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Passes the Bechdel test

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

1982. Directed by Amy Heckerling, written by Cameron Crowe.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    19 women characters. 15 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 3 scenes out of 133.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

Poster for Fast Times at Ridgemont High

The film

A look at the lives and loves of a group of high- school students. In his final year of high school, Brad Hamilton decides that he should break up with his long-time girlfriend to play the field, but she breaks up with him first. Jeff Spicoli continues to delight in getting under the skin of his teacher, Mr. Hand. Others are looking for love or sex and just plain having a good time which, for the most part, they all seem to find, though sometimes in unexpected places.

Released
13 Aug 1982
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
7.1 / 10
Metascore
61 / 100
Awards
2 wins & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Stacy 194 lines, woman
  2. Damone 108 lines, man
  3. Brad 99 lines, man
  4. Spicoli 91 lines, man
  5. Linda 89 lines, woman
  6. The Rat 86 lines, man
  7. Mr. Hand 52 lines, man
  8. Ron 14 lines, man
  9. Mr. Vargas 12 lines, man
  10. Businessman 10 lines, man
Full cast, 57 people
  • Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh as Stacy Hamilton
  • Judge Reinhold as Brad Hamilton
  • Phoebe Cates as Linda Barrett
  • Brian Backer as Mark "Rat" Ratner
  • Robert Romanus as Mike Damone
  • Ray Walston as Mr. Hand
  • Scott Thomson as Arnold
  • Vincent Schiavelli as Mr. Vargas
  • Amanda Wyss as Lisa
  • D.W. Brown as Ron Johnson
  • Forest Whitaker as Charles Jefferson
  • Kelli Maroney as Cindy
  • Tom Nolan as Dennis Taylor
  • Blair Tefkin as Pat Bernardo
  • Eric Stoltz as Stoner Bud
  • Stanley Davis Jr. as Jefferson's Brother
  • James Russo as Robber
  • James Bolt as Greg
  • Nicolas Cage as Brad's Bud
  • Reginald Farmer as Vice Principal
  • Anthony Edwards as Stoner Bud
  • Pamela Springsteen as Dina Phillips
  • Stuart Cornfeld as Pirate King
  • Sonny Carl Davis as Businessman
  • Michael Wyle as Brad's Bud
  • David Price as Desmond
  • Patrick Brennan as Curtis Spicoli
  • Julie Guilmette as Perry's Pizza Waitress
  • Shelly O'Neill as Perry's Pizza Waitress
  • Stu Nahan as Himself
  • Duane Tucker as Dr. Brandt
  • Martin Brest as Dr. Miller
  • Douglas Brian Martin as Angry Twin
  • Steven M. Martin as Angry Twin
  • Taylor Negron as Himself
  • Kenny Lawrence as Ticket Customer
  • John Hollander as Ticket Customer
  • Ricky Redlich as Ticket Customer
  • Nancy Wilson as Beautiful Girl in Car
  • David Resnik as Reeves Nevo & The Cinch
  • Erick Leroy Burdette as Reeves Nevo & The Cinch
  • David Doolittle as Reeves Nevo & The Cinch
  • Tom B. Bralley as Reeves Nevo & The Cinch
  • Reeves Nevo as Reeves Nevo & The Cinch
  • Virginia Peters as Restaurant Waitress
  • Laurie Hendricks as Nurse
  • Lois Brandt as Mrs. O'Rourke
  • Ellen Fenwick as Stacey's Mom
  • Cherie Effron as Girl #1
  • Suzanne Marie Fava as Girl #2
  • Lana Clarkson as Mrs. Vargas
  • Roy Holmer Wallack as Santa Claus
  • Ava Lazar as Playmate
  • Lori Sutton as Playmate
  • April Audia as Mary Ann Zlotnick (uncredited)
  • Jason Bernard as Gym Teacher (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 133

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 300
4 to 6193
7 to 9616
10 to 12246
13 to 1507
16 to 18435
19 to 212521
22 to 2466
25 to 2745
28 to 30159
31 to 33327
34 to 361719
37 to 39722
40 to 421721
43 to 4503
46 to 48047
49 to 5166
52 to 5470
55 to 57014
58 to 6043
61 to 63716
64 to 66713
67 to 691011
70 to 72018
73 to 7534
76 to 78244
79 to 8179
82 to 8432
85 to 87029
88 to 90108
91 to 931411
94 to 96139
97 to 9904
100 to 102212
103 to 1052510
106 to 10881
109 to 11140
112 to 114144
115 to 11722
118 to 120013
121 to 123023
124 to 126819
127 to 1291530
130 to 13279
133 to 133013

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.
LINDA: And don't let them talk you into a diaphragm either. STACY: I can't believe I start high school tomorrow. LINDA: Believe it.
STACY: What do you think? LINDA: I think they're both virgins. STACY: I didn't ask for any help. Did you, Linda? LINDA: No.
LINDA: Stacy! I've got water in my ears. Do you have any Q-Tips? STACY: God, I don't think so. Better look in the house.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 39 are women's.

347 lines from women, 544 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

19 women and 37 men in the cast. 15 women and 16 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 59 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 36% of the words (3,197), men 64% (5,596). Women have 39% 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, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Amy Heckerling (woman)
Written by
Cameron Crowe (man)
From the novel by
Cameron Crowe (man)
Produced by
Irving Azoff (man), Art Linson (man)
Shot by
Matthew F. Leonetti (man)
Edited by
Eric Jenkins (man)
Costumes by
Marilyn Vance (woman)
Cast by
Don Phillips (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    0 women, 8 men, 1 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 7 men, 2 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 1 men, 5 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 5 men

  • Directing

    2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Editing

    2 women, 2 men

  • Art

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 20 on average. Men: 32 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Phoebe Cates 19, Jennifer Jason Leigh 20, Amanda Wyss 21

Men

Sean Penn 21, Scott Thomson 24, Judge Reinhold 25, Brian Backer 25, Robert Romanus 26, Vincent Schiavelli 33, Ray Walston 67

Exhibit H: the money

It made 6.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$4.5 million
Box office
$27.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 133 scenes and 929 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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