Passes the Bechdel test

Nashville

Name: Nashville
Released: 1975

1975. Directed by Robert Altman, written by Joan Tewkesbury.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
14 women characters. 10 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 126.
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

Five days in the Nashville country and gospel music scene, filled with stars, wannabe stars, and other hangers-on - individual stories of this small group intertwined - provides a commentary on American society. The stars include: good ol' boy Haven Hamilton, whose patriotic songs leading up to the American bicentennial belie his controlling and ruthless nature; Barbara Jean, the country music darling who is just returning to Nashville and performing following recovery from a fire-related injury which may have taken more of an emotional toll than a physical one; and good looking and charismatic Tom Frank, one-third of the successful group Bill, Mary, and Tom, he who is trying to go solo, which masks his need to not be solo in his personal life as he emotionally abuses woman after woman in love with him, including Mary who is married to Bill. The wannabe stars include: Albuquerque, whose real name is Winifred, who is trying to run away from her husband Star in he not approving of her career choice; and Sueleen Gay, a waitress who will do anything to make it big in music despite being told directly that she has no singing talent. Tying their stories together are: Opal, a supposed reporter for the BBC who is working on a documentary and is searching for whatever angle she can; John Triplette, a Yankee in town to organize political fundraisers, including a country music outdoor concert, for third party (the Replacement Party) presidential candidate, populist Hal Phillip Walker, who has the potential to take just enough votes to affect the election; and Martha, who has renamed herself L.A. Jones, who is in town to visit her hospitalized ailing aunt, but who instead decides to be a groupie to any country music star she can find.

Released: 01 Jul 1975
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Music
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.6 / 10
Metascore: 96 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 23 wins & 25 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Triplette 77 lines, man
Tom 73 lines, man
Barnett 70 lines, man
Linnea 55 lines, woman
Kenny 54 lines, man
Green 48 lines, man
Reese 43 lines
Opal 41 lines, woman
Bill 37 lines, man
Barbara Jean 35 lines, woman

Full cast, 41 people

David Arkin as Norman
Barbara Baxley as Lady Pearl
Ned Beatty as Delbert Reese
Karen Black as Connie White
Ronee Blakley as Barbara Jean
Timothy Brown as Tommy Brown
Keith Carradine as Tom Frank
Geraldine Chaplin as Opal
Robert DoQui as Wade Cooley
Shelley Duvall as L.A. Joan
Allen Garfield as Barnett
Henry Gibson as Haven Hamilton
Scott Glenn as Pfc. Glenn Kelly
Jeff Goldblum as Tricycle Man
Barbara Harris as Winifred / Albuquerque
David Hayward as Kenny Frasier
Michael Murphy as John Triplette
Allan F. Nicholls as Bill
Dave Peel as Bud Hamilton
Cristina Raines as Mary
Bert Remsen as Star
Lily Tomlin as Linnea Reese
Gwen Welles as Sueleen Gay
Keenan Wynn as Mr. Green
Merle Kilgore as Trout
James Dan Calvert as Jimmy Reese
Donna Denton as Donna Reese
Carol McGinnis as Jewel
Sheila Bailey as Smokey Mountain Laurel
Patti Bryant as Smokey Mountain Laurel
Richard Baskin as Frog
Jonnie Barnett as Jonnie Barnett
Vassar Clements as Vassar Clements
Sue Barton as Sue Barton
Elliott Gould as Elliott Gould
Julie Christie as Julie Christie
Steve Earle as Concert-goer (uncredited)
Gailard Sartain as Man at Lunch Counter (uncredited)
Joan Tewkesbury as Tom's Lover / Kenny's Mother (uncredited) (voice)
Thomas Hal Phillips as Hal Phillip Walker (uncredited)
Howard K. Smith as Howard K. Smith (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 126

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	6	2
7 to 9	3	5
10 to 12	3	13
13 to 15	2	9
16 to 18	17	18
19 to 21	18	22
22 to 24	10	12
25 to 27	3	20
28 to 30	4	5
31 to 33	5	4
34 to 36	8	9
37 to 39	2	15
40 to 42	0	0
43 to 45	5	14
46 to 48	2	15
49 to 51	1	6
52 to 54	3	3
55 to 57	6	0
58 to 60	13	10
61 to 63	0	0
64 to 66	12	10
67 to 69	19	13
70 to 72	0	0
73 to 75	0	0
76 to 78	13	43
79 to 81	0	12
82 to 84	17	18
85 to 87	26	15
88 to 90	2	21
91 to 93	1	6
94 to 96	6	38
97 to 99	5	5
100 to 102	0	0
103 to 105	7	9
106 to 108	16	33
109 to 111	4	17
112 to 114	14	39
115 to 117	1	4
118 to 120	0	4
121 to 123	1	9
124 to 126	0	0

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.

CONNIE: Oh, honey, I gotta go. Thanks for coming. You read what I wrote you now. ALBUQUERQUE: I did. You said, 'your friend, Connie.'

LINNEA: This your first time? LINNEA: You're from out of town? ALBUQUERQUE: Yes. I'm cutting a record. LINNEA: We have a Bible study meeting tonight if you'd like to come.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.

255 lines from women, 478 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

14 women and 22 men in the cast. 10 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 855. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 44 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 32% of the words (2,040), men 68% (4,322). Women have 35% 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

4 of the 17 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Robert Altman (man)
Written by: Joan Tewkesbury (woman)
Produced by: Robert Altman (man), Robert Eggenweiler (man), Scott Bushnell (woman)
Shot by: Paul Lohmann (man)
Edited by: Sidney Levin (man), Dennis M. Hill (man)
Music by: Arlene Barnett (gender not listed), Jonnie Barnett (man), Karen Black (woman), Ronee Blakley (woman), Gary Busey (man), Juan Grizzle (gender not listed) and 3 more

The crew, department by department

Sound

2 women, 10 men, 4 not listed
Production

1 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
Camera

0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
Directing

1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Editing

0 women, 2 men
Lighting

0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Art

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 34 on average. Men: 35 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Shelley Duvall 25, Ronee Blakley 29, Geraldine Chaplin 30, Karen Black 35, Barbara Baxley 52

Men

Keith Carradine 25, David Arkin 33, Ned Beatty 37, Timothy Brown 38, Robert DoQui 41

Exhibit H: the money

It made 4.5 times what it cost.

Budget: $2.2 million
Box office: $10 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 126 scenes and 855 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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