Fails the Bechdel test
Mean Streets
1973. Directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 2 of them speak. -
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
The future is set for Tony and Michael -- owning a neighborhood bar and making deals in the mean streets of New York City's Little Italy. For Charlie, the future is less clearly defined. A small-time hood, he works for his uncle, making collections and reclaiming bad debts. In love with a woman of whom his uncle disapproves (due to her epilepsy) and a friend of her disturbed cousin, Johnny Boy, a near psychotic whose trouble-making threatens them all -- Charlie just cannot reconcile opposing values. A failed attempt to escape (to Brooklyn) moves them all a step closer to a bitter, almost preordained future.
- Released
- 14 Oct 1973
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 96 / 100
- Awards
- 5 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Charlie 277 lines, man
- Johnny Boy 88 lines, man
- Michael 73 lines, man
- Tony 55 lines, man
- Teresa 41 lines, woman
- Giovanni 37 lines, man
- Oscar 16 lines, man
- Mario 14 lines, man
- Boy 12 lines, man
- Jimmy 12 lines, man
Full cast, 27 people
- Robert De Niro as John 'Johnny Boy' Civello
- Harvey Keitel as Charlie Cappa
- David Proval as Tony DeVienazo
- Amy Robinson as Teresa Ronchelli
- Richard Romanus as Michael Longo
- Cesare Danova as Giovanni Cappa
- Victor Argo as Mario
- George Memmoli as Joey 'Clams' Scala
- Lenny Scaletta as Jimmy
- Jeannie Bell as Diane
- Murray Moston as Oscar
- David Carradine as Drunk
- Robert Carradine as Boy With Gun
- Lois Walden as Jewish Girl
- Harry Northup as Soldier
- Dino Seragusa as Old Man
- D'Mitch Davis as Cop
- Peter Fain as George
- Juli Andelman as Girl At Party
- Robert Wilder as Benton
- Ken Sinclair as Sammy
- Jaime Alba as Young Boy #1
- Ken Konstantin as Young Boy #2
- Nicki "Ack" Aquilino as Man On Docks
- B. Mitchell Reed as Disc Jockey
- Martin Scorsese as Jimmy Shorts (uncredited)
- Catherine Scorsese as Woman on Landing (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 104
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 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 14 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 41 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 9 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 4 |
| 16 to 18 | 2 | 31 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 5 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 34 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 23 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 5 |
| 34 to 36 | 15 | 21 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 21 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 20 |
| 43 to 45 | 12 | 14 |
| 46 to 48 | 3 | 7 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 19 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 53 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 8 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 4 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 30 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 28 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 37 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 61 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 10 |
| 76 to 78 | 9 | 19 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 1 |
| 85 to 87 | 2 | 21 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 19 |
| 91 to 93 | 7 | 23 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 27 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 1 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 21 |
| 103 to 104 | 0 | 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, 8 are women's.
59 lines from women, 642 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 15 men in the cast. 2 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 82 of 731.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 138 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 5% of the words (368), men 95% (6,852). Women have 8% 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
45
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Martin Scorsese (man)
- Written by
- Martin Scorsese (man), Mardik Martin (man)
- Story by
- Martin Scorsese (man)
- Produced by
- Jonathan T. Taplin (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Kent L. Wakeford (man)
- Edited by
- Sidney Levin (man), Martin Scorsese (man)
- Production design by
- David Nichols (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
2 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men
-
Production
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 34 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Amy Robinson 25, Jeannie Bell 28
Men
Robert De Niro 30, Richard Romanus 30, Lenny Scaletta 30, David Proval 31, Harvey Keitel 34, George Memmoli 35, Victor Argo 38, Cesare Danova 47
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $500,000
- Box office
- $3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 104 scenes and 731 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
