Fails the Bechdel test
Mr. Holland's Opus
1996. Directed by Stephen Herek, written by Patrick Sheane Duncan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 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
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Glenn Holland is a musician and composer who takes a teaching job to pay the rent while, in his 'spare time', he can strive to achieve his true goal - compose one memorable piece of music to leave his mark on the world. As Holland discovers 'Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans' and as the years unfold the joy of sharing his contagious passion for music with his students becomes his new definition of success.
- Released
- 19 Jan 1996
- Genres
- Drama, Music
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 59 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Herrick 395 lines, man
- Iris 116 lines, woman
- Rowena 48 lines, woman
- Wolters 30 lines, man
- Meister 22 lines, man
- Rus 22 lines, man
- Gertrude 20 lines, woman
- Yntema 20 lines, man
- Cole 14 lines, man
- Schiff 11 lines
Full cast, 66 people
- Richard Dreyfuss as Glenn Holland
- Glenne Headly as Iris Holland
- Jay Thomas as Bill Meister
- Olympia Dukakis as Principal Jacobs
- William H. Macy as Vice Principal Gene Wolters
- Alicia Witt as Gertrude Lang
- Terrence Howard as Louis Russ
- Damon Whitaker as Bobby Tidd
- Jean Louisa Kelly as Rowena Morgan
- Alexandra Boyd as Sarah Olmstead
- Nicholas John Renner as Cole at 6 Years Old
- Joseph Anderson as Cole at 15 Years Old
- Anthony Natale as Cole at 28 Years Old
- Joanna Gleason as Gertrude Lang as an adult
- Beth Maitland as Deaf School Principal
- Patrick Fong as Study Hall Student
- Benjamin J. Dixon as Mr. Mims
- Kathryn Arnett as Ms. Swedlin
- Freeman O. Corbin as Mr. Sullivan
- Moira Feeney as Ms. Godfrey
- Joshua Minnick as Mr. Shapiro
- Ashley Hamrick as Miss Reeves
- Janine Shouse as Miss Schumaker
- Spencer Riviera as Mr. Hosta
- Dan Vhay as Mr. Malone
- Sean Bevington as Mr. McMartin
- John Henry Redwood as Mr. Russ
- Ted Roisum as Dr. Sorenson
- Mark Daniels as Ralph
- Kaili Carlton as Ms. Wayne
- Adam Fitzhugh as Mr. McKenzie
- Eric Michael Cole as Boy 2
- Joe Campbell as Boy 3
- Tomiko Peirano as Girl 2
- Kasey Nelson as Girl 3
- Zoe McLellan as Girl 4
- Kelly M. Casey as Deaf School Teacher
- Michael Mendelson as Chaplain
- Alex Dudgeon as Auditioner 1
- Rachel Wooley as Auditioner 2
- Jordan Carlton as Auditioner 3
- Aurora Miller as Auditioner 4
- Paul Bernard as Auditioner 5
- Mary Kay O'Mealy as Auditioner 6
- Dieffyd Gilman-Frederick as Auditioner 7
- Tara Eng as Auditioner 8
- Jay Frank as Auditioner 9
- Conan Doherty as Toby Klein
- Stacey Siegel as Diner Waitress
- Nicolas Sirianni as Football Player 1
- Jacob Adams as Football Player 2
- Chris Marth as Football Player 3
- Brent Archie as Football Player 4
- Kevin Calaba as Football Player 5
- Keith Swift as Football Player 6
- John Boyer as Billy Faraday
- Linda Williams Janke as Secretary
- David Clegg as Superintendent
- Don Burns as City Official
- Dennis Biasi as Adult Stadler
- Alexander Emmert as 1st Chair Cellist
- Cazzey Louis Cereghino as Graduate (uncredited)
- Michael R. Ferraro as Auditorium extra (uncredited)
- Elizabeth Fournier as Woman in audience (uncredited)
- Balthazar Getty as Stadler (uncredited)
- Forest Whitaker as Bobby Tidd as an adult (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 160
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 | 10 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 19 |
| 9 to 12 | 9 | 11 |
| 13 to 16 | 8 | 10 |
| 17 to 20 | 20 | 44 |
| 21 to 24 | 2 | 24 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 15 |
| 29 to 32 | 14 | 35 |
| 33 to 36 | 6 | 16 |
| 37 to 40 | 5 | 11 |
| 41 to 44 | 4 | 14 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 to 56 | 4 | 8 |
| 57 to 60 | 2 | 21 |
| 61 to 64 | 6 | 14 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 3 |
| 69 to 72 | 11 | 22 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 12 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 40 |
| 81 to 84 | 4 | 24 |
| 85 to 88 | 10 | 9 |
| 89 to 92 | 9 | 8 |
| 93 to 96 | 9 | 13 |
| 97 to 100 | 2 | 1 |
| 101 to 104 | 7 | 6 |
| 105 to 108 | 11 | 8 |
| 109 to 112 | 8 | 5 |
| 113 to 116 | 16 | 6 |
| 117 to 120 | 1 | 1 |
| 121 to 124 | 1 | 2 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 3 |
| 129 to 132 | 3 | 4 |
| 133 to 136 | 9 | 19 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 12 |
| 141 to 144 | 3 | 16 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 9 |
| 149 to 152 | 5 | 22 |
| 153 to 156 | 1 | 6 |
| 157 to 160 | 9 | 13 |
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, 28 are women's.
205 lines from women, 521 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 20 men in the cast. 3 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 33 of 783.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 73 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 29% of the words (3,127), men 71% (7,770). Women have 28% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
28
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Stephen Herek (man)
- Written by
- Patrick Sheane Duncan (man)
- Produced by
- Robert W. Cort (man), Ted Field (man), Michael Nolin (man)
- Shot by
- Oliver Wood (man)
- Edited by
- Trudy Ship (woman)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- David Nichols (man)
- Costumes by
- Aggie Guerard Rodgers (woman)
- Cast by
- Sharon Bialy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 0 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Alicia Witt 20, Jean Louisa Kelly 23, Alexandra Boyd 33, Glenne Headly 40, Olympia Dukakis 64
Men
Damon Whitaker 25, Terrence Howard 26, William H. Macy 45, Jay Thomas 47, Richard Dreyfuss 48
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $31 million
- Box office
- $106 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 160 scenes and 783 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
