Fails the Bechdel test

Devil in a Blue Dress

Name: Devil in a Blue Dress
Released: 1995

1995. Directed by Carl Franklin, written by Walter Mosley and Carl Franklin.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Los Angeles, 1948. Easy Rawlins takes on a job: he's supposed to track down the mysterious Daphne Monet, who vanished without a trace after an affair with a politician. To pay the mortgage on his house, he takes on a job: he's supposed to track down the mysterious Daphne Monet, who vanished without a trace after an affair with a local politician. The seemingly harmless assignment soon draws Easy into a web of murder, blackmail, brutal police, and corrupt local politicians.

Released: 29 Sep 1995
Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 78 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 13 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Easy 373 lines, man
Albright 80 lines, man
Daphne 77 lines, woman
Mouse 65 lines, man
Miller 38 lines, man
Junior 32 lines, man
Carter 31 lines, man
Joppy 31 lines, man
Mason 27 lines, man
Coretta 25 lines, woman

Full cast, 39 people

Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins
Tom Sizemore as DeWitt Albright
Jennifer Beals as Daphne Monet
Don Cheadle as Mouse Alexander
Maury Chaykin as Matthew Terell
Terry Kinney as Todd Carter
Mel Winkler as Joppy
Albert Hall as Degan Odell
Lisa Nicole Carson as Coretta James
Jernard Burks as Dupree Brouchard
David Fonteno as Junior Fornay
John Roselius as Mason
Beau Starr as Miller
Steven Randazzo as Benny Giacomo
Scott Lincoln as Richard McGee
L. Scott Caldwell as Hattie Parsons
Barry Shabaka Henley as Woodcutter
Nick Corello as Shariff
Kenny Endoso as Manny
Joseph Latimore as Frank Green
Renée Humphrey as Barbara
R.J. Knoll as Herman
Kai Lennox as Football
Poppy Montgomery as Barbara’s Sister
Brendan Kelly as Terell’s Chauffeur
Peggy Rea as Carter’s Secretary
Vinny Argiro as Baxter
Deborah Lacey as Sophie
Jeris Poindexter as Alphonso Jenkins
Frank Davis as Butcher
Matthew Barry as Cop in Car
Mark Cotone as Cop in Station
Brian E. O'Neal as John's Band / Singer
G. Smokey Campbell as Nightclub Owner
Steve Sekely as Abe
J.D. Smith as Pool Hall Owner
Nigel Gibbs as Bootlegger
John David Washington as Boy with Toy Rifle (uncredited)
Chelley Williams as Bar Patron (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 93

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 2	0	12
3 to 4	0	26
5 to 6	0	1
7 to 8	0	2
9 to 10	0	1
11 to 12	0	6
13 to 14	0	9
15 to 16	0	27
17 to 18	12	48
19 to 20	15	11
21 to 22	0	1
23 to 24	0	3
25 to 26	2	5
27 to 28	0	7
29 to 30	7	42
31 to 32	0	12
33 to 34	0	34
35 to 36	0	24
37 to 38	9	7
39 to 40	2	1
41 to 42	23	17
43 to 44	10	6
45 to 46	2	1
47 to 48	0	2
49 to 50	0	65
51 to 52	6	11
53 to 54	0	55
55 to 56	0	32
57 to 58	0	2
59 to 60	0	48
61 to 62	0	49
63 to 64	0	5
65 to 66	0	30
67 to 68	0	1
69 to 70	29	28
71 to 72	0	7
73 to 74	0	3
75 to 76	0	11
77 to 78	0	16
79 to 80	0	2
81 to 82	0	12
83 to 84	4	11
85 to 86	0	13
87 to 88	0	12
89 to 90	2	3
91 to 92	0	18
93 to 93	0	19

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, 14 are women's.

123 lines from women, 758 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 30 men in the cast. 5 women and 20 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 98 of 919. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 232 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 14% of the words (1,336), men 86% (8,439).

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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 30% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Carl Franklin (man)
Written by: Carl Franklin (man)
From the novel by: Walter Mosley (man)
Produced by: Gary Goetzman (man), Jesse Beaton (woman)
Shot by: Tak Fujimoto (man)
Edited by: Carole Kravetz Aykanian (woman)
Music by: Elmer Bernstein (man)
Production design by: Gary Frutkoff (man)
Costumes by: Sharen Davis (woman)
Cast by: Victoria Thomas (woman)

The crew, department by department

Production

3 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
Sound

0 women, 6 men
Art

1 women, 2 men
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 1 men
Other crew

1 women, 2 men
Writing

0 women, 2 men
Camera

0 women, 1 men
Directing

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 29 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Lisa Nicole Carson 26, Jennifer Beals 31

Men

Jernard Burks 25, Don Cheadle 30, Tom Sizemore 33, Denzel Washington 40, Terry Kinney 41, Maury Chaykin 46, Mel Winkler 53, Albert Hall 57

Exhibit G: the money

It made 60% of what it cost.

Budget: $27 million
Box office: $16.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 93 scenes and 919 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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