Fails the Bechdel test
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
1984. Directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz and George Lucas.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
Indiana Jones teams up with a nightclub singer named Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott and a twelve-year-old Chinese boy named Short Round. They end up in a small distressed village in India, where the people believe that evil spirits have taken all their children away after a sacred precious stone was stolen. They also discover the great mysterious terror surrounding a booby-trapped temple known as the Temple of Doom. Thuggee is beginning to attempt to rise once more, believing that with the power of all five Sankara stones they can rule the world. It's all up to Indiana to put an end to the Thuggee campaign, rescue the lost children, win the girl and conquer the Temple of Doom.
- Released
- 23 May 1984
- Genres
- Action, Adventure
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 57 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 11 wins & 22 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Indiana 267 lines, man
- Willie 207 lines, woman
- Short Round 76 lines, man
- Chattar Lal 34 lines, man
- Capt. Blumburtt 19 lines, man
- Lao 17 lines, man
- Mola Ram 16 lines, man
- Maharajah 15 lines, man
- Shaman 14 lines, man
- Chieftain 4 lines, man
Full cast, 81 people
- Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones
- Kate Capshaw as Willie Scott
- Ke Huy Quan as Short Round
- Amrish Puri as Mola Ram
- Roshan Seth as Chattar Lal
- Philip Stone as Phillip Blumburtt
- Roy Chiao as Lao Che
- David Yip as Wu Han
- Ric Young as Kao Kan
- Chua Kah Joo as Chen
- Rex Ngui as Maitre d'
- Philip Tan as Chief Henchman
- Dan Aykroyd as Art Weber
- Akio Mitamura as Chinese Pilot
- Michael Yama as Chinese Co-Pilot
- D.R. Nanayakkara as Shaman
- Dharmadasa Kuruppu as Chieftain
- Stany De Silva as Sajnu
- Ruby de Mel as Village Woman
- Denavaka Hamine as Village Woman
- Iranganie Serasinghe as Village Woman
- Dharshana Panangala as Village Child
- Raj Singh as Little Maharaja
- Frank Olegario as Merchant #1
- Ahmed El Shenawi as Merchant #2
- Arthur F. Repola as Eel Eater
- Nizwar Karanj as Sacrifice Victim
- Pat Roach as Chief Guard
- Moti Makan as Guard
- Mellan Mitchell as Temple Guard
- Bhasker Patel as Temple Guard
- Arjun Pandher as 1st Boy in Cell
- Zia Gelani as 2nd Boy in Cell
- Debbie Astell as Dancer
- Maureen Bacchus as Dancer
- Corinne Barton as Dancer
- Carol Beddington as Dancer
- Sharon Boone as Dancer
- Elizabeth Burville as Dancer
- Marisa Campbell as Dancer
- Christine Cartwright as Dancer
- Andrea Chance as Dancer
- Jan Colton as Dancer
- Louise Dalgleish as Dancer
- Lorraine Doyle as Dancer
- Vanessa Fieldwright as Dancer
- Brenda Glassman as Dancer
- Elaine Gough as Dancer
- Sue Hadleigh as Dancer
- Sarah-Jane Hassell as Dancer
- Samantha Hughes as Dancer
- Julie Kirk as Dancer
- Deirdre Laird as Dancer
- Vicki McDonald as Dancer
- Nina McMahon as Dancer
- Julia Marstand as Dancer
- Gaynor Martine as Dancer
- Lisa Mulidore as Dancer
- Dawn Reddall as Dancer
- Rebekkah Sekyi as Dancer
- Clare Smalley as Dancer
- Lee Sprintall as Dancer
- Jenny Turnock as Dancer
- Ruth Welby as Dancer
- Yash Agnihotri as Palace Guard (uncredited)
- Dickey Beer as Thuggee in Railway Chase / Thuggee Knocked Off Ledge / Thuggee on Bridge (uncredited)
- Kenneth Coombs as Nightclub Guest (uncredited)
- Sidney Ganis as Missionary (uncredited)
- Billy Horrigan as Thuggee in Railway Chase (uncredited)
- Kathleen Kennedy as 'Anything Goes' Dancer (uncredited)
- Brad Kesten as Slave Children (voice) (uncredited)
- Alex Klaus as Slave Child (uncredited)
- Katie Leigh as Little Maharaja (voice) (uncredited)
- Patrick Loh as Triad Henchman (uncredited)
- George Lucas as Missionary (uncredited)
- Tress MacNeille as Slave Child (voice) (uncredited)
- Frank Marshall as Tourist at Airport (uncredited)
- Anthony Powell as Missionary (uncredited)
- Steven Spielberg as Tourist at Airport (uncredited)
- Guy Standeven as Obi Wan Club Patron (uncredited)
- Ron Taylor as Lao Chie (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 174
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 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 11 | 45 |
| 9 to 12 | 6 | 11 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 to 20 | 2 | 4 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 8 |
| 25 to 28 | 3 | 5 |
| 29 to 32 | 2 | 2 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 40 | 12 | 47 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 2 |
| 45 to 48 | 8 | 10 |
| 49 to 52 | 20 | 19 |
| 53 to 56 | 21 | 25 |
| 57 to 60 | 9 | 13 |
| 61 to 64 | 25 | 86 |
| 65 to 68 | 1 | 1 |
| 69 to 72 | 3 | 3 |
| 73 to 76 | 9 | 20 |
| 77 to 80 | 2 | 7 |
| 81 to 84 | 5 | 4 |
| 85 to 88 | 5 | 5 |
| 89 to 92 | 1 | 3 |
| 93 to 96 | 2 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 2 | 2 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 0 |
| 105 to 108 | 1 | 1 |
| 109 to 112 | 4 | 8 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 0 |
| 117 to 120 | 3 | 2 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 10 |
| 125 to 128 | 6 | 24 |
| 129 to 132 | 9 | 24 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 6 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 5 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 2 | 5 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 9 | 24 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 3 |
| 161 to 164 | 2 | 6 |
| 165 to 168 | 5 | 8 |
| 169 to 172 | 4 | 18 |
| 173 to 174 | 5 | 6 |
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, 30 are women's.
207 lines from women, 482 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 35 men in the cast. 1 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 17 of 694.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 31 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 28% of the words (1,772), men 72% (4,534). Women have 30% 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
0
Two men
54
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Steven Spielberg (man)
- Written by
- Willard Huyck (man), Gloria Katz (woman)
- Story by
- George Lucas (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Watts (man)
- Shot by
- Douglas Slocombe (man)
- Edited by
- Michael Kahn (man)
- Music by
- John Williams (man)
- Production design by
- Elliot Scott (man)
- Costumes by
- Anthony Powell (man)
- Cast by
- Jane Feinberg (woman), Mike Fenton (man), Marci Liroff (woman), Mary Selway (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 24 men, 9 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 10 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 5 men
-
Art
0 women, 5 men
-
Writing
1 women, 4 men
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kate Capshaw 30
Men
Ke Huy Quan 12, David Yip 32, Ric Young 39, Harrison Ford 41, Roshan Seth 42, Amrish Puri 51, Roy Chiao 57, Philip Stone 60
Exhibit G: the money
It made 11.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $28 million
- Box office
- $333 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 174 scenes and 694 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
