Fails the Bechdel test
Honeydripper
2007. Directed by John Sayles, written by John Sayles.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man, and the landlord, Tyrone is desperate to lure the young cotton pickers and local Army base recruits into his juke joint, away from Touissant's, the rival joint across the way. His plan to hire a guitar legend go awry and Tyrone is forced to take drastic action in a final scheme to save the club.
- Released
- 09 May 2008
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, History
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 3 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ty 257 lines, man
- Maceo 121 lines, man
- Sonny 88 lines, man
- Delilah 68 lines, woman
- China Doll 64 lines, woman
- Sheriff Pugh 40 lines, man
- Dex 34 lines, man
- Amanda 31 lines, woman
- Possum 31 lines, man
- Slick 22 lines, man
Full cast, 37 people
- Danny Glover as Tyrone Purvis
- LisaGay Hamilton as Delilah
- Yaya DaCosta as China Doll
- Charles S. Dutton as Maceo
- Vondie Curtis-Hall as Slick
- Gary Clark Jr. as Sonny
- Mable John as Bertha Mae
- Stacy Keach as Sheriff Pugh
- Nagee Clay as Scratch
- Absalom Adams as Lonnie
- Arthur Lee Williams as Metalmouth Sims
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Stokely
- Davenia McFadden as Nadine
- Daryl Edwards as Shack Thomas
- Sean Patrick Thomas as Dex
- Eric L. Abrams as Ham
- Kel Mitchell as Junebug
- Keb' Mo' as Possum
- Tom Wright as Cool Breeze
- Donnie L. Betts as Mr. Simmons
- John Sayles as Zeke
- Larry Coker as Driver
- Mary Steenburgen as Amanda Winship
- Brian D. Williams as Luther
- Santana Shelton as Opal
- Danny Vinson as Judge Gatlin
- Brent Jennings as Ned
- Steve Holmes as Deputy #1
- Albert Hall as Reverend Cutlip
- Ronald McCall as King
- Eddie Mallard III as Nat
- Eddie Shaw as Time Trenier
- Eric Housh as Clerk
- Stephan Hundley as Young Henry
- James Crittenden as Old Man Toussaint
- Ledyard Williamson as Deputy #2
- Marcus Henderson as Dancing man (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 79
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 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 10 | 38 | 48 |
| 11 to 12 | 5 | 31 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 33 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 23 |
| 17 to 18 | 3 | 33 |
| 19 to 20 | 3 | 90 |
| 21 to 22 | 24 | 16 |
| 23 to 24 | 2 | 30 |
| 25 to 26 | 12 | 11 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 5 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 11 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 17 |
| 33 to 34 | 46 | 2 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 15 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 29 |
| 39 to 40 | 12 | 18 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 15 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 0 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 8 |
| 49 to 50 | 3 | 4 |
| 51 to 52 | 8 | 69 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 36 |
| 55 to 56 | 17 | 24 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 36 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 25 |
| 61 to 62 | 6 | 4 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 20 |
| 71 to 72 | 11 | 40 |
| 73 to 74 | 1 | 27 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 12 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 10 |
| 79 to 79 | 0 | 0 |
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, 21 are women's.
192 lines from women, 742 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 18 men in the cast. 5 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 978.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 89 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,876), men 81% (7,971). Women have 21% 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
3
Two men
55
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 36% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Sayles (man)
- Written by
- John Sayles (man)
- Produced by
- Maggie Renzi (woman)
- Shot by
- Dick Pope (man)
- Edited by
- John Sayles (man)
- Music by
- Mason Daring (man)
- Production design by
- Toby Corbett (man)
- Costumes by
- Hope Hanafin (woman)
- Cast by
- John Hubbard (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 48 on average. Men: 51 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Yaya DaCosta 24, LisaGay Hamilton 43, Mable John 76
Men
Gary Clark Jr. 23, Vondie Curtis-Hall 50, Charles S. Dutton 56, Danny Glover 61, Stacy Keach 66
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 79 scenes and 978 lines of dialogue. How the test works
