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Passes the Bechdel test

Driving Miss Daisy

1990. Directed by Bruce Beresford, written by Alfred Uhry.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    9 women characters. 6 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 6 scenes out of 123.
  3. 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.

Poster for Driving Miss Daisy

The film

An elderly Jewish widow living in Atlanta can no longer drive. Her son insists she allow him to hire a driver, which in the 1950s meant a black man. She resists any change in her life but, Hoke, the driver is hired by her son. She refuses to allow him to drive her anywhere at first, but Hoke slowly wins her over with his native good graces. The movie is directly taken from a stage play and does show it. It covers over twenty years of the pair's life together as they slowly build a relationship that transcends their differences.

Released
26 Jan 1990
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Rated
PG
IMDb
7.3 / 10
Metascore
81 / 100
Awards
Won 4 Oscars. 22 wins & 24 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Hoke 324 lines, man
  2. Daisy 319 lines, woman
  3. Boolie 177 lines, man
  4. Idella 26 lines, woman
  5. Florine 20 lines, woman
  6. Oscar 10 lines, man
  7. Trooper 6 lines, man
  8. Dr. Weil 4 lines
  9. Miss Mcclatchey 4 lines, woman
  10. Company 3 lines
Full cast, 24 people
  • Morgan Freeman as Hoke Colburn
  • Jessica Tandy as Daisy Werthan
  • Dan Aykroyd as Boolie Werthan
  • Patti LuPone as Florine Werthan
  • Esther Rolle as Idella
  • Joann Havrilla as Miss McClatchey
  • William Hall Jr. as Oscar
  • Alvin M. Sugarman as Dr. Weil
  • Clarice F. Geigerman as Nonie
  • Muriel Moore as Miriam
  • Sylvia Kaler as Beulah
  • Carolyn Gold as Neighbor Lady
  • Crystal R. Fox as Katie Bell
  • Bob Hannah as Red Mitchell
  • Ray McKinnon as Trooper #1
  • Ashley Josey as Trooper #2
  • Jack Rousso as Slick
  • Fred Faser as Insurance Agent
  • Indra A. Thomas as Soloist
  • Trilby Beresford as Child (uncredited)
  • Dean DuBois as Commerce Club Member (uncredited)
  • Jay Freer as Man at MLK Speech (uncredited)
  • Jen Harper as Biltmore Hotel Dinner Guest (uncredited)
  • D. Taylor Loeb as Girl at Temple (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 123

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 330
4 to 61914
7 to 940
10 to 1284
13 to 1500
16 to 1863
19 to 21460
22 to 2477
25 to 27410
28 to 301111
31 to 331013
34 to 362114
37 to 392122
40 to 4203
43 to 4526
46 to 481211
49 to 511916
52 to 5426
55 to 572324
58 to 603234
61 to 63018
64 to 66104
67 to 692532
70 to 7266
73 to 7588
76 to 7855
79 to 8132
82 to 84236
85 to 87514
88 to 9023
91 to 931614
94 to 961414
97 to 991418
100 to 10254
103 to 10544
106 to 1081716
109 to 11100
112 to 1141317
115 to 1171012
118 to 120023
121 to 123918

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.
DAISY: I'm gone to the market, Idella. IDELLA: Mmmrnmm. Daisy heads out the door.
FLORINE: Hey, Mother Werthan! It's just us! ON DAISY, appearing at the landing, a book in her hand. DAISY: Why didn't you call? FLORINE: We can't stay. DAISY: So I gather.
FLORINE: I had these made. Doesn't your baby look cute? DAISY: That's not exactly the word I'd pick.
LIBRARIAN: I've got that Revolutionary War book you were asking about, Miz Werthan. I put it aside for you. DAISY: You're a sweet thing, Miss Jensen. LIBRARIAN: Everybody's just crazy about it! DAISY: Well, thank you very much.
IDELLA: I'm gone, Miz Daisy. DAISY: All right, Idella. See you tomorrow.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.

376 lines from women, 526 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 4 men in the cast. 6 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 53 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 41% of the words (4,742), men 59% (6,841). Women have 42% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Bruce Beresford (man)
Written by
Alfred Uhry (man)
Produced by
Lili Fini Zanuck (woman), Richard D. Zanuck (man)
Shot by
Peter James (man)
Edited by
Mark Warner (man)
Music by
Hans Zimmer (man)
Production design by
Bruno Rubeo (man)
Costumes by
Elizabeth McBride (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    1 women, 2 men, 6 not listed

  • Production

    1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Sound

    2 women, 4 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Directing

    3 women, 1 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 3 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 63 on average. Men: 45 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Patti LuPone 40, Esther Rolle 69, Jessica Tandy 80

Men

Dan Aykroyd 37, Morgan Freeman 52

Exhibit H: the money

It made 19.4 times what it cost.

Budget
$7.5 million
Box office
$146 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 123 scenes and 943 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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