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Fails the Bechdel test

Good Morning, Vietnam

1988. Directed by Barry Levinson, written by Mitch Markowitz and Adrian Cronauer.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

  1. No 1. At least two women
    Fewer than two women characters.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

Poster for Good Morning, Vietnam

The film

A new Disc Jockey is shipped from Crete to Vietnam to bring humor to Armed Forces Radio. He turns the studio on its ear and becomes wildly popular with the troops but runs afoul of the middle management who think he isn't G.I. enough. While he is off the air, he tries to meet the Vietnamese, especially girls, and begins to have brushes with the real war that never appears on the radio.

Released
15 Jan 1988
Genres
Biography, Comedy, Drama
Rated
R
IMDb
7.3 / 10
Metascore
67 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 7 wins & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Cronauer 285 lines, man
  2. Garlick 103 lines, man
  3. Tuan 67 lines, man
  4. Hauk 37 lines, man
  5. Dreiwitz 34 lines, man
  6. Dickerson 31 lines, man
  7. Taylor 25 lines, man
  8. Trinh 16 lines, woman
  9. Mcpherson 14 lines, man
  10. Jimmy Wah 13 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
  • Robin Williams as Adrian Cronauer
  • Forest Whitaker as Edward Garlick
  • Tom T. Tran as Tuan
  • Chintara Sukapatana as Trinh
  • Bruno Kirby as Lt. Steven Hauk
  • Robert Wuhl as Marty Lee Dreiwitz
  • J.T. Walsh as Sgt. Major Dickerson
  • Noble Willingham as Gen. Taylor
  • Richard Edson as Pvt. Abersold
  • Juney Smith as Phil McPherson
  • Richard Portnow as Dan 'The Man' Levitan
  • Floyd Vivino as Eddie Kirk
  • Cu Ba Nguyen as Jimmy Wah
  • Dan Stanton as Censor #1
  • Don Stanton as Censor #2
  • Danny Aiello III as MP #1
  • James McIntire as Sergeant #1 at Jimmy Wah's
  • Peter MacKenzie as Sergeant #2 at Jimmy Wah's
  • No Tran as Vietnamese Student
  • Hoa Nguyen as Vietnamese Student
  • Uikey Kuay as Vietnamese Student
  • Suvit Abakaz as Vietnamese Student
  • Panas Wiwatpanachat as Vietnamese Student
  • Lerdcharn Namkiri as Vietnamese Student
  • Hanh Thi Nguyen as Vietnamese Student
  • Tuan Lai as Vietnamese Student
  • Boonchai Jakraworawut as Vietnamese Student
  • Joe B. Veokeki as Vietnamese Student
  • Wichien Chaopramong as Vietnamese Student
  • Kien Chufak as Vietnamese Student
  • Prasert Tangpantarat as Vietnamese Student
  • Tim O'Hare as Convoy Soldier
  • John Goyer as Convoy Soldier
  • Louis Hood as Convoy Soldier
  • Christopher Mangan as Convoy Soldier
  • Kenneth Pitochelli as Convoy Soldier
  • Jonathan MacLeod as Convoy Soldier
  • Gregg T. Knight as Convoy Soldier
  • Ralph Tabakin as Chaplain Noel
  • Sangad Sangkao as Viet Cong Leader in Jungle
  • Vanlap Sangko as Viet Cong Leader in Jungle
  • Mark Johnson as Mr. Sloan (uncredited)
  • John Marshall Jones as MP #2 (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 143

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 307
4 to 6015
7 to 907
10 to 12011
13 to 1506
16 to 18017
19 to 2104
22 to 24024
25 to 27014
28 to 3009
31 to 3305
34 to 36010
37 to 39029
40 to 42034
43 to 45014
46 to 4805
49 to 5101
52 to 5409
55 to 5728
58 to 6069
61 to 63112
64 to 66012
67 to 6903
70 to 72014
73 to 75020
76 to 7803
79 to 81014
82 to 84024
85 to 8700
88 to 90022
91 to 93513
94 to 96012
97 to 99026
100 to 102060
103 to 105016
106 to 108014
109 to 111010
112 to 11408
115 to 11701
118 to 12009
121 to 123013
124 to 12606
127 to 129228
130 to 132020
133 to 13508
136 to 138011
139 to 141215
142 to 14302

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, 3 are women's.

18 lines from women, 634 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

1 women and 20 men in the cast. 1 women and 22 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 250 of 736. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 253 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 2% of the words (258), men 98% (10,909). Women have 3% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

None of the 10 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Barry Levinson (man)
Written by
Mitch Markowitz (man)
Produced by
Mark Johnson (man), Larry Brezner (man)
Shot by
Peter Sova (man)
Edited by
Stu Linder (man)
Music by
Alex North (man)
Production design by
Roy Walker (man)
Costumes by
Keith Denny (man)
Cast by
Louis DiGiaimo (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 5 men

  • Art

    1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 2 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 1 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 22 on average. Men: 38 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Chintara Sukapatana 22

Men

Forest Whitaker 26, Richard Edson 33, Robin Williams 36, Robert Wuhl 36, Bruno Kirby 38, J.T. Walsh 44, Noble Willingham 56

Exhibit G: the money

It made 9.5 times what it cost.

Budget
$13 million
Box office
$124 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 143 scenes and 736 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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