Fails the Bechdel test
Milk
2009. Directed by Gus Van Sant, written by Dustin Lance Black.
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
Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs.
- Released
- 30 Jan 2009
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, History
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 66 wins & 146 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Harvey Milk 365 lines, man
- Scott Smith 80 lines, man
- Dan White 61 lines, man
- Cleve Jones 58 lines, man
- Jack Lira 28 lines, man
- Harvey 20 lines, man
- Jim Rivaldo 18 lines, man
- Anne Kronenberg 16 lines, woman
- Dick Pabich 16 lines, man
- John Briggs 16 lines, man
Full cast, 40 people
- Sean Penn as Harvey Milk
- Emile Hirsch as Cleve Jones
- Josh Brolin as Dan White
- Diego Luna as Jack Lira
- James Franco as Scott Smith
- Alison Pill as Anne Kronenberg
- Victor Garber as Mayor Moscone
- Denis O'Hare as John Briggs
- Joseph Cross as Dick Pabich
- Stephen Spinella as Rick Stokes
- Boyd Holbrook as Denton Smith
- Lucas Grabeel as Danny Nicoletta
- Jeff Koons as Art Agnos
- Brent Corrigan as Telephone Tree #3
- Dave Franco as Telephone Tree #5
- Elias McConnell as Telephone Tree #8
- Ashlee Temple as Dianne Feinstein
- Brandon Boyce as Jim Rivaldo
- Kelvin Yu as Michael Wong
- Cleve Jones as Don Amador
- Dustin Lance Black as Castro Clone
- Joshua Grannell as Peaches Christ
- Blake Cooper Griffin as Castro Man
- Tim Halpin as SFPD Motor Cop
- Richard Gross as Riot Cop
- Drew Kuhse as Pizza Delivery Man
- Catherine Cook as Opera Performer - Tosca
- Joe Meyers as Opera Performer - Spoletta
- Ryan Hellquist as Law Student (uncredited)
- Anita Bryant as Self (archive footage)
- Walter Cronkite as Self (archive footage)
- Ronald Reagan as Self (archive footage)
- Harvey Milk as Self (archive footage)
- Dan White as Self (archive footage)
- Howard Rosenman as David Goodstein
- Lynn McRee as Moscone's Secretary
- Jerry Brown as Self (archive footage)
- Frank M. Robinson as Frank Robinson
- Ted Jan Roberts as Dennis Peron
- Jeffrey Schwarz as Castro Man (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, 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 158
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 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 15 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 19 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 34 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 21 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 12 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 26 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 31 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 27 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 23 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 27 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 18 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 14 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 5 |
| 61 to 64 | 6 | 31 |
| 65 to 68 | 1 | 16 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 16 |
| 73 to 76 | 1 | 21 |
| 77 to 80 | 1 | 26 |
| 81 to 84 | 1 | 41 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 23 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 41 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 10 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 22 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 7 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 44 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 21 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 16 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 11 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 21 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 29 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 8 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 8 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 22 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 4 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 5 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 5 |
| 157 to 158 | 0 | 1 |
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, 2 are women's.
17 lines from women, 736 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
3 women and 32 men in the cast. 1 women and 24 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 326 of 827.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 325 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 2% of the words (259), men 98% (13,480).
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
79
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Gus Van Sant (man)
- Written by
- Dustin Lance Black (man)
- Produced by
- Bruce Cohen (man), Dan Jinks (man)
- Shot by
- Harris Savides (man)
- Edited by
- Elliot Graham (man)
- Music by
- Danny Elfman (man)
- Production design by
- Bill Groom (man)
- Costumes by
- Danny Glicker (man)
- Cast by
- Francine Maisler (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 10 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 5 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 22 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alison Pill 22
Men
Joseph Cross 22, Emile Hirsch 23, Diego Luna 28, James Franco 30, Josh Brolin 40, Denis O'Hare 46, Sean Penn 48, Stephen Spinella 52, Victor Garber 59
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $20 million
- Box office
- $54.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 158 scenes and 827 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
