Passes the Bechdel test

Grosse Pointe Blank

Name: Grosse Pointe Blank
Released: 1997

1997. Directed by George Armitage, written by Tom Jankiewicz and D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 4 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 124.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

Martin Blank is a freelance hitman who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments. On the advice of his secretary and his psychiatrist, he attends his 10-year high-school reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a Detroit suburb where he's also contracted to kill someone. Hot on his tail are a couple of over-enthusiastic federal agents, another assassin who wants to kill him, and Grocer, an assassin who wants him to join an "Assassins' Union."

Released: 11 Apr 1997
Genres: Action, Comedy, Crime
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.3 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 8 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Martin 268 lines, man
Debi 96 lines, woman
Marcella 32 lines, woman
Paul 26 lines, man
Grocer 21 lines, man
Lardner 19 lines, man
Dr. Oatman 18 lines, man
Mary 18 lines, woman
Mccullers 17 lines, man
Bob 14 lines, man

Full cast, 24 people

John Cusack as Martin Q. Blank
Minnie Driver as Debi Newberry
Dan Aykroyd as Grocer
Joan Cusack as Marcella
Alan Arkin as Dr. Oatman
Hank Azaria as Steven Lardner
Jeremy Piven as Paul Spericki
Mitchell Ryan as Mr. Bart Newberry
Michael Cudlitz as Bob Destepello
Steve Pink as Terry Rostand
K. Todd Freeman as Kenneth McCullers
Doug Dearth as Eckhart
Ann Cusack as Amy
Barbara Harris as Mary Blank
Jenna Elfman as Tanya
Belita Moreno as Mrs. Kinetta
Bill Cusack as Waiter
Patrick O'Neill as Nathaniel (as Pat O'Neill)
Benny Urquidez as Felix La PuBelle
David Barrett as Bicycle Messenger
Lance Gilbert as Assassin #2
Carlos Jacott as Ken
Bobby Bass as Assistant #1
Wendy Thorlakson as Melanie the Waitress

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 124

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	23
4 to 6	0	4
7 to 9	0	11
10 to 12	1	14
13 to 15	5	1
16 to 18	4	3
19 to 21	19	38
22 to 24	0	11
25 to 27	0	3
28 to 30	0	8
31 to 33	2	3
34 to 36	10	11
37 to 39	8	7
40 to 42	12	11
43 to 45	1	0
46 to 48	19	17
49 to 51	0	23
52 to 54	0	22
55 to 57	0	4
58 to 60	14	13
61 to 63	12	19
64 to 66	4	20
67 to 69	3	14
70 to 72	2	13
73 to 75	2	32
76 to 78	14	20
79 to 81	11	7
82 to 84	1	3
85 to 87	0	0
88 to 90	0	14
91 to 93	0	0
94 to 96	0	5
97 to 99	14	27
100 to 102	0	0
103 to 105	3	2
106 to 108	0	0
109 to 111	0	4
112 to 114	0	5
115 to 117	0	8
118 to 120	0	9
121 to 123	4	5
124 to 124	3	1

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.

MARCELLA: Will do. DEBI: Are you there?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 28 are women's.

168 lines from women, 435 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 17 men in the cast. 4 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 55 of 671. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 56 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 26% of the words (1,698), men 74% (4,719). Women have 28% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: George Armitage (man)
Written by: Tom Jankiewicz (man), D.V. DeVincentis (man), John Cusack (man), Steve Pink (man)
Story by: Tom Jankiewicz (man)
Produced by: Susan Arnold (woman), Roger Birnbaum (man)
Shot by: Jamie Anderson (man)
Edited by: Brian Berdan (man)
Music by: Joe Strummer (man)
Production design by: Stephen Altman (man)
Costumes by: Eugenie Bafaloukos (woman)