Passes the Bechdel test
Field of Dreams
1989. Directed by Phil Alden Robinson, written by W.P. Kinsella and Phil Alden Robinson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 58. -
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.
The film
Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his cornfield tell him, "If you build it, he will come." He interprets it as an instruction to build a baseball field on his farm, upon which appear the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series. When the voices continue, Ray seeks out a reclusive author to help him understand the meaning of the messages and the purpose for his field.
- Released
- 05 May 1989
- Genres
- Drama, Family, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 57 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 9 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ray 360 lines, man
- Mann 135 lines, man
- Annie 134 lines, woman
- Mark 40 lines, man
- Shoeless Joe 40 lines, man
- Doc Graham 28 lines, man
- Karin 28 lines, woman
- Archie 11 lines, man
- John 10 lines, man
- The Voice 10 lines
Full cast, 36 people
- Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella
- Amy Madigan as Annie Kinsella
- Gaby Hoffmann as Karin Kinsella
- Ray Liotta as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson
- Timothy Busfield as Mark
- James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann
- Burt Lancaster as Doc "Moonlight" Graham
- Frank Whaley as Archie Graham
- Dwier Brown as John Kinsella
- James Andelin as Feed Store Farmer
- Mary Anne Kean as Feed Store Lady
- Fern Persons as Annie's Mother
- Kelly Coffield Park as Dee, Mark's Wife
- Michael Milhoan as Buck Weaver - 3B
- Steve Eastin as Eddie Cicotte - P
- Charles Hoyes as Swede Risberg - C
- Art LaFleur as Chick Gandil - 1B
- Lee Garlington as Beulah Gasnick
- Mike Nussbaum as Principal
- Larry Brandenburg as PTA Heckler
- Mary McDonald Gershon as PTA Heckler
- Robert Kurcz as PTA Heckler
- Don John Ross as Boston Butcher
- Beatrice Fredman as Boston Yenta
- Geoffrey Nauffts as Boston Pump Jockey
- Anne Seymour as Chisolm Newspaper Publisher
- Joseph R. Ryan as Third Man in Bar
- Fred Martin as Additional Ballplayer
- Brian Waldvogel as Additional Ballplayer
- Brian E. Frankish as Clean-Shaven Umpire
- Stephen Emirzian as Sports Fan (uncredited)
- Kevin Fennessy as Baseball Fan (uncredited)
- Mark Vafiades as Baseball Fan (uncredited)
- Matt Damon as Baseball Fan (uncredited)
- Ben Affleck as Baseball Fan (uncredited)
- Jeff Dyer as Student
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 58
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 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 to 4 | 12 | 11 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 10 |
| 7 to 8 | 10 | 11 |
| 9 to 10 | 6 | 3 |
| 11 to 12 | 5 | 5 |
| 13 to 14 | 4 | 7 |
| 15 to 16 | 7 | 12 |
| 17 to 18 | 4 | 4 |
| 19 to 20 | 1 | 0 |
| 21 to 22 | 16 | 67 |
| 23 to 24 | 15 | 28 |
| 25 to 26 | 20 | 6 |
| 27 to 28 | 8 | 9 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 8 |
| 31 to 32 | 14 | 14 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 5 |
| 35 to 36 | 1 | 12 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 92 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 21 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 30 |
| 45 to 46 | 8 | 25 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 17 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 27 |
| 51 to 52 | 1 | 4 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 34 |
| 55 to 56 | 9 | 55 |
| 57 to 58 | 33 | 152 |
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.
ANNIE: You don't see it? DEE: That's not funny, Annie. Her family leaves in a huff. ANNIE: They couldn't see it.
MISS CORSER: Karin has such a wonderful imagination. Lately, she's been making up these charming little stories about ghosts who play baseball in a cornf… ANNIE: (WITH A
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.
187 lines from women, 680 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
7 women and 21 men in the cast. 8 women and 35 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 6 of 966.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 172 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (2,415), men 81% (10,044). Women have 22% 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
Two women
6
Two men
63
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Phil Alden Robinson (man)
- Written by
- Phil Alden Robinson (man)
- From the novel by
- W.P. Kinsella (gender not listed)
- Produced by
- Charles Gordon (man), Lawrence Gordon (man)
- Shot by
- John Lindley (man)
- Edited by
- Ian Crafford (man)
- Music by
- James Horner (man)
- Production design by
- Dennis Gassner (man)
- Costumes by
- Linda M. Bass (woman)
- Cast by
- Margery Simkin (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 7 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men
-
Camera
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 23 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Gaby Hoffmann 7, Amy Madigan 38
Men
Frank Whaley 25, Dwier Brown 30, Timothy Busfield 31, Kevin Costner 34, Ray Liotta 34, James Earl Jones 58, James Andelin 71, Burt Lancaster 75
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $84.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 58 scenes and 966 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
