Passes the Bechdel test
Happy Birthday to Me
1981. Directed by J. Lee Thompson, written by John C.W. Saxton and Peter Jobin and Timothy Bond.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 15 scenes out of 120. -
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
Virginia Wainwright is a spirited young woman who has returned to a private school having survived a deadly accident and regenerative brain surgery. She is proud that she belongs to the Top Ten - the school's inner circle with the best students - and attempts to resume a normal life. But her friends are falling prey to a grueling series of murders, and soon there will be no one left to attend her 18th birthday party. Could it be her? Striving to rekindle the memory of her nightmarish accident, Virginia suffers from memory loss and traumatic blackouts. We soon learn the horrible truth behind her accident and what is going on before her birthday party...
- Released
- 15 May 1981
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6 / 10
- Metascore
- 24 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Virginia 147 lines, woman
- David 53 lines, man
- Ann 41 lines, woman
- Steve 33 lines, man
- Rudi 32 lines, man
- Hal 30 lines, man
- Amelia 28 lines, woman
- Mrs. Patterson 26 lines, woman
- Estelle 23 lines, woman
- Randy 20 lines, man
Full cast, 50 people
- Melissa Sue Anderson as Virginia Wainwright
- Glenn Ford as Dr. David Faraday
- Lawrence Dane as Hal Wainwright
- Sharon Acker as Estelle Wainwright
- Frances Hyland as Mrs. Patterson
- Tracey E. Bregman as Ann Thomerson
- Jack Blum as Alfred Morris
- Matt Craven as Steve Maxwell
- Lenore Zann as Maggie
- David Eisner as Rudi
- Lisa Langlois as Amelia
- Michel-René Labelle as Etienne Vercures
- Richard Rebiere as Greg Hellman
- Lesleh Donaldson as Bernadette O'Hara
- Earl Pennington as Lieutenant Tracy
- Murray Westgate as Gatekeeper
- Jérôme Tiberghien as Prof. Heregood
- Maurice Podbrey as Dr. Feinblum
- Vlasta Vrana as Bartender
- Walter Massey as Conventioneer Leader
- Griffith Brewer as Verger
- Allan Katz as Ann's Date
- Ron Lea as Amelia's Date
- Terry Haig as Feinblum's Assistant
- Karen Stephen as Ms. Calhoun
- Louis Del Grande as Surgeon
- Nicholas Kilbertus as Anesthetist
- Damir Andrei as Junior Surgeon
- Gina Dick as Ingrid
- Stephanie Miller as Hospital Nurse
- Steven Mayoff as Police Officer
- Victor Knight as Conventioneer
- Roland Nincheri as Conventioneer
- Aram Barkev as Conventioneer
- Alan Barnett as Conventioneer
- Paul Board as Conventioneer
- Marc DeGagne as Conventioneer
- Bruce Gooding as Conventioneer
- Keith Sutherland as Conventioneer
- Herbert Vool as Conventioneer
- Len Watt as Conventioneer
- Joe Wertheimer as Conventioneer
- Nancy Allan as Cheerleader
- Karen Hynes as Cheerleader
- Tracy-Marie Langdon as Cheerleader
- Debbie McGellin as Cheerleader
- Kathy Reid as Cheerleader
- Lori Timmons as Cheerleader
- Debbie Tull as Cheerleader
- Lynn Wilson as Cheerleader
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 120
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 | 30 | 28 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 8 | 10 |
| 13 to 15 | 5 | 6 |
| 16 to 18 | 10 | 5 |
| 19 to 21 | 9 | 8 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 15 | 17 |
| 28 to 30 | 9 | 11 |
| 31 to 33 | 14 | 8 |
| 34 to 36 | 13 | 7 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 1 |
| 43 to 45 | 4 | 4 |
| 46 to 48 | 18 | 5 |
| 49 to 51 | 4 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 19 | 8 |
| 55 to 57 | 7 | 9 |
| 58 to 60 | 1 | 0 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 17 |
| 64 to 66 | 7 | 10 |
| 67 to 69 | 3 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 22 | 16 |
| 73 to 75 | 5 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 5 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 7 | 6 |
| 82 to 84 | 13 | 8 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 7 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 10 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 10 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 19 |
| 106 to 108 | 4 | 3 |
| 109 to 111 | 25 | 3 |
| 112 to 114 | 2 | 3 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 2 | 3 |
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.
MRS. PATTERSON: For heaven's sake, stand still! Winston, stop it! Heel. ~ . BERNADETTE: Mrs. Patterson! MRS. PATTERSON: What on earth has gotten into you, Bernadette O'Hara? MRS. PATTERSON: Do you have any idea what time it is? Where are you going?
ANN: What a creep! AMELIA: You just can't take some people anywhere!
ANN: .Shit J Well, where the hell 1s it?! INGRID: Thank you.
VIRGINIA: What's going on? What are we doing? AMELIA: You'll see. Come on!
VIRGINIA: Let me out! I don 1 t want to die! Let me out! AMELIA: You'll kill yourself!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 56 are women's.
306 lines from women, 238 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 22 men in the cast. 9 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 18 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 53% of the words (3,233), men 47% (2,872). Women have 56% 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
34
Two men
20
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- J. Lee Thompson (man)
- Written by
- Timothy Bond (man), John C.W. Saxton (man), Peter Jobin (man)
- Story by
- John C.W. Saxton (man)
- Produced by
- André Link (man), John Dunning (man)
- Shot by
- Miklós Lente (gender not listed)
- Edited by
- Debra Karen (woman)
- Music by
- Lance Rubin (gender not listed), Bo Harwood (man)
- Production design by
- Earl G. Preston (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Huguette Gagné (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
2 women, 12 men, 14 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 14 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 9 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 0 men, 12 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 8 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 6 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Tracey E. Bregman 17, Melissa Sue Anderson 18, Lenore Zann 21, Sharon Acker 46, Frances Hyland 54
Men
David Eisner 23, Matt Craven 24, Jack Blum 26, Lawrence Dane 44, Glenn Ford 65
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.5 million
- Box office
- $10.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 120 scenes and 587 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
