Fails the Bechdel test
Mikey and Nicky
1976. Directed by Elaine May, written by Elaine May.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mobster wants him killed. He calls Mikey, his friend since childhood, but when Mikey arrives, Nick won't let him in: his moods swing. So begins a long night as Mike tries to take care of Nick, calm him down and get him out of town. Their sojourn - on foot and in a city bus - takes them to a bar, a club, toward a movie theater, to the cemetery where Nick's mom is buried, and to Nick's girlfriend's apartment. Tempers fray and the friendship is tested. Meanwhile, a hit man who's getting information from someone is indeed looking for Nick.
- Released
- 21 Dec 1976
- Genres
- Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 81 / 100
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mikey 357 lines, man
- Nick 353 lines, man
- Nell 39 lines
- Jan 35 lines, woman
- Annie 26 lines, woman
- The Killer 24 lines, man
- Bus Driver 10 lines, man
- Resnick 10 lines, man
- Counterman 9 lines
- Storekeeper 5 lines
Full cast, 21 people
- Peter Falk as Mikey
- John Cassavetes as Nicky
- Ned Beatty as Kinney
- Rose Arrick as Annie
- Carol Grace as Nellie
- William Hickey as Sid Fine
- Sanford Meisner as Dave Resnick
- Joyce Van Patten as Jan
- M. Emmet Walsh as Bus Driver
- Sy Travers as Hotel Clerk
- Peter R. Scoppa as Counter Man
- Virginia Smith as Jan's Mother
- Jean Shevlin as Lady on Bus
- Danny Klein as Harry
- Martin Wolfson as Candy Store Man
- Eugene Hobgood as Mel
- David Pendleton as Bar Patron
- Will Gill Jr. as Bartender
- Marilyn Randall as Shirley
- Reuben Greene as Franklyn
- Elaine May as Woman on TV (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 3
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 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 136 |
| 3 to 3 | 66 | 644 |
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.
66 lines from women, 780 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 10 men in the cast. 3 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 256 of 930.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 485 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 7% of the words (732), men 93% (10,323). 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
1
Two men
37
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Elaine May (woman)
- Written by
- Elaine May (woman)
- Produced by
- Michael Hausman (man)
- Shot by
- Bernie Abramson (gender not listed), Victor J. Kemper (man)
- Edited by
- John Carter (man), Sheldon Kahn (man)
- Music by
- John Strauss (man)
- Production design by
- Paul Sylbert (man)
- Cast by
- Wayne Carson (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 47 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Joyce Van Patten 42, Rose Arrick 48, Carol Grace 52
Men
Ned Beatty 39, M. Emmet Walsh 41, John Cassavetes 47, Peter Falk 49, William Hickey 49, Sanford Meisner 71
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $4.3 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 3 scenes and 930 lines of dialogue. How the test works
