Passes the Bechdel test
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
1989. Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik, written by John Hughes.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 17 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 10 scenes out of 211. -
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
It's Christmas time, and the Griswolds are preparing a big family celebration, but things never run smoothly for Clark, his wife Ellen, and their two kids. Clark's perennial bad luck is exacerbated by his obnoxious family guests, but he manages to persevere, knowing that his Christmas bonus is due soon.
- Released
- 01 Dec 1989
- Genres
- Comedy
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 49 / 100
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Clark 301 lines, man
- Ellen 103 lines, woman
- Eddie 65 lines, man
- Rusty 41 lines, man
- Closeup - Clark 38 lines, man
- Frank 25 lines, man
- Uncle Lewis 25 lines, man
- Art 21 lines, man
- Audrey 21 lines, woman
- Ruby Sue 19 lines, woman
Full cast, 28 people
- Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold
- Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold
- Juliette Lewis as Audrey Griswold
- Johnny Galecki as Rusty Griswold
- John Randolph as Clark Griswold Sr.
- Diane Ladd as Nora
- E.G. Marshall as Art
- Doris Roberts as Francis
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Margo Chester
- Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie
- Miriam Flynn as Cousin Catherine
- Mae Questel as Aunt Bethany
- Nicholas Guest as Todd Chester
- Cody Burger as Rocky
- Ellen Hamilton Latzen as Ruby Sue
- William Hickey as Uncle Lewis
- Sam McMurray as Bill
- Nicolette Scorsese as Mary
- Keith MacKechnie as Delivery Boy
- Brian Doyle-Murray as Frank Shirley
- Natalija Nogulich as Helen Shirley
- Tony Epper as Bozo #1
- Billy Hank Hooker as Bozo #2
- Alexander Folk as SWAT Officer
- Jeremy Roberts as Cop
- Woody Weaver as Cop
- Michael Kaufman as Young Executive
- Doug Llewelyn as Parade Announcer (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 211
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 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 to 10 | 4 | 4 |
| 11 to 15 | 1 | 2 |
| 16 to 20 | 1 | 4 |
| 21 to 25 | 1 | 3 |
| 26 to 30 | 2 | 3 |
| 31 to 35 | 7 | 5 |
| 36 to 40 | 10 | 23 |
| 41 to 45 | 1 | 11 |
| 46 to 50 | 1 | 8 |
| 51 to 55 | 17 | 24 |
| 56 to 60 | 6 | 19 |
| 61 to 65 | 19 | 60 |
| 66 to 70 | 7 | 11 |
| 71 to 75 | 8 | 6 |
| 76 to 80 | 1 | 1 |
| 81 to 85 | 3 | 5 |
| 86 to 90 | 5 | 8 |
| 91 to 95 | 4 | 6 |
| 96 to 100 | 1 | 2 |
| 101 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 110 | 0 | 6 |
| 111 to 115 | 1 | 4 |
| 116 to 120 | 7 | 57 |
| 121 to 125 | 2 | 4 |
| 126 to 130 | 0 | 7 |
| 131 to 135 | 0 | 14 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 2 |
| 141 to 145 | 1 | 12 |
| 146 to 150 | 17 | 20 |
| 151 to 155 | 7 | 30 |
| 156 to 160 | 17 | 26 |
| 161 to 165 | 7 | 22 |
| 166 to 170 | 3 | 6 |
| 171 to 175 | 10 | 27 |
| 176 to 180 | 16 | 32 |
| 181 to 185 | 8 | 15 |
| 186 to 190 | 7 | 19 |
| 191 to 195 | 4 | 31 |
| 196 to 200 | 10 | 36 |
| 201 to 205 | 8 | 9 |
| 206 to 210 | 2 | 4 |
| 211 to 211 | 3 | 4 |
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.
ELLEN: Forgive us our sins ... AUDREY: Is lying about why you got home so late a sin? ELLEN: Just keep praying! AUDREY: Is it? I have to know!
CLOSEUP - ELLEN: Her face is frozen, her eyes fixed in a stare. CLOSEUP - AUDREY: She's wearing an identical, catatonic expression. Her hair's messed up.
NORA -: If you keep eating the shingles we :won't have· any . left for the roof~ ·.-·~· 1 NORA: Is that the fella from 'Jeopardy'? Nora turns UP the VOLUME more. The snoring gets louder. FRANCIS: I don't know. '
CATHERINE: You remember Ruby Sue. FRANCIS: Oh, my gosh! Her eyes aren't crossed anymore!
ELLEN: In the living room. Thanks. Aunt Bethany, you shouldn't have done that. AUNT BETHANY: Oh, dear·. Did I break wind?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 28 are women's.
229 lines from women, 598 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 17 men in the cast. 17 women and 22 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 874.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 39 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 24% of the words (2,986), men 76% (9,315). Women have 28% 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
22
Two men
92
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jeremiah S. Chechik (man)
- Written by
- John Hughes (man)
- Produced by
- John Hughes (man), Tom Jacobson (man)
- Shot by
- Thomas E. Ackerman (man)
- Edited by
- Gerald B. Greenberg (man), Michael A. Stevenson (man)
- Music by
- Angelo Badalamenti (man)
- Production design by
- Stephen Marsh (man)
- Costumes by
- Michael Kaplan (man)
- Cast by
- Billy Hopkins (man), Risa Bramon Garcia (woman), Heidi Levitt (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
7 women, 20 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 25 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 6 men, 9 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 8 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 9 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Juliette Lewis 16, Julia Louis-Dreyfus 28, Beverly D'Angelo 38, Diane Ladd 54, Doris Roberts 64
Men
Johnny Galecki 14, Randy Quaid 39, Chevy Chase 46, John Randolph 74, E.G. Marshall 75
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $27 million
- Box office
- $74.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 211 scenes and 874 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
