Passes the Bechdel test
Manhattan Murder Mystery
1993. Directed by Woody Allen, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 1. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Larry and Carol are fairly normal New Yorkers who have sent their son off to college. They meet an elderly couple down the hall and later in the week find that the wife has suddenly died. Carol becomes suspicious of Paul who seems to be too cheerful and too ready to move on. She begins her investigation. Larry insists she is becoming too fixated on their neighbor as all of the irregularities seem to have simple non-homicidal explanations. Ted, a recently divorced friend helps her investigation and Larry begins to become jealous of their relationship and agrees to help her.
- Released
- 18 Aug 1993
- Genres
- Comedy, Mystery
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 71 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Carol 664 lines, woman
- Larry 602 lines, man
- Ted 150 lines, man
- Paul 115 lines, man
- Marcia 83 lines, woman
- Helen 55 lines, woman
- Lillian 27 lines
- Gladys 16 lines, woman
- Sy 16 lines, man
- Marilyn 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 28 people
- Woody Allen as Larry Lipton
- Diane Keaton as Carol Lipton
- Jerry Adler as Paul House
- Alan Alda as Ted
- Anjelica Huston as Marcia Fox
- Lynn Cohen as Lilian House
- Melanie Norris as Helen Moss
- Zach Braff as Nick Lipton
- Joy Behar as Marilyn
- Ron Rifkin as Sy
- John Doumanian as Neighbor
- Sylvia Kauders as Neighbor
- Ira Wheeler as EMS Doctor
- Marge Redmond as Mrs. Gladys Dalton
- George J. Manos as '21 Club' Staff
- Aida Turturro as Hotel Day Clerk
- John Costelloe as Policeman
- Philip Levy as Policeman
- Wendell Pierce as Policeman
- Steven Randazzo as Policeman
- Frank Pellegrino as Policeman
- Gloria Irizarry as Hotel Maid
- William Addy as Jack, the Super
- Yanni Sfinias as Hotel Night Clerk
- Ruth Last as Lillian's Sister
- Suzanne Raffaelli as Theater Auditioner
- Al Cerullo as Helicopter Pilot
- Vincent Pastore as Man in Restaurant (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
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.
MARILYN: Yeah, we're gonna go see «Double indemnity». CAROL: Oh, really ? MARILYN: Yeah.
CAROL: Oh, what ? HELEN: Oh, this is beautiful.
HELEN: Where ? GLADYS: Oh, uh, I-I didn't know whether an-anyone was here. I-I'm sorry. I-I-I heard the noise and I thought... GLADYS: But, but, uh... GLADYS: I apologize.
CAROL: Oh, hi. MARCIA: Hi.
MARCIA: Well, good to see you. Good to see you. CAROL: Okay, you too. MARCIA: Take care. CAROL: Goodbye.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 48 are women's.
829 lines from women, 901 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 17 men in the cast. 4 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,768.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 32 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 44% of the words (7,416), men 56% (9,552). Women have 48% 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
29
Two men
57
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Woody Allen (man)
- Written by
- Woody Allen (man), Marshall Brickman (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Greenhut (man)
- Shot by
- Carlo Di Palma (man)
- Edited by
- Susan E. Morse (woman)
- Production design by
- Santo Loquasto (man)
- Costumes by
- Jeffrey Kurland (man)
- Cast by
- Juliet Taylor (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 11 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 49 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Anjelica Huston 41, Diane Keaton 47, Joy Behar 50, Lynn Cohen 59
Men
Zach Braff 18, Ron Rifkin 53, Woody Allen 57, Alan Alda 57, Jerry Adler 64
Exhibit H: the money
It made 84% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $13.5 million
- Box office
- $11.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 1,768 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
