Passes the Bechdel test
Natural Born Killers
1994. Directed by Oliver Stone, written by Quentin Tarantino and David Veloz and Richard Rutowski.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 95. -
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
Mickey Knox and Mallory Wilson aren't your typical lovers - after killing her abusive father, they go on a road trip where, every time they stop somewhere, they kill pretty well everyone around them. They do however leave one person alive at every shootout to tell the story and they soon become a media sensation thanks to sensationalized reporting. Told in a highly visual style.
- Released
- 26 Aug 1994
- Genres
- Crime, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 74 / 100
- Awards
- 5 wins & 10 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Wayne 214 lines, man
- Mickey 188 lines, man
- Wurlitzer 73 lines, man
- Scagnetti 54 lines, man
- Mallory 40 lines, woman
- Mcclusky 34 lines, man
- Roger 27 lines, man
- Simon 19 lines
- Grace 18 lines, woman
- Norman 17 lines
Full cast, 60 people
- Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox
- Juliette Lewis as Mallory Knox
- Robert Downey Jr. as Wayne Gale
- Tommy Lee Jones as Warden Dwight McClusky
- Tom Sizemore as Det. Jack Scagnetti
- Rodney Dangerfield as Mallory's Dad
- Edie McClurg as Mallory's Mom
- Jared Harris as London Boy
- Russell Means as Old Indian
- Maria Pitillo as Deborah
- Sean Stone as Kevin
- Everett Quinton as Deputy Warden Wurlitzer
- O-Lan Jones as Mabel
- Pruitt Taylor Vince as Deputy Warden Kavanaugh
- Steven Wright as Dr. Emil Reingold
- Lanny Flaherty as Earl
- Richard Lineback as Sonny
- Kirk Baltz as Roger
- Ed White as Pinball Cowboy
- Terrylene as Julie
- Josh Richman as Soundman
- Melinda Renna as Antonia Chavez
- Dale Dye as Dale Wrigley
- Edward Conna as Gerald Nash
- Evan Handler as David
- Matthew Faber as Kid #1
- Jamie Harrold as Kid #2
- Saemi Nakamura as Japanese Girl #1 / Japanese Reporter
- Keiko Seiko as Japanese Girl #2
- Salvator Xuereb as French Boy #1
- Natalie Karp as French Girl
- Emmanuel Xuereb as French Boy #2
- Balthazar Getty as Gas Station Attendant
- Phil Neilson as Mickey's Dad
- Red West as Cowboy Sheriff
- Jeremiah Bitsui as Young Indian Boy
- Lorraine Farris as Pinky
- Glen Chin as Druggist
- Peter Crombie as Intense Cop
- John M. Watson Sr. as Black Inmate
- Joe Grifasi as Deputy Sheriff Duncan Homolka
- Douglas Crosby as Mallory's Guard #1
- Carl Ciarfalio as Mallory's Guard #2
- Marshall Bell as Deputy #1
- Jim Carrane as Smithy
- Robert Swan as Deputy Napalatoni
- Louis Lombardi as Deputy Sparky
- Paul Dillon as Prison Inmate who breaks TV
- David Pasquesi as Cameraman
- James Gammon as Redneck's Buddy in Diner
- Arliss Howard as Owen Traft
- Mark Harmon as Mickey Knox in TV
- Cory Everson as Mallory Knox in TV
- Corinna Laszlo as Emily, Hostage in Motel
- Robert Jordan as WGN Newscaster
- Richard Rutowski as Prisoner with Mustache (uncredited)
- Kevin Watson as Spirit (uncredited)
- Don Murphy as Prison Guard (uncredited)
- Jane Hamsher as Female Demon (uncredited)
- Herb Gains as Wayne Gale's assistant (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 95
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 2 | 9 | 5 |
| 3 to 4 | 4 | 10 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 25 |
| 9 to 10 | 4 | 14 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 43 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 6 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 28 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 8 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 8 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 2 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 to 30 | 1 | 3 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 9 |
| 33 to 34 | 1 | 19 |
| 35 to 36 | 9 | 13 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 2 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 4 |
| 41 to 42 | 1 | 6 |
| 43 to 44 | 10 | 9 |
| 45 to 46 | 3 | 6 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 5 |
| 49 to 50 | 8 | 10 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 to 56 | 8 | 11 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 6 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 15 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 9 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 24 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 44 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 5 |
| 69 to 70 | 2 | 16 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 4 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 56 |
| 75 to 76 | 1 | 17 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 37 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 46 |
| 83 to 84 | 1 | 5 |
| 85 to 86 | 1 | 11 |
| 87 to 88 | 2 | 9 |
| 89 to 90 | 8 | 20 |
| 91 to 92 | 8 | 28 |
| 93 to 94 | 2 | 8 |
| 95 to 95 | 8 | 27 |
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.
MABEL: Should I make that two pieces? MALLORY: Nada, Rosey. MABEL: My name's not Rosey. It's Mabel. MALLORY: Whatever.
FEMALE PSYCHIATRIST: When pressed about the reason for the murders...patient became hostile... MALLORY: I don't owe you an explanation! I don't owe you shit! I'm not here for your entertainment. If I don't tell you what you wanna hear, what are…
FEMALE ORIENTAL REPORTER: What do you think of this turn out, Mallory? MALLORY: I ain't never had so much fun.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 13 are women's.
94 lines from women, 643 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 45 men in the cast. 8 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 866.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 122 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 12% of the words (1,420), men 88% (10,843). Women have 13% 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
4
Two men
44
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Oliver Stone (man)
- Written by
- David Veloz (man), Richard Rutowski (man), Oliver Stone (man)
- Story by
- Quentin Tarantino (man)
- Produced by
- Don Murphy (man), Jane Hamsher (woman), Clayton Townsend (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Richardson (man)
- Edited by
- Hank Corwin (man), Brian Berdan (man)
- Music by
- Brent Lewis (man)
- Production design by
- Victor Kempster (man)
- Costumes by
- Richard Hornung (man)
- Cast by
- Billy Hopkins (man), Risa Bramon Garcia (woman), Heidi Levitt (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 12 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 3 men
-
Production
3 women, 4 men
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Camera
1 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 31 on average. Men: 43 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Juliette Lewis 21, Maria Pitillo 28, Edie McClurg 43
Men
Robert Downey Jr. 29, Tom Sizemore 32, Woody Harrelson 33, Jared Harris 33, Tommy Lee Jones 47, Russell Means 54, Rodney Dangerfield 72
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $34 million
- Box office
- $110 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 95 scenes and 866 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
