Fails the Bechdel test
Dutch
1991. Directed by Peter Faiman, written by John Hughes.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 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
Working-class, blunt, down-to-earth good-guy construction worker Dutch Dooley is the current boyfriend of a wealthy, snobbish tycoon's ex-wife. Volunteering to drive the woman's son home to Chicago for Thanksgiving from his Georgia boarding school, Dutch doesn't expect a picaresque adventure with an insufferable 12-year-old snob (desperately insecure under the surface) who disapproves of him totally. Can they reach their destination as friends? Will they get home at all?
- Released
- 19 Jul 1991
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dutch 271 lines, man
- Doyle 249 lines, man
- Natalie 64 lines, woman
- Brock 26 lines, woman
- Doug 26 lines, man
- Callie 18 lines
- White Soldier 14 lines, man
- Boy 13 lines, man
- Waitress 11 lines, woman
- Girl 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 11 people
- Ed O'Neill as Dutch Dooley
- Ethan Embry as Doyle Standish
- JoBeth Williams as Natalie Standish
- Christopher McDonald as Reed Standish
- Ari Meyers as Brock
- E. G. Daily as Hailey
- L. Scott Caldwell as Homeless Woman
- Kathleen Freeman as Gritzi
- Mickey Jones as Truck Driver
- Robert Sutherland Telfer as Schoolboy
- Will Estes as Teddy
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 233
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 5 | 13 | 11 |
| 6 to 10 | 13 | 16 |
| 11 to 15 | 1 | 10 |
| 16 to 20 | 8 | 12 |
| 21 to 25 | 7 | 16 |
| 26 to 30 | 0 | 8 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 7 |
| 41 to 45 | 1 | 43 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 5 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 13 |
| 56 to 60 | 0 | 29 |
| 61 to 65 | 8 | 2 |
| 66 to 70 | 4 | 23 |
| 71 to 75 | 0 | 3 |
| 76 to 80 | 0 | 6 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 0 |
| 86 to 90 | 2 | 2 |
| 91 to 95 | 0 | 10 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 1 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 2 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 2 |
| 111 to 115 | 0 | 4 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 18 |
| 121 to 125 | 3 | 27 |
| 126 to 130 | 4 | 14 |
| 131 to 135 | 0 | 34 |
| 136 to 140 | 7 | 41 |
| 141 to 145 | 2 | 2 |
| 146 to 150 | 1 | 21 |
| 151 to 155 | 7 | 9 |
| 156 to 160 | 3 | 4 |
| 161 to 165 | 2 | 2 |
| 166 to 170 | 8 | 9 |
| 171 to 175 | 5 | 5 |
| 176 to 180 | 4 | 67 |
| 181 to 185 | 0 | 23 |
| 186 to 190 | 0 | 13 |
| 191 to 195 | 4 | 29 |
| 196 to 200 | 4 | 5 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 5 |
| 206 to 210 | 7 | 16 |
| 211 to 215 | 1 | 15 |
| 216 to 220 | 16 | 10 |
| 221 to 225 | 6 | 6 |
| 226 to 230 | 0 | 4 |
| 231 to 233 | 1 | 7 |
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, 19 are women's.
142 lines from women, 611 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 6 men in the cast. 4 women and 7 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 74 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 20% of the words (1,517), men 80% (6,061). Women have 19% 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
4
Two men
43
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Peter Faiman (man)
- Written by
- John Hughes (man)
- Produced by
- John Hughes (man), Richard Vane (man)
- Shot by
- Charles Minsky (man)
- Edited by
- Adam Bernardi (man), Paul Hirsch (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Production design by
- Stan Jolley (man)
- Costumes by
- Jennifer L. Parsons (woman)
- Cast by
- Jane Jenkins (woman), Janet Hirshenson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 4 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Ari Meyers 23, E. G. Daily 29, L. Scott Caldwell 41, JoBeth Williams 42, Kathleen Freeman 72
Men
Ethan Embry 13, Robert Sutherland Telfer 13, Christopher McDonald 36, Ed O'Neill 45, Mickey Jones 50
Exhibit G: the money
It made 27% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $17 million
- Box office
- $4.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 233 scenes and 789 lines of dialogue. How the test works
