Tooley as Stacy Sinclair
Shea Fowler as Grace
Kumar Pallana as Kumar
Jim Ponds as Applejack
Haskel Craver as Jackson
Haley Miller as Bernice
Brian Tenenbaum as H. Clay Murchison
Temple Nash as Temple
Darryl Cox as Bookstore Manager
Dipak Pallana as Bookstore Employee
Stephen Dignan as Rob
Julie Mayfield as Wife in Motelroom
Don Phillips, Jr. as Husband in Motelroom
Anna Cifuentes as Carmen
Melinda Renna as Anita
Richard Reyes as Man in Bar
Julio Cesar Cedillo as Man outside Bar
Tak Kubota as Rowboat
Jill Parker-Jones as Motel Manager
Nena Smarz as Maid
Héctor García as Freezer Guy
Daniel R. Padgett as Freezer Guy
Russell Towery as Cop
Ben Loggins as Cop
Linn Mullin as Detective
Antonia Bogdanovich as Girl at Psych Hospital (uncredited)
Amanda Welles as Bob's Date
Jordan Elliott as Little Girl (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 96

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	10
3 to 4	0	8
5 to 6	1	28
7 to 8	0	18
9 to 10	0	24
11 to 12	0	49
13 to 14	0	17
15 to 16	0	24
17 to 18	2	24
19 to 20	0	34
21 to 22	0	24
23 to 24	4	44
25 to 26	0	15
27 to 28	0	0
29 to 30	0	16
31 to 32	2	11
33 to 34	0	18
35 to 36	0	7
37 to 38	1	13
39 to 40	2	4
41 to 42	4	6
43 to 44	0	5
45 to 46	0	32
47 to 48	0	27
49 to 50	0	27
51 to 52	0	0
53 to 54	2	12
55 to 56	0	25
57 to 58	0	6
59 to 60	0	25
61 to 62	1	28
63 to 64	0	0
65 to 66	0	31
67 to 68	0	14
69 to 70	0	3
71 to 72	0	18
73 to 74	0	34
75 to 76	0	22
77 to 78	0	31
79 to 80	0	18
81 to 82	0	52
83 to 84	0	38
85 to 86	0	25
87 to 88	2	48
89 to 90	0	33
91 to 92	0	111
93 to 94	0	2
95 to 96	0	79

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, 2 are women's.

21 lines from women, 1140 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

10 women and 14 men in the cast. 2 women and 11 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 27 of 1,193. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 325 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 1% of the words (87), men 99% (8,328). Women have 2% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wes Anderson (man)
Written by: Owen Wilson (man), Wes Anderson (man)
Produced by: Cynthia Hargrave (woman), Polly Platt (woman)
Shot by: Robert D. Yeoman (man)
Edited by: David Moritz (man)
Music by: Mark Mothersbaugh (man)
Production design by: David Wasco (man)
Costumes by: Karen Patch (woman)
Cast by: Liz Keigley (woman)

The crew, department by department

Sound

1 women, 11 men, 12 not listed
Production

4 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
Art

2 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
Camera

1 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

3 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
Directing

0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
Editing

1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
Other crew

0 women, 2 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 25 on average. Men: 36 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Jenni Tooley 23, Lumi Cavazos 27

Men

Luke Wilson 24, Owen Wilson 27, Andrew Wilson 31, Ned Dowd 45, James Caan 55

Exhibit G: the money

It made 15% of what it cost.

Budget: $7 million
Box office: $1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 96 scenes and 1,193 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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