Passes the Bechdel test
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
1993. Directed by Gus Van Sant, written by Tom Robbins and Gus Van Sant.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 106. -
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.
The film
Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman) is born with enormous thumbs that help her hitchhiking through the U.S. from a young age. She becomes a model in advertising, and her New York agent, "the Countess" (Sir John Hurt), sends her to his ranch in California to shoot a commercial, set against the background of mating whooping cranes. There, she befriends Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix), one of the cowgirls at the beauty ranch. The cowgirls take command of the ranch from the Countess and drug the cranes with peyote. The Police besiege the ranch.
- Released
- 20 May 1994
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 4.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 28 / 100
- Awards
- 4 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sissy 93 lines, woman
- Jelly 43 lines, woman
- The Countess 40 lines, man
- Chink 30 lines, man
- Julian 19 lines, man
- Delores 17 lines, woman
- Miss Adrian 17 lines, woman
- Madame Zoe 12 lines, woman
- Howard 9 lines, man
- Man 9 lines, man
Full cast, 49 people
- Uma Thurman as Sissy Hankshaw
- Lorraine Bracco as Delores Del Ruby
- Pat Morita as The Chink
- Angie Dickinson as Miss Adrian
- Keanu Reeves as Julian Gitche
- John Hurt as The Countess
- Rain Phoenix as Bonanza Jellybean
- Ed Begley Jr. as Rupert
- Carol Kane as Carla
- Sean Young as Marie Barth
- Crispin Glover as Howard Barth
- Roseanne Barr as Madame Zoe
- Buck Henry as Dr. Dreyfus
- Grace Zabriskie as Mrs. Hankshaw
- Treva Jeffryes as Young Sissy
- Ken Kesey as Sissy's Daddy
- Ken Babbs as Sissy's Uncle
- Allen Arnold as Lionel
- Victoria Williams as Cowgirl Debbie
- Heather Graham as Cowgirl Heather
- Judy Robinson as Cowgirl Gloria
- Betsy Roth as Cowgirl Mary
- Arlene Wewa as Big Red
- Heather Hershey as Cowgirl Donna
- Dee Fowler as Cowgirl Kym
- Udo Kier as Commercial Director
- Wade Evans as Cameraman
- Tom Peterson as Crewman
- Alexa D'Avalon as Rubber Rose Bird Expert
- Eric Hull as White House Undersecretary
- Oliver Kirk as Sheriff
- Joe Ivy as FBI Director
- Greg McMickle as FBI Agent
- Lin Shaye as Rubber Rose Maid
- Chel White as Brain Surgeon
- Molly Little as Salsa Singer
- Scott Patrick Green as Pilgrim Man
- Suzanne Solgot as Pilgrim Woman
- Michael Parker as Pilgrim Driver
- William S. Burroughs as Self
- Sherry Alps as Cowgirl
- Eliza Butterfly as Cowgirl
- Boo Connolly as Cowgirl
- Christie Flenniken as Cowgirl
- Stacey Hyder as Cowgirl
- Tina Knaggs as Cowgirl
- Tom Robbins as Narrator (voice)
- Roger Bowen as Naturalist (uncredited)
- Edward James Olmos as Musician at Barbecue (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% 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 | 8 |
| 4 to 6 | 20 | 2 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 8 | 8 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 2 | 1 |
| 19 to 21 | 19 | 22 |
| 22 to 24 | 8 | 3 |
| 25 to 27 | 12 | 8 |
| 28 to 30 | 14 | 12 |
| 31 to 33 | 3 | 25 |
| 34 to 36 | 6 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 33 | 3 |
| 43 to 45 | 12 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 9 | 2 |
| 49 to 51 | 2 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 10 | 12 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 6 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 1 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 6 |
| 73 to 75 | 3 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 4 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 19 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 5 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 4 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 2 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 1 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 9 | 11 |
| 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: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
JELLY: Well, I'm not scared of a little rain. DELORES: Me neither. JELLY: Might as well brave it. DELORES: Right. I don't know about you but I'm sure not sweet enough to melt.
DEBBIE: At the end of the endless game, there is friendship. HEATHER: What the heck did she mean by that! JELLY: Just that in Heaven all business is conducted this way.
SISSY: You might say that, although I don't think of it as traveling. CARLA: How do you think of it? SISSY: As moving. CARLA: Oh.
CARLA: Up yours, Herr Doktor Book Salesman. Will the demands of your medical practice allow you to call Elaine's or shall I? MARIE: Oh let me do it.
SISSY: Yes, thanks... MARIE: Mine are fuller but yours are more perfectly shaped.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 62 are women's.
224 lines from women, 136 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 20 men in the cast. 12 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 390.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 22 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 55% of the words (4,989), men 45% (4,049). Women have 62% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
19
Two men
1
Exhibit F: behind the camera
7 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Gus Van Sant (man)
- Written by
- Gus Van Sant (man)
- From the novel by
- Tom Robbins (man)
- Produced by
- Lucy Phillips (woman), Laurie Parker (woman)
- Shot by
- John J. Campbell (man), Eric Alan Edwards (man)
- Edited by
- Gus Van Sant (man), Curtiss Clayton (man)
- Music by
- K.D. Lang (woman), Ben Mink (man)
- Production design by
- Missy Stewart (woman)
- Costumes by
- Beatrix Aruna Pasztor (woman)
- Cast by
- Richard Pagano (man), Debi Manwiller (woman), Sharon Bialy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
3 women, 9 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
7 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 1 men
-
Directing
1 women, 4 men
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Rain Phoenix 21, Uma Thurman 24, Sean Young 34, Lorraine Bracco 39, Carol Kane 41, Angie Dickinson 62
Men
Keanu Reeves 29, Ed Begley Jr. 44, John Hurt 54, Pat Morita 61
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 106 scenes and 390 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
