Passes the Bechdel test

Meatballs

Name: Meatballs
Released: 1979

1979. Directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Len Blum and Daniel Goldberg and Janis Allen.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
11 women characters. 11 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 6 scenes out of 50.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

The film

Rudy goes to summer camp full of rowdy teenagers. The head counselor is Tripper Harrison, the prank pulling, girl seducing, fun lover, teasing both his boss and the counselors at the nearby rich kids camp. He and everyone else are sick and tired of always losing the Camp Olympics every year, and Tripper must encourage all campers to try their hardest, and even convince young Rudy that this may be his chance to feel better about himself.

Released: 29 Jun 1979
Genres: Comedy
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.2 / 10
Metascore: 60 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Tripper 82 lines, man
Morty 44 lines, man
Spaz 34 lines, man
Wheels 34 lines, man
Wendy 28 lines, woman
Fink 27 lines, man
Crockett 25 lines, man
Roxanne 25 lines, woman
Jackie 22 lines, woman
Brenda 19 lines, woman

Full cast, 35 people

Bill Murray as Tripper Harrison
Harvey Atkin as Morty
Russ Banham as Crockett
Kristine DeBell as A.L.
Matt Craven as Hardware
Kate Lynch as Roxanne
Sarah Torgov as Candace
Keith Knight as Fink
Chris Makepeace as Rudy
Jack Blum as Spaz
Cindy Girling as Wendy
Margot Pinvidic as Jackie
Norma Dell'Agnese as Brenda
David Shore as Kid Eating Crackers
Elmars Sebrins as Spaz's Father
Keith O'Derek as Camper
Keith Nicol as Camper
Michael Code as Camper
Brett Baxter Clark as Camp Mohawk Basketball Player
Doreen MacCormack as Woman wearing sunglasses
Larry Solway as Interviewer
Bill Kishonti as Jeffrey
Hadley Kay as Bradley
Patrick Hynes as Andrew
Allan Levson as Peter
Valerie Fersht as Liza
Alison Diver as Carla
Ruth Rennie as Jody
Heather Preece as Patti
Jim McLarty as Horse
Vince Guerriero as Rhino
Ron Barry as Lance
Greg Swanson as Phil
Michael Kirby as Eddy
Todd Hoffman as Wheels

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 24% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 50

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	1
3 to 4	0	0
5 to 6	0	0
7 to 8	19	17
9 to 10	0	12
11 to 12	11	39
13 to 14	4	16
15 to 16	4	17
17 to 18	1	3
19 to 20	0	5
21 to 22	6	12
23 to 24	6	24
25 to 26	1	5
27 to 28	0	0
29 to 30	20	34
31 to 32	19	22
33 to 34	2	9
35 to 36	1	1
37 to 38	0	1
39 to 40	9	25
41 to 42	8	18
43 to 44	4	19
45 to 46	7	16
47 to 48	12	35
49 to 50	3	6

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.

PATTI: Did you bring smokes? CARLA: I conidn't. My mother found the carton in my suitcase. She had a shit-fic. PATTI: Jesus, then we better get gome. They head For the drugstore in the shapping mall,

CARLA: I knew I was growing up when I realized that Shaun Cassidy's a twerp. PATTI: Oh. you're warpee! I'd let Shaun Cassidy do anythine to me. CARLA: Really? Above che waist ar below? PATTI: Don't be disgusting. Above, of course. Hrenda and A.b. enter the cabin.

WENDY: -.-Qh God shrieked Gloria. Her lustrous red hair, dark With sweat, cascaded down her back and fell dramatically From her face as she convels… BRENDA: It's not funny at all. It's disgusting! ° ; cur To: WENDY: {reading} "...Take me. Take me now, moaned Gloria, Make me a woman:” She realized she was uttering sounds from deep within her-- moiges wnli…

BRENDA: That's filthy: . CANDACE: {teasing) Boesn't sound so bad to me. = ida

ROXANNE: Now? I still think you’re an idiot-~but I'm getting usec to it. ROXANNE AND TRIFPER: Arrrrghhh i;

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 29 are women's.

137 lines from women, 337 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 23 men in the cast. 11 women and 28 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 25 of 627. 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 28% of the words (2,029), men 72% (5,281). Women have 29% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Ivan Reitman (man)
Written by: Daniel Goldberg (man), Len Blum (man), Harold Ramis (man), Janis Allen (gender not listed)
Produced by: Daniel Goldberg (man)
Shot by: Donald Wilder (man)
Edited by: Debra Karen (woman)
Music by: Elmer Bernstein (man)
Costumes by: Judith R. Gellman (woman)
Cast by: Sally Dennison (gender not listed), Jack Blum (man), Linda Russell (gender not listed)