Passes the Bechdel test
Coming Home
1978. Directed by Hal Ashby, written by Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones and Nancy Dowd.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 9 scenes out of 165. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Sally Bender is the wife of a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is sent over to Vietnam, and Sally is alone. With nothing else to do, she decides to volunteer at a local veteran's hospital, where she meets Luke, who went to high school with Sally. Luke was wounded and is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. When Sally begins to fall in love with Luke, she has to make a crucial decision about her life.
- Released
- 15 Feb 1978
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, War
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 61 / 100
- Awards
- Won 3 Oscars. 14 wins & 16 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sally 308 lines, woman
- Luke 170 lines, man
- Bob 135 lines, man
- Vi 107 lines, woman
- Superslope 17 lines
- Virgil 17 lines, man
- Bill 16 lines, man
- Dink 16 lines, man
- Pat 16 lines, man
- Bozo 15 lines
Full cast, 40 people
- Jane Fonda as Sally Hyde
- Jon Voight as Luke Martin
- Bruce Dern as Capt. Bob Hyde
- Penelope Milford as Vi Munson
- Robert Carradine as Bill Munson
- Robert Ginty as Sgt. Dink Mobley
- Mary Gregory as Martha Vickery
- Kathleen Miller as Kathy Delise
- Beeson Carroll as Capt. Earl Delise
- Willie Tyler as Virgil
- Lou Carello as Bozo
- Charles Cyphers as Pee Wee
- Olivia Cole as Corrine
- Tresa Hughes as Nurse Degroot
- Bruce French as Dr. Lincoln
- Mary Jackson as Fleta Wilson
- Tim Pelt as Jason
- Richard Lawson as Pat
- Rita Taggart as Johnson
- Claudie Watson as Bridges
- Sally Frei as Connie
- Tony Santoro as Porsche Salesman
- Pat Corley as Harris
- Gwen Van Dam as Mrs. Harris
- Jim Klein as Willie Malone
- Tokyo Ernie as Tokyo Ernie
- Raul Bayardo as Mechanic in Wheelchair
- Stacey Pickren as Sophie
- James Kindelon as Marine at Gate
- Joey Faustine as Marine at Gate
- Arthur Rosenberg as Bruce
- David Clennon as Tim
- Kimberly Binion as Waitress Go-Go
- Gary Downey as Intelligence Officer
- Jonathan Banks as Marine At Party
- Marc McClure as High School Class Pres.
- Haskell Wexler as Officer Awarding Medals (uncredited)
- Hugh Farrington as Self - At Hospital (as Hugh Smith)
- Mark Carlton as Mark
- Jan Michael Shultz as Lt. Roscoe
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 165
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 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 9 | 9 |
| 9 to 12 | 4 | 2 |
| 13 to 16 | 4 | 8 |
| 17 to 20 | 9 | 7 |
| 21 to 24 | 2 | 1 |
| 25 to 28 | 31 | 7 |
| 29 to 32 | 43 | 21 |
| 33 to 36 | 16 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 10 | 5 |
| 41 to 44 | 9 | 6 |
| 45 to 48 | 30 | 18 |
| 49 to 52 | 7 | 10 |
| 53 to 56 | 10 | 33 |
| 57 to 60 | 15 | 16 |
| 61 to 64 | 27 | 23 |
| 65 to 68 | 2 | 7 |
| 69 to 72 | 16 | 31 |
| 73 to 76 | 8 | 17 |
| 77 to 80 | 8 | 11 |
| 81 to 84 | 18 | 14 |
| 85 to 88 | 16 | 8 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 4 |
| 93 to 96 | 17 | 8 |
| 97 to 100 | 16 | 14 |
| 101 to 104 | 8 | 9 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 8 | 3 |
| 113 to 116 | 13 | 8 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 4 |
| 121 to 124 | 20 | 23 |
| 125 to 128 | 9 | 10 |
| 129 to 132 | 9 | 13 |
| 133 to 136 | 9 | 1 |
| 137 to 140 | 8 | 26 |
| 141 to 144 | 14 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 2 | 8 |
| 149 to 152 | 3 | 3 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 4 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 9 |
| 161 to 164 | 1 | 4 |
| 165 to 165 | 0 | 1 |
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.
VI: See you around, babe. SALLY: Vi 1s that Violet? VI: Would you believe Viola? SALLY: I wanted to say thanks tor coming to get me, Viola.
VI: I've lived here six months. Oink pushed me.in once, this is the second time ••• SALLY: It's cold. VI: r hate it. SALLY: So do·I ••• I'd better get going soon ...
SALLY: Mrs .. Wilson? FLETA: Yes. SALLY: I think I want to be a volunteer. I don't think, I .know I want to work as a volunteer in the Spinal Cord Ward. FLETA: Sit down, please. I'll be with you in a moment. Sally sits. Fleta continues to shuffle through paperwork.
SALLY: Ignore them. VI: . If we ignore 'e~~ they'll stop looking ... Which one of you mothers has balls enough to come and get it1 VI: Is that it? SALLY: That's it.
FLETA: You look very pretty. SALLY: I was just ••• I look okay? FLETA: Quite acceptable. Whenever you're ready, you can report to Head Nurse DeGroot. SALLY: I guess I'm all set ..•
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 51 are women's.
439 lines from women, 416 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 19 men in the cast. 8 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,000.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 27 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 45% of the words (6,042), men 55% (7,252). Women have 51% 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
32
Two men
19
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Hal Ashby (man)
- Written by
- Waldo Salt (man), Robert C. Jones (man)
- Story by
- Nancy Dowd (woman)
- Produced by
- Jerome Hellman (man)
- Shot by
- Haskell Wexler (man)
- Edited by
- Don Zimmerman (man)
- Production design by
- Michael D. Haller (man)
- Costumes by
- Ann Roth (woman)
- Cast by
- Lynn Stalmaster (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 2 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Penelope Milford 29, Kathleen Miller 32, Jane Fonda 40, Mary Gregory 50
Men
Robert Carradine 23, Robert Ginty 29, Willie Tyler 37, Jon Voight 39, Bruce Dern 41, Beeson Carroll 43
Exhibit H: the money
It made 10.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3 million
- Box office
- $32.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 165 scenes and 1,000 lines of dialogue. How the test works
