Fails the Bechdel test
Detroit Rock City
1999. Directed by Adam Rifkin, written by Carl V. Dupré.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 9 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
Four members of a high school band called Mystery do everything they can to attend a KISS concert in Detroit. In order to make it to the show they must steal, cheat, strip, deal with an anti-rock mom and generally do whatever it takes to see the band that has inspired them to be musicians.
- Released
- 13 Aug 1999
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 33 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Hawk 162 lines, man
- Jam 96 lines, man
- Trip 94 lines, man
- Lex 92 lines, man
- Mrs. Bruce 33 lines, woman
- Beth 26 lines, woman
- Christine 25 lines, woman
- Kenny 24 lines, man
- Priest 22 lines, man
- Father Mcnulty 20 lines, man
Full cast, 88 people
- Giuseppe Andrews as Lex
- James DeBello as Trip Hurudie
- Edward Furlong as Hawk
- Sam Huntington as Jeremiah 'Jam' Bruce
- Lin Shaye as Mrs. Bruce
- Melanie Lynskey as Beth Bumsteen
- Natasha Lyonne as Christine
- Shannon Tweed as Amanda Finch
- Emmanuelle Chriqui as Barbara
- Kristin Booth as Cashier
- Joe Flaherty as Father Phillip McNulty
- Matthew G. Taylor as Chongo
- Miles Dougal as Elvis
- Nick Scotti as Kenny
- David Quane as Bobby
- Rodger Barton as Mr. Stewart Bumsteen
- Kathryn Haggis as Mrs. Stewart Bumsteen
- David Gardner as Detroit Priest
- Cody Jones as Little Kid
- Joan Heney as Study Hall Teacher
- Ron Jeremy as MC
- Gene Simmons as Kiss
- Paul Stanley as Kiss
- Ace Frehley as Kiss
- Peter Criss as Kiss
- Richard Hillman as Scalper
- Kevin Corrigan as Beefy Guy #1
- Ryan Letriard as Six Year Old #2
- Steve Schirripa as Beefy Guy #2
- Julian Richings as Ticket Taker
- Rob Smith as Simple Simon
- Aaron Berg as Bartender
- Paul Brogren as Roadie #1
- Allan Clow as Man with Coat
- Chris Benson as Mr. Johansen
- Colleen Williams as Nun
- Stephen Joffe as Six Year Old #1
- Joseph Haase as Security Guard
- Kevin Corrigan as Beefy Jerk #1
- Steve Schirripa as Beefy Jerk #2
- Lindy Booth as Girl #1
- Christina Sicoli as Foxy Girl
- Michael Barry as Nerd
- Vic Rigler as Pizza Boy
- Eileen Flood as Female Parishoner
- Pamela Bowen as Matmok Lieutenant
- Johnie Chase as Cop #1
- Shane Daly as Chongo's Friend
- Noah Dalton Danby as Chongo's Friend
- Christopher Lee Clements as Stripper #1
- Jonathan Cuthill as Stripper #2
- Nemo Vojic as Stripper #3
- Rich Coulson as Stripper #4
- Michael Kremko as Stripper #5
- Derek De Luis as Stripper #6
- Tara Elliott as Babe #2
- Elissa Bradley as Babe #3
- Cherry Flatley as Babe #4
- Leilene Ondrade as Babe #5
- Hazel K. Anderson as Babe #6
- Jessica Kleiner as Babe #7
- Nadia Dalchand as Babe #8
- Kerri Michalica as Babe #9
- Kerry Robinson as Babe #10
- Dino M. Sicoli as Really Lucky Hot Tub Dude
- Gurjeet Ahluwalia as Smoker (uncredited)
- Todd Bendera as Kiss Fan (uncredited)
- Jason Biggs as Guy in Red Track Suit (uncredited)
- Sonny Bono as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Jimmy Carter as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Cher as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Raven Cinello as Student (uncredited)
- Bryan Dunn as It's Raining Men Dancer (uncredited)
- Frank Falcone as Roadie (uncredited)
- Matt Graver as Mini-Mart Hostage (uncredited)
- Gavin Heffernan as Drunken Fan (uncredited)
- Kassandra Marr as Groupie (uncredited)
- A.C. McCray as Concert Attendee (uncredited)
- Brian McGuire as Teenager (uncredited)
- Randy Meehan as Concert kid (uncredited)
- Rina Nath as Babe #1 (uncredited)
- Richard Nixon as Self - in Resignation Speech (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Lisa Perkins as Simple Simon's Co-Host (uncredited)
- Adam Rifkin as It's Raining Men Billboard Model (uncredited)
- Tim Sullivan as KISS Concert Audience Member (uncredited)
- Louis Tripp as Nerdy Kid (uncredited)
- Andy Warhol as Self - at Studio 54 (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Bill Welychka as Man Backstage (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 106
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 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 14 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 16 |
| 10 to 12 | 7 | 16 |
| 13 to 15 | 9 | 29 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 1 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 11 |
| 22 to 24 | 3 | 18 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 12 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 2 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 35 |
| 37 to 39 | 1 | 9 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 2 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 9 |
| 46 to 48 | 2 | 26 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 13 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 3 |
| 55 to 57 | 6 | 48 |
| 58 to 60 | 14 | 26 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 14 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 63 |
| 67 to 69 | 7 | 7 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 37 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 35 |
| 76 to 78 | 3 | 16 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 11 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 3 |
| 85 to 87 | 10 | 19 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 17 |
| 91 to 93 | 5 | 23 |
| 94 to 96 | 12 | 28 |
| 97 to 99 | 9 | 20 |
| 100 to 102 | 5 | 10 |
| 103 to 105 | 4 | 33 |
| 106 to 106 | 0 | 1 |
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, 15 are women's.
114 lines from women, 628 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
14 women and 57 men in the cast. 9 women and 25 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 79 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,795), men 81% (7,840). Women have 15% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
2
Two men
56
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Adam Rifkin (man)
- Written by
- Carl V. Dupré (man)
- Produced by
- Kathleen Haase (woman), Gene Simmons (man), Barry Levine (man)
- Shot by
- John R. Leonetti (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Goldblatt (man), Peter Schink (man)
- Music by
- J. Peter Robinson (man)
- Production design by
- Steve Hardie (man)
- Cast by
- Valerie McCaffrey (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
8 women, 12 men, 13 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 15 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 0 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 20 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Natasha Lyonne 20, Melanie Lynskey 22, Emmanuelle Chriqui 23, Kristin Booth 24, Shannon Tweed 42, Lin Shaye 55
Men
Sam Huntington 17, James DeBello 19, Giuseppe Andrews 20, Edward Furlong 22
Exhibit G: the money
It made 65% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $6.5 million
- Box office
- $4.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 106 scenes and 758 lines of dialogue. How the test works
