Passes the Bechdel test

Five Easy Pieces

Name: Five Easy Pieces
Released: 1970

1970. Directed by Bob Rafelson, written by Carole Eastman and Bob Rafelson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 105.
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

Robert Dupea has given up his promising career as a concert pianist and is now working in oil fields. He lives together with Rayette, who's a waitress in a diner. When Robert hears from his sister that his father isn't well, he drives up to Washington to see him, taking Rayette with him. There he gets confronted with his rich, cultured family that he had left behind.

Released: 12 Sep 1970
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 85 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars. 11 wins & 23 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Bobby 287 lines, man
Rayette 115 lines, woman
Tita 93 lines, woman
Catherine 71 lines, woman
Palm 36 lines, woman
Carl 34 lines, man
Elton 32 lines, man
Samia 19 lines, woman
Waitress 13 lines, woman
Second Engineer 11 lines, man

Full cast, 18 people

Jack Nicholson as Robert Eroica Dupea
Karen Black as Rayette Dipesto
Susan Anspach as Catherine Van Oost
Lois Smith as Partita Dupea
Ralph Waite as Carl Fidelio Dupea
Billy Green Bush as Elton
Irene Dailey as Samia Glavia
Toni Basil as Terry Grouse
Lorna Thayer as Waitress
Richard Stahl as Recording Engineer
Helena Kallianiotes as Palm Apodaca
William Challee as Nicholas Dupea
John P. Ryan as Spicer
Fannie Flagg as Stoney
Marlena MacGuire as Twinky
Sally Struthers as Betty
Clay Greenbush as Baby (uncredited)
Bob Rafelson as Man in Elevator (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 105

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	0	0
4 to 6	0	0
7 to 9	0	0
10 to 12	44	56
13 to 15	0	1
16 to 18	0	4
19 to 21	0	2
22 to 24	0	2
25 to 27	0	1
28 to 30	0	1
31 to 33	0	0
34 to 36	5	11
37 to 39	0	29
40 to 42	40	40
43 to 45	1	13
46 to 48	0	1
49 to 51	11	4
52 to 54	37	11
55 to 57	14	12
58 to 60	8	0
61 to 63	18	10
64 to 66	0	1
67 to 69	31	32
70 to 72	14	14
73 to 75	10	10
76 to 78	7	30
79 to 81	10	9
82 to 84	20	19
85 to 87	16	11
88 to 90	8	9
91 to 93	39	20
94 to 96	15	18
97 to 99	10	1
100 to 102	5	2
103 to 105	0	9

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.

PALM: Rotate, mack! RAYETTE: What'd she say? PALM: Look at my car! Piece of shit! I just bought it brand new from a used-car lot, and the steering goes to the pot on me!

PALM: Palm Apodaca. RAYETTE: An' what's your name? TERRY: Terry Grouse.

RAYETTE: I'll tell you... ... l-a-t-e-r. PALM: How far are you going to?

PALM: It's just filthy. People are dirty. I think that's the biggest thing that's wrong with people. I think they wouldn't be as violent if they w… RAYETTE: Well... PALM: Not dirt. See, dirt isn't bad. It's filth. Filth is bad. That's what starts maggots and riots... PALM: Hey, follow that truck. They know the best places to stop.

TITA: Besides being very rude. CATHERINE: What have you been doing since then?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 49 are women's.

363 lines from women, 383 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 8 men in the cast. 8 women and 5 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 759. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 38 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 56% of the words (4,104), men 44% (3,256). Women have 49% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Bob Rafelson (man)
Written by: Carole Eastman (woman)
Story by: Bob Rafelson (man), Carole Eastman (woman)
Produced by: Richard Wechsler (gender not listed), Bob Rafelson (man)
Shot by: László Kovács (man)
Edited by: Christopher Holmes (gender not listed), Gerald Shepard (gender not listed)
Production design by: Toby Carr Rafelson (gender not listed)
Cast by: Fred Roos (man)