Fails the Bechdel test
Dressed to Kill
1980. Directed by Brian De Palma, written by Brian De Palma.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 3 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
While taking a shower, Kate Miller, a middle-aged, sexually frustrated New York City housewife, has a rape fantasy while her husband stands at the sink shaving. Later that day, after complaining to her psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott about her husband's pathetic performance in bed, she meets a strange man at a museum and returns to his apartment where they continue an adulterous encounter that began in the taxicab. Before she leaves his apartment, she finds papers which certify that the man has a venereal disease. Panicked, Kate rushes into the elevator, but has to return to his apartment when she realizes she's forgotten her wedding ring. When the elevator doors open, she's brutally slashed to death by a tall blonde woman wearing dark sunglasses. Liz Blake, a high-class call girl, is the only witness to the murder and she becomes the prime suspect and the murderer's next target. Liz is rescued from being killed by Kate's son Peter, who enlists the help of Liz to catch his mother's killer as Detective Marino, who's in charge of the case, is uncooperative in the investigation.
- Released
- 25 Jul 1980
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 74 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Liz 77 lines, woman
- Bellnap 41 lines
- Peter 33 lines, man
- Snyder 32 lines
- Kate 25 lines, woman
- Levy 16 lines, man
- Cleveland 12 lines, man
- Dr. Bellnap 10 lines
- Hood 1 10 lines, man
- Lia 5 lines, man
Full cast, 29 people
- Nancy Allen as Liz Blake
- Michael Caine as Doctor Robert Elliott
- Angie Dickinson as Kate Miller
- Keith Gordon as Peter Miller
- Dennis Franz as Detective Marino
- David Margulies as Dr. Levy
- Ken Baker as Warren Lockman
- Susanna Clemm as Betty Luce
- Brandon Maggart as Cleveland Sam
- Amalie Collier as Cleaning Woman
- Mary Davenport as Woman in Restaurant
- Anneka Di Lorenzo as Nurse
- Norman Evans as Ted
- Robbie L. McDermott as Man in Shower
- Bill Randolph as Chase Cabbie
- Sean O'Rinn as Museum Cabbie
- Fred Weber as Mike Miller
- Samm-Art Williams as Subway Cop
- Robert Lee Rush as Hood #1
- Anthony Boyd Scriven as Hood #2
- Robert McDuffie as Hood #3
- Frederick Sanders as Hood #4
- Paul DeCeglie as TV Reporter (uncredited)
- William Finley as Bobbi (voice) (uncredited)
- Erika Katz as Girl in Elevator (uncredited)
- Mark Margolis as Patient at Bellvue Hospital (uncredited)
- Lisa Peluso as Museum Girl (uncredited)
- Jerry Schram as Building Tenant (uncredited)
- Victoria Lynn Johnson as Angie Dickinson‘s Nude Body Double
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 46% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 43
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 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 8 | 5 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 4 | 10 | 0 |
| 5 to 5 | 6 | 1 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 9 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 to 10 | 1 | 0 |
| 11 to 11 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 to 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 to 15 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 17 | 4 | 0 |
| 18 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 23 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 27 | 17 | 18 |
| 28 to 28 | 2 | 0 |
| 29 to 29 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 to 30 | 3 | 0 |
| 31 to 31 | 8 | 16 |
| 32 to 32 | 3 | 4 |
| 33 to 33 | 4 | 14 |
| 34 to 34 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 to 35 | 6 | 17 |
| 36 to 36 | 15 | 0 |
| 37 to 37 | 1 | 1 |
| 38 to 38 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 to 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 to 40 | 5 | 4 |
| 41 to 41 | 11 | 15 |
| 42 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 43 | 0 | 0 |
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, 51 are women's.
104 lines from women, 98 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 13 men in the cast. 3 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 375.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 39 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 52% of the words (1,146), men 48% (1,044). Women have 51% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 1 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
0
Two men
0
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 9% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brian De Palma (man)
- Written by
- Brian De Palma (man)
- Produced by
- George Litto (man)
- Shot by
- Ralf D. Bode (man)
- Edited by
- Gerald B. Greenberg (man)
- Music by
- Pino Donaggio (man)
- Costumes by
- Gary Jones (man), Ann Roth (woman)
- Cast by
- Vic Ramos (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Nancy Allen 30, Angie Dickinson 48
Men
Keith Gordon 19, Dennis Franz 35, David Margulies 43, Brandon Maggart 46, Michael Caine 47
Exhibit G: the money
It made 4.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $6.5 million
- Box office
- $31.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 43 scenes and 375 lines of dialogue. How the test works
