Fails the Bechdel test
Gremlins
1984. Directed by Joe Dante, written by Chris Columbus.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Minature green monsters tear through the small town of Kingston Falls. Hijinks ensue as a mild-mannered bank teller releases these hideous loonies after gaining a new pet and violating two of three simple rules: No water (violated), no food after midnight (violated), and no bright light. Hilarious mayhem and destruction in a town straight out of Norman Rockwell. So, when your washing machine blows up or your TV goes on the fritz, before you call the repair man, turn on all the lights and look under all the beds. 'Cause you never can tell, there just might be a gremlin in your house.
- Released
- 08 Jun 1984
- Genres
- Fantasy, Horror
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 70 / 100
- Awards
- 8 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Billy 201 lines, man
- Rand 38 lines, man
- Gary 30 lines, man
- Tracy 29 lines
- Dorry 21 lines, man
- Lynn 21 lines, woman
- Pete 17 lines, man
- Mrs. Deagle 14 lines, woman
- Frank 13 lines, man
- Inside 13 lines
Full cast, 55 people
- Zach Galligan as Billy
- Phoebe Cates as Kate
- Hoyt Axton as Rand Peltzer
- Frances Lee McCain as Lynn Peltzer
- Corey Feldman as Pete
- Keye Luke as Grandfather
- John Louie as Chinese Boy
- Dick Miller as Mr. Futterman
- Jackie Joseph as Sheila Futterman
- Polly Holliday as Mrs. Deagle
- Judge Reinhold as Gerald
- Edward Andrews as Mr. Corben
- Belinda Balaski as Mrs. Harris
- Scott Brady as Sheriff Frank
- Susan Burgess as Little Girl
- Harry Carey Jr. as Mr. Anderson
- Donald Elson as Man on Street
- Jonathan Banks as Deputy Brent
- Glynn Turman as Roy Hanson
- Chuck Jones as Mr. Jones
- Arnie Moore as Pete's Father
- Danny Llewelyn as Hungry Child
- Lois Foraker as Bank Teller
- Kenny Davis as Dorry
- Nicky Katt as Schoolchild
- Tracy Wells as Schoolchild
- John C. Becher as Dr. Molinaro
- Gwen Willson as Mrs. Molinaro
- Joe Brooks as Santa
- Jim McKrell as Lew Landers
- Frank Welker as Stripe / Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Howie Mandel as Gizmo (voice)
- Fred Newman as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Mark Dodson as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Michael Winslow as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Peter Cullen as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Bob Bergen as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Michael Sheehan as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Bob Holt as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice)
- Don Steele as Rockin' Ricky Rialto (voice)
- Jerry Goldsmith as Pay-Phone Patron (uncredited)
- Steven Spielberg as Man in Electric Wheelchair (uncredited)
- Paul Acerno as Man Wearing Sunglasses on Payphone at Convention (uncredited)
- Tom Bergeron as TV News Reporter (uncredited)
- Bob Harks as Townsman (uncredited)
- Brad Kesten as Mogwai / Gremlins / Additional Voices (uncredited)
- Marvin Miller as Robby the Robot (voice) (uncredited)
- Dean Rader Duval as Ron (uncredited)
- William Schallert as Father Bartlett (uncredited)
- Kenneth Tobey as Mobil Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
- Kevin McCarthy as Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Archive Footage)
- Friz Freleng as Citizen (uncredited)
- Joe Dante as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice) (uncredited)
- Jim Cummings as Mogwai / Gremlins (voice) (uncredited)
- Robby the Robot as Robot (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 28% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 78
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 | 0 | 19 |
| 3 to 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 to 6 | 8 | 27 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 21 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 12 | 3 | 1 |
| 13 to 14 | 10 | 13 |
| 15 to 16 | 3 | 19 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 8 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 25 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 8 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 11 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 5 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 to 32 | 3 | 20 |
| 33 to 34 | 2 | 1 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 2 | 0 |
| 39 to 40 | 5 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 11 | 17 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 5 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 15 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 38 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 12 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 13 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 20 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 17 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 12 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 19 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 1 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 4 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 1 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 3 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 9 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 18 |
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, 12 are women's.
52 lines from women, 399 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 40 men in the cast. 4 women and 23 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 23 of 629.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 221 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 11% of the words (788), men 89% (6,334). Women have 12% 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
Two women
1
Two men
50
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joe Dante (man)
- Written by
- Chris Columbus (man)
- Produced by
- Michael Finnell (man)
- Shot by
- John Hora (man)
- Edited by
- Tina Hirsch (woman)
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith (man), Noel Regney (gender not listed)
- Production design by
- James H. Spencer (man)
- Cast by
- Susan Arnold (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 12 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 8 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 39 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Phoebe Cates 20, Frances Lee McCain 39, Polly Holliday 46, Jackie Joseph 49
Men
Corey Feldman 12, John Louie 13, Zach Galligan 20, Hoyt Axton 46, Dick Miller 55, Keye Luke 79
Exhibit G: the money
It made 15.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $11 million
- Box office
- $165 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 78 scenes and 629 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
