Fails the Bechdel test
Breaking Away
1979. Directed by Peter Yates, written by Steve Tesich.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 6 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
Best friends Dave, Mike, Cyril and Moocher have just graduated from high school. Living in the college town of Bloomington, Indiana, they are considered "cutters": the working class of the town so named since most of the middle aged generation, such as their parents, worked at the local limestone quarry, which is now a swimming hole. There is great animosity between the cutters and the generally wealthy Indiana University students, each group who have their own turf in town. The dichotomy is that the limestone was used to build the university, which is now seen as being too good for the locals who built it. Although each of the four is a totally different personality from the other three, they also have in common the fact of being unfocused and unmotivated in life. The one slight exception is Dave. Although he has no job and doesn't know what to do with his life, he is a champion bicycle racer. He idolizes the Italian cycling team so much he pretends to be Italian, much to the chagrin of his parents, especially his used car salesman father, Ray Stoller, who just doesn't understand his son. Dave crosses the unofficial line when he meets and wants to date a IU co-ed named Katherine Bennett, who, intrigued by Dave, in turn is already dating Rod, one of the big men on campus. Dave passes himself off to her as an Italian exchange student named Enrico Gismondi. Beyond Katarina as he calls her, Dave's main immediate focus is that the Italian cycling team have announced that they will be in Indianapolis for an upcoming race, which he intends to enter to be able to race his idols. After an incident at the race, Dave, with a little help from his parents and unwittingly by actions of his friends, has to reexamine his life, what he really wants to get out of it and how best to start achieving it.
- Released
- 20 Jul 1979
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Sport
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 91 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 11 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dave 132 lines, man
- Cyril 61 lines, man
- Moocher 41 lines, man
- Mike 40 lines, man
- X 31 lines
- Katherine 25 lines, woman
- Rod 20 lines, man
- Nancy 16 lines, woman
- Girl 9 lines, woman
- Announcer 7 lines
Full cast, 42 people
- Dennis Christopher as Dave Stoller
- Dennis Quaid as Mike
- Daniel Stern as Cyril
- Jackie Earle Haley as Moocher
- Barbara Barrie as Evelyn Stoller
- Paul Dooley as Ray Stoller
- Robyn Douglass as Katherine
- Hart Bochner as Rod
- Amy Wright as Nancy
- Peter Maloney as Doctor
- John Ashton as Mike's Brother
- Lisa Shure as French Girl
- Jennifer K. Mickel as Girl
- P. J. Soles as Suzy
- David K. Blase as 500 Race Announcer
- William S. Armstrong as 500 Race Official
- Howard S. Wilcox as 500 Race Official
- J.F. Brière as Mr. York
- Carlos Sintes as Italian Rider
- Eddy Van Guyse as Italian Rider
- Alvin E. Bailey as Stone Cutter
- Harold Elgar as Stone Cutter
- Floyd E. Todd as Stone Cutter
- Robert Woolery as Stone Cutter
- Russell E. Freeman as Stone Cutter
- Jimmy Grant as Black Student Leader
- Gail L. Horton as Fight Spectator
- Woody Hueston as Owner of Car Wash
- Jennifer F. Nolan as Anthem Singer
- Nora Owens as Woman
- Douglas Rafferty as Sports Announcer
- Bill Ringgenberg as Race Starter
- John W. Ryan as University President
- Morris Salzman as Blond Guy
- Tom Schwoegler as Team Captain
- Mike Silveus as Homecoming Car Kid
- Gregg Forrest as (uncredited)
- Dan Levinson as Pedestrian (uncredited)
- Steve Miner as Student (uncredited)
- Tom Ohmer as Fraternity Jock (uncredited)
- Bart A. Reed as Student (uncredited)
- John Vande Velde as Italian Rider (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 21% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 121
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 3 | 0 | 55 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 23 |
| 13 to 15 | 10 | 11 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 9 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 3 |
| 25 to 27 | 4 | 7 |
| 28 to 30 | 2 | 10 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 3 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 6 | 7 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 6 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 1 | 1 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 10 |
| 61 to 63 | 3 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 2 | 3 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 5 | 16 |
| 73 to 75 | 4 | 7 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 22 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 6 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 6 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 1 | 6 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 11 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 5 |
| 106 to 108 | 7 | 30 |
| 109 to 111 | 3 | 9 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 2 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 6 |
| 118 to 120 | 1 | 6 |
| 121 to 121 | 3 | 6 |
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, 17 are women's.
63 lines from women, 308 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 10 men in the cast. 6 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 78 of 471.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 77 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 17% of the words (873), men 83% (4,389).
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
1
Two men
38
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Peter Yates (man)
- Written by
- Steve Tesich (man)
- Produced by
- Peter Yates (man)
- Shot by
- Matthew F. Leonetti (man)
- Edited by
- Cynthia Scheider (woman)
- Music by
- Patrick Williams (man)
- Costumes by
- Betsy Cox (woman)
- Cast by
- Jane Feinberg (woman), Mike Fenton (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men
-
Art
2 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 29 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Robyn Douglass 25, Amy Wright 29, Barbara Barrie 48
Men
Jackie Earle Haley 17, Daniel Stern 21, Hart Bochner 22, Dennis Quaid 25, Dennis Christopher 28, Peter Maloney 37, Paul Dooley 51
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $2.3 million
- Box office
- $20 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 121 scenes and 471 lines of dialogue. How the test works
