Passes the Bechdel test
Bull Durham
1988. Directed by Ron Shelton, written by Ron Shelton.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
2 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 129. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
It's the start of the minor league baseball season, and Annie Savoy, for who baseball is *the* religion, is going through the annual process of choosing the one player on her home team of the Durham Bulls of the Carolina League, he who she will take under her wings, sexual and otherwise, solely for the season, and who has always gone on to have his best year as a player. She has narrowed her choice to two recent acquires: Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, the wild neophyte pitcher with a wicked fastball - the pitch on which he solely relies - but can't aim, the more he thinks about it, the more erratic the pitch gets, while he doesn't appreciate anyone criticizing him or it in believing he knows best in his lack of self-awareness; and catcher Crash Davis, the veteran who has been around the minor leagues for twelve years and who was brought in solely to harness and reign in Ebby's power. While Ebby would gladly accept Annie's offer in seeing sex as an inherent part of his being, Crash, who is as philosophical in being a thinker as he is athletic, takes himself out of the running - the first player ever to do so - as, although attracted to her, does not see sex as the "game" she seems to treat it, especially as he knows he is nearing the end of his baseball playing career. Part of Annie's initial transformation of Ebby is to give him that nickname he sorely wants - Nuke - to match his pitches. Thus begins Annie, Crash and Nuke's three-way season-long relationship as they evolve because of it as baseball, sexual and human beings.
- Released
- 15 Jun 1988
- Genres
- Comedy, Romance, Sport
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 73 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Annie 214 lines, woman
- Crash 191 lines, man
- Nuke 167 lines, man
- Skip 61 lines, man
- Ebby 38 lines, man
- Larry 22 lines, man
- Millie 19 lines, woman
- Deke 14 lines, man
- Tony 11 lines, man
- Bobby 10 lines, man
Full cast, 45 people
- Kevin Costner as Crash Davis
- Susan Sarandon as Annie Savoy
- Tim Robbins as Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh
- Trey Wilson as Skip
- Robert Wuhl as Larry
- William O'Leary as Jimmy
- David Neidorf as Bobby
- Danny Gans as Deke
- Tom Silardi as Tony
- Jenny Robertson as Millie
- Rick Marzan as Jose
- George Buck as Nuke's Father
- Lloyd T. Williams as Mickey
- Max Patkin as Self
- Gregory Avellone as Doc
- Garland Bunting as Teddy (Radio Announcer)
- Robert Dickman as Whitey
- Timothy Kirk as Ed
- Don Davis as Scared Batter
- Stephen Ware as Umpire
- Tobi Eshelman as Bat Boy
- C.K. Bibby as Mayor
- Henry G. Sanders as Sandy
- Antoinette Forsyth as Ballpark Announcer
- Shirley Anne Ritter as Cocktail Waitress
- Pete Bock as Minister
- Alan Mejia as Chu Chu
- Sid Aikens as Core Baseball Player
- Craig Brown as Core Baseball Player
- Wes Currin as Core Baseball Player
- Butch Davis as Core Baseball Player
- Paul Devlin as Core Baseball Player
- Jeff Greene as Core Baseball Player
- Kelly Heath as Core Baseball Player
- Mo Johnson as Core Baseball Player
- Tim Kirk as Core Baseball Player
- Todd Kopeznski as Core Baseball Player
- John Lovingood as Core Baseball Player
- Eddie Matthews as Core Baseball Player
- Alan Paternoster as Core Baseball Player
- Bill Robinson as Core Baseball Player
- Dean Robinson as Core Baseball Player
- Tom Schultz as Core Baseball Player
- Sam Veraldi as Core Baseball Player
- ElChico Williams as Core Baseball Player
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 129
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 | 9 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 5 | 18 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 3 |
| 13 to 15 | 4 | 43 |
| 16 to 18 | 16 | 31 |
| 19 to 21 | 17 | 17 |
| 22 to 24 | 5 | 4 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 29 |
| 28 to 30 | 23 | 26 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 16 |
| 34 to 36 | 5 | 48 |
| 37 to 39 | 7 | 3 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 23 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 2 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 1 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 2 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 8 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 12 |
| 61 to 63 | 4 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 17 |
| 67 to 69 | 1 | 9 |
| 70 to 72 | 2 | 3 |
| 73 to 75 | 16 | 28 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 13 |
| 79 to 81 | 8 | 19 |
| 82 to 84 | 10 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 3 | 15 |
| 88 to 90 | 32 | 30 |
| 91 to 93 | 20 | 31 |
| 94 to 96 | 5 | 20 |
| 97 to 99 | 16 | 24 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 24 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 19 |
| 106 to 108 | 3 | 25 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 10 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 1 |
| 115 to 117 | 5 | 2 |
| 118 to 120 | 2 | 0 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 2 |
| 124 to 126 | 3 | 1 |
| 127 to 129 | 9 | 6 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
ANNIE: -- Millie, you've got to stay out of the clubhouse. It'll just get everybody in trouble. MILLIE: I got lured. ANNIE: You didn't get "lured". Women never get lured. They're too strong and powerful for that. Now say it -- "I didn't get lured and I will take r… MILLIE: "I didn't get lured and I will take responsibility for my actions".
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 29 are women's.
245 lines from women, 595 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
2 women and 18 men in the cast. 2 women and 17 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 66 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 32% of the words (3,392), men 68% (7,112). Women have 29% 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
7
Two men
56
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ron Shelton (man)
- Written by
- Ron Shelton (man)
- Produced by
- Mark Burg (man), Thom Mount (man)
- Shot by
- Bobby Byrne (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Leighton (man), Adam Weiss (man)
- Music by
- Michael Convertino (man)
- Production design by
- Armin Ganz (man)
- Costumes by
- Louise Frogley (woman)
- Cast by
- Bonnie Timmermann (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 18 men, 15 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jenny Robertson 24, Susan Sarandon 41
Men
David Neidorf 25, Tim Robbins 29, William O'Leary 30, Danny Gans 31, Kevin Costner 33, Robert Wuhl 36, Trey Wilson 40
Exhibit H: the money
It made 7.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $50.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 129 scenes and 881 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
