Fails the Bechdel test
Kingpin
1996. Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly, written by Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan.
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 1 out of 3.
The film
Roy Munson was trained by his father from childhood to be the best bowler in the world. As a teenager, he manages to win the Iowa state amateur championship. Not long after this, Roy becomes a bowling hustler along with his partner Ernie McCracken. They soon go up against a group of ruffians who don't take kindly to being hustled by the pair and exact revenge by damaging Roy's bowling hand so badly that it has to be amputated leaving him with a rubber prosthetic. Being the coward that he is, Ernie runs away as Roy is being abused by the gang. No longer able to bowl as before, Roy becomes a traveling bowling equipment salesman. Eventually, he meets up with an Amish bowling prodigy named Ishmael and takes him under his wing as his manager and trainer. He manages, with difficulty, to convince Ishmael, against his conservative Amish sensibilities, to embark on a professional career. Eventually, they cross paths with Ernie McCracken at a championship bowling event that Ernie is favored to win. While Roy's career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds and all the babes. Ishmael injures his bowling hand just prior to the big tournament leaving it up to Roy to go up against Ernie at the big event and, hopefully, exact personnel revenge for leaving him to fend for himself against the gang they hustled years earlier. The championship match will determine whether Roy or Ernie is the best bowler.
- Released
- 26 Jul 1996
- Genres
- Comedy, Sport
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 43 / 100
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Roy 431 lines, man
- Ishmael 225 lines, man
- Claudia 98 lines, woman
- Osmanski 38 lines, man
- Burt 30 lines, man
- Bartender 17 lines
- Samuel 17 lines, man
- Calvert 12 lines, man
- Mrs. Dumars 11 lines, woman
- Mariann 9 lines
Full cast, 39 people
- Woody Harrelson as Roy Munson
- Randy Quaid as Ishmael Boorg
- Vanessa Angel as Claudia
- Bill Murray as Ernie McCracken
- Chris Elliott as The Gambler
- William Jordan as Mr. Boorg
- Nancy Frey-Jarecki as Sarah Boorg
- Richard Tyson as Owner Of Stiffy's
- Lin Shaye as Landlady
- Zen Gesner as Thomas
- Prudence Wright Holmes as Mrs. Boorg
- Rob Moran as Stanley Osmanski
- Daniel Greene as Calvert Munson
- Will Rothhaar as Young Roy
- Warren Tashjian as Courtesy Call Guy
- Mark Charpentier as 1979 Bowling Buddy
- Brad Faxon as 1979 Bowling Buddy
- Sayed Badreya as Fatima
- Linda Carola as 1979 Waitress
- Danny Murphy as Beaver Valley Bowl Manager
- David Shackelford as Red Neck Stutterer
- Rick Barker as Beaver Bowl Hustler
- Gretchen Treser as Make-Out Queen
- Googy Gress as Lancaster Bowl Manager
- Suzan Hughes as Cocktail Waitress
- Michael Corrente as Scranton Wino
- Willie Garson as Purse Snatcher
- Herbie Flynn as Scranton Wino
- Hank Brandt as Bowling Priest
- Libby Langdon as Skidmark's Squirrel
- Liza Oxnard as Tavern Drunk
- Lorri Bagley as Beautiful Dancer
- Steve Tyler as Gas Station Attendant
- Nancy Farrelly as Nouchi's Gal
- Cynthia Farrelly Gesner as Silver Legacy Maid
- Morganna as Self
- Victoria Scott D'Angelo as Unified Fund Mom
- Jonathan Richman as Tavern band
- Lou Consolo as Stiffy's Goon (as Louis Charles Consolo)
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 140
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 | 6 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 14 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 13 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 19 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 28 |
| 19 to 21 | 2 | 2 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 8 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 28 |
| 28 to 30 | 7 | 31 |
| 31 to 33 | 4 | 9 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 45 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 11 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 9 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 30 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 12 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 27 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 37 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 25 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 45 |
| 64 to 66 | 6 | 26 |
| 67 to 69 | 3 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 5 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 19 |
| 76 to 78 | 20 | 36 |
| 79 to 81 | 8 | 27 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 7 |
| 85 to 87 | 8 | 11 |
| 88 to 90 | 8 | 20 |
| 91 to 93 | 9 | 27 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 9 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 5 |
| 100 to 102 | 2 | 13 |
| 103 to 105 | 8 | 10 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 7 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 5 |
| 112 to 114 | 4 | 24 |
| 115 to 117 | 3 | 16 |
| 118 to 120 | 1 | 16 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 28 |
| 124 to 126 | 0 | 30 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 4 |
| 130 to 132 | 0 | 17 |
| 133 to 135 | 8 | 20 |
| 136 to 138 | 0 | 13 |
| 139 to 140 | 5 | 11 |
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, 12 are women's.
116 lines from women, 815 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 22 men in the cast. 1 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 87 of 1,039.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 272 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,612), men 87% (10,533). Women have 12% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
85
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Bobby Farrelly (man), Peter Farrelly (man)
- Written by
- Mort Nathan (man), Barry Fanaro (man)
- Produced by
- Brad Krevoy (man), Steven Stabler (man), Bradley Thomas (man)
- Shot by
- Mark Irwin (man)
- Edited by
- Christopher Greenbury (man)
- Music by
- Freedy Johnston (gender not listed)
- Production design by
- Sydney J. Bartholomew Jr. (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary Zophres (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 14 men, 4 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Vanessa Angel 29, Lin Shaye 52
Men
Zen Gesner 26, Woody Harrelson 34, Richard Tyson 35, Chris Elliott 36, Randy Quaid 45, Bill Murray 45, William Jordan 58
Exhibit G: the money
It made 93% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $27 million
- Box office
- $25 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 140 scenes and 1,039 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
