Passes the Bechdel test

Clue

Name: Clue
Released: 1985

1985. Directed by Jonathan Lynn, written by John Landis and Jonathan Lynn and Anthony E. Pratt.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 6 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 126.
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.

The film

This is a movie about seven guests, a butler, and a maid, who are all involved in a series of murders. The guests all meet at Hill House, to learn that Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd) works in Washington, D.C., where everyone else lives. Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull) is a client of Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), the ex-employer of Yvette (Colleen Camp), the maid, who had an affair with the husband of Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), etc. Blackmailer Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving) gives each guest a weapon and tells him or her to kill butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry) to avoid being exposed. Add in Mrs. Peacock's (Eileen Brennan's) craziness and Mr. Green's (Michael McKean's) clumsiness, and meet a whole group tangled in a web of murder, lies, and hilarity.

Released: 13 Dec 1985
Genres: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Rated: PG
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 41 / 100
Awards: 1 win total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Wadsworth 310 lines, man
Miss Scarlet 101 lines, woman
Mr. Green 87 lines, man
Colonel Mustard 82 lines, man
Professor Plum 79 lines, man
Mrs. Peacock 70 lines, woman
Mrs. White 62 lines, woman
All 33 lines
Cop 33 lines, man
Colonel Mustaro 27 lines

Full cast, 17 people

Tim Curry as Wadsworth
Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock
Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White
Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum
Michael McKean as Mr. Green
Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard
Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet
Colleen Camp as Yvette
Lee Ving as Mr. Boddy
Bill Henderson as Cop
Jane Wiedlin as Singing Telegram Girl
Jeffrey Kramer as Motorist
Kellye Nakahara as Cook
Will Nye as Cop #1
Rick Goldman as Cop #2
Don Camp as Cop #3
Howard Hesseman as The Chief (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 126

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	0
4 to 6	3	13
7 to 9	5	9
10 to 12	2	3
13 to 15	1	3
16 to 18	33	32
19 to 21	2	18
22 to 24	32	52
25 to 27	0	3
28 to 30	20	27
31 to 33	30	51
34 to 36	3	13
37 to 39	7	23
40 to 42	0	1
43 to 45	1	5
46 to 48	5	19
49 to 51	4	7
52 to 54	5	6
55 to 57	1	1
58 to 60	0	1
61 to 63	0	1
64 to 66	4	3
67 to 69	13	16
70 to 72	2	1
73 to 75	10	17
76 to 78	0	12
79 to 81	5	7
82 to 84	4	7
85 to 87	2	7
88 to 90	2	18
91 to 93	1	2
94 to 96	0	1
97 to 99	2	0
100 to 102	0	3
103 to 105	4	1
106 to 108	0	1
109 to 111	1	1
112 to 114	2	18
115 to 117	2	23
118 to 120	12	35
121 to 123	8	31
124 to 126	51	162

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.

MISS SCARLET: Sure, I'll eat anything. YVETTE has been going round the table, with soup bowls. YVETTE: Shark '-s fin soup, Madame? MltS. PEACOCK gets some, then MISS SCARLET, then MRS. WHITE, then PROFESSOR PLUM, and COLONEL MUSTARD~ COLONEL M…

YVETTE: Excuse moi. MRS. PEACOCK: Mmm. Delicious This is one of my favorite recipes.

MISS SCARLET: Sure do. MRS. PEACOCK: Does anyone here not live in Washington, D.C.?-

MISS SCARLET: I'd say it stank! MRS. PEACOCK: How would you know, you've never been in th.:it mens room. PROFESSOR PLU?-1 So it's true. MRS. PEACOCK: No, it's· .3 vicious lie.

MISS SCARLET: Hmm. Very pretty· •. Would you like to see these, Yvette, they might shock you. YVETTE: .No., -thank .you. I ,am a lady. MISS SCARLET: And how do you know what sort of pictures they are, if you're such a lady?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 30 are women's.

279 lines from women, 654 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 10 men in the cast. 6 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,047. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 38 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 28% of the words (3,762), men 72% (9,715). Women have 30% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jonathan Lynn (man)
Written by: Jonathan Lynn (man)
Story by: John Landis (man), Jonathan Lynn (man)
Produced by: Debra Hill (woman)
Shot by: Victor J. Kemper (man)
Edited by: David Bretherton (man), Richard Haines (gender not listed)
Music by: John Morris (man)
Production design by: John Robert Lloyd (gender not listed)
Costumes by: Michael Kaplan (man)
Cast by: Janet Hirshenson (woman), Jane Jenkins (woman)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

6 women, 11 men, 6 not listed
Sound

3 women, 12 men, 8 not listed
Art

0 women, 6 men, 13 not listed
Production

6 women, 6 men, 7 not listed
Camera

0 women, 2 men, 8 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

0 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
Directing

2 women, 3 men
Editing

0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 42 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Colleen Camp 32, Lesley Ann Warren 39, Madeline Kahn 43, Eileen Brennan 53

Men

Lee Ving 35, Michael McKean 38, Tim Curry 39, Martin Mull 42, Christopher Lloyd 47, Bill Henderson 59

Exhibit H: the money

It made 98% of what it cost.

Budget: $15 million
Box office: $14.6 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 126 scenes and 1,047 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf