Fails the Bechdel test
High Noon
1952. Directed by Fred Zinnemann, written by Carl Foreman and John W. Cunningham.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 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 2 out of 3.
The film
On the day he gets married and hangs up his badge, Marshal Will Kane is told that a man he sent to prison years before, Frank Miller, is returning on the noon train to exact his revenge. Having initially decided to leave with his new spouse, Will decides he must go back and face Miller. However, when he seeks the help of the townspeople he has protected for so long, they turn their backs on him. It seems Kane may have to face Miller alone, as well as the rest of Miller's gang, who are waiting for him at the station.
- Released
- 30 Jul 1952
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller, Western
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 89 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 18 wins & 12 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Doane 111 lines, man
- Amy 56 lines, woman
- Harvey 48 lines, man
- Helen 35 lines, woman
- Henderson 19 lines, man
- Doare 17 lines, man
- Gillis 15 lines, man
- Baker 14 lines, man
- Bareer 14 lines
- Mettrick 14 lines, man
Full cast, 72 people
- Gary Cooper as Marshal Will Kane
- Thomas Mitchell as Mayor Jonas Henderson
- Lloyd Bridges as Deputy Marshal Harvey Pell
- Katy Jurado as Helen Ramírez
- Grace Kelly as Amy Fowler Kane
- Otto Kruger as Judge Percy Mettrick
- Lon Chaney Jr. as Martin Howe
- Harry Morgan as Sam Fuller
- Ian MacDonald as Frank Miller
- Eve McVeagh as Mildred Fuller
- Morgan Farley as Dr. Mahin
- Harry Shannon as Cooper
- Lee Van Cleef as Jack Colby
- Robert J. Wilke as Jim Pierce
- Sheb Wooley as Ben Miller
- Lee Aaker as Boy (uncredited)
- Ernest Baldwin as Townsman (uncredited)
- Benjie Bancroft as Church Member (uncredited)
- Guy Beach as Fred - Coffinmaker (uncredited)
- George Bell as Townsman (uncredited)
- Jeanne Blackford as Mrs. Henderson (uncredited)
- Larry J. Blake as Gillis - Saloon Owner (uncredited)
- John Breen as Church Member (uncredited)
- Roy Bucko as Barfly (uncredited)
- Nora Bush as Townswoman (uncredited)
- Robert Carson as Barfly (uncredited)
- John Cason as Barfly (uncredited)
- Howland Chamberlain as Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
- Virginia Christine as Mrs. Simpson (uncredited)
- Cliff Clark as Ed Weaver (uncredited)
- Ben Corbett as Townsman (uncredited)
- Russell Custer as Barfly (uncredited)
- John Doucette as Trumbull (uncredited)
- Tex Driscoll as Church Member (uncredited)
- Paul Dubov as Scott (uncredited)
- Jack Elam as Charlie - Drunk in Jail (uncredited)
- Dick Elliott as Kibbee (uncredited)
- Virginia Farmer as Mrs. Fletcher (uncredited)
- Joe Garcio as Barfly (uncredited)
- Rudy Germane as Townsman (uncredited)
- Herschel Graham as Church Member (uncredited)
- Tim Graham as Sawyer (uncredited)
- Tom Greenway as Ezra (uncredited)
- Harry Harvey as Coy (uncredited)
- Chuck Hayward as Townsman (uncredited)
- Tex Holden as Barfly (uncredited)
- Michael Jeffers as Townsman (uncredited)
- Kay Koury as Townswoman (uncredited)
- Paul Kruger as Church Member (uncredited)
- Ann Kunde as Townswoman (uncredited)
- Nolan Leary as Lewis (uncredited)
- Tom London as Sam (uncredited)
- Merrill McCormick as Fletcher (uncredited)
- Billy McCoy as Townsman (uncredited)
- James Millican as Deputy Sheriff Herb Baker (uncredited)
- Kansas Moehring as Townsman (uncredited)
- Jack Montgomery as Townsman (uncredited)
- William Newell as Jimmy - Drunk with Eye Patch (uncredited)
- William H. O'Brien as Church Member (uncredited)
- Artie Ortego as Barfly (uncredited)
- William Phillips as Barber (uncredited)
- Lucien Prival as Joe - Ramirez Saloon Bartender (uncredited)
- Ralph Reed as Johnny - Town Boy (uncredited)
- Orie Robertson as Townsman (uncredited)
- Buddy Roosevelt as Townsman (uncredited)
- Allen D. Sewall as Townsman (uncredited)
- Lucile Sewall as Townswoman (uncredited)
- Charles Soldani as Indian Outside of Saloon (uncredited)
- Ted Stanhope as Station Master (uncredited)
- Steve Stephens as Barfly (uncredited)
- Slim Talbot as Barbershop Customer (uncredited)
- Jack Tornek as Barfly (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, 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 3
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 1 | 39 | 89 |
| 2 to 2 | 6 | 50 |
| 3 to 3 | 60 | 212 |
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, 23 are women's.
105 lines from women, 351 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 55 men in the cast. 4 women and 20 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 632.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 62 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (1,769), men 78% (6,335). Women have 23% 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
7
Two men
37
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Fred Zinnemann (man)
- Written by
- Carl Foreman (man)
- Produced by
- Stanley Kramer (man)
- Shot by
- Floyd Crosby (man)
- Edited by
- Elmo Williams (man)
- Music by
- Dimitri Tiomkin (man)
- Production design by
- Rudolph Sternad (man)
- Costumes by
- Joe King (man), Ann Peck (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 48 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Grace Kelly 22, Katy Jurado 28, Eve McVeagh 32
Men
Harry Morgan 37, Ian MacDonald 37, Lloyd Bridges 39, Lon Chaney Jr. 46, Gary Cooper 51, Thomas Mitchell 59, Otto Kruger 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 11.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $730,000
- Box office
- $8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 3 scenes and 632 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
