Passes the Bechdel test
Network
1976. Directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Paddy Chayefsky.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 141. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In the 1970s, terrorist violence is the stuff of networks' nightly news programming and the corporate structure of the UBS Television Network is changing. Meanwhile, Howard Beale, the aging UBS news anchor, has lost his once strong ratings share and so the network fires him. Beale reacts in an unexpected way. We then see how this affects the fortunes of Beale, his coworkers (Max Schumacher and Diana Christensen), and the network.
- Released
- 27 Nov 1976
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 20 wins & 27 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Diana 129 lines, woman
- Max 104 lines, man
- Howard 56 lines, man
- Hackett 50 lines, man
- Chaney 18 lines, man
- Director 17 lines, man
- Jensen 13 lines, man
- Harry Hunter 11 lines, man
- Louise 10 lines, woman
- Narration 10 lines
Full cast, 49 people
- Faye Dunaway as Diana Christensen
- William Holden as Max Schumacher
- Peter Finch as Howard Beale
- Robert Duvall as Frank Hackett
- Wesley Addy as Nelson Chaney
- Ned Beatty as Arthur Jensen
- Arthur Burghardt as Great Ahmed Kahn
- Bill Burrows as TV Director
- John Carpenter as George Bosch
- Jordan Charney as Harry Hunter
- Kathy Cronkite as Mary Ann Gifford
- Ed Crowley as Joe Donnelly
- Jerome Dempsey as Walter C. Amundsen
- Conchata Ferrell as Barbara Schlesinger
- Gene Gross as Milton K. Steinman
- Stanley Grover as Jack Snowden
- Cindy Grover as Caroline Schumacher
- Darryl Hickman as Bill Herron
- Mitchell Jason as Arthur Zangwill
- Paul Jenkins as TV Stage Manager
- Ken Kercheval as Merrill Grant
- Kenneth Kimmins as Associate Producer
- Lynn Klugman as TV Production Assistant
- Carolyn Krigbaum as Max's Secretary
- Zane Lasky as Audio Man
- Michael Lipton as Tommy Pellegrino
- Michael Lombard as Willie Stein
- Pirie MacDonald as Herb Thackeray
- Russ Petranto as TV Associate Director
- Bernard Pollock as Lou
- Roy Poole as Sam Haywood
- William Prince as Edward George Ruddy
- Sasha von Scherler as Helen Miggs
- Lane Smith as Robert McDonough
- Ted Sorel as Giannini
- Beatrice Straight as Louise Schumacher
- Fred Stuthman as Mosaic Figure
- Cameron Thomas as TV Technical Director
- Marlene Warfield as Laureen Hobbs
- Lydia Wilen as Hunter's Secretary
- Lee Richardson as Narrator (voice)
- Lance Henriksen as Network Lawyer at Khan's Place (uncredited)
- Robert P. Cohen as Window Person (uncredited)
- Andrew Duncan as Agent (uncredited)
- Todd Everett as Reporter (uncredited)
- John Gabriel as TV Anchor Reporting Beale's Suicide Threat (uncredited)
- Raymond Martino as Window Person (uncredited)
- John Pashley as Cameraman (uncredited)
- Michael Tucker as Man at Desk (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 18% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 141
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 | 12 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 9 | 43 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 1 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 9 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 11 |
| 22 to 24 | 6 | 11 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 to 30 | 1 | 3 |
| 31 to 33 | 7 | 2 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 39 | 2 | 20 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 11 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 2 |
| 46 to 48 | 3 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 5 | 5 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 20 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 9 |
| 58 to 60 | 25 | 20 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 14 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 3 |
| 67 to 69 | 1 | 4 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 2 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 5 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 5 | 13 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 12 |
| 85 to 87 | 3 | 4 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 7 |
| 91 to 93 | 27 | 3 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 25 | 19 |
| 103 to 105 | 1 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 7 | 0 |
| 109 to 111 | 8 | 6 |
| 112 to 114 | 5 | 3 |
| 115 to 117 | 4 | 23 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 16 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 0 |
| 124 to 126 | 9 | 9 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 0 |
| 130 to 132 | 6 | 6 |
| 133 to 135 | 4 | 12 |
| 136 to 138 | 1 | 1 |
| 139 to 141 | 1 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
DIANA: Christ, you brought half the Willian Morris. West Ccast office with you. I'm Diana Christenson, a racist lackey of the imperialist ruling ci… LAUREEN: I'm Laureen Hobbs, a bad-ass Commie " nigger. DIANA: Sounds like the basis of a firm friendship. We're going to need more chairs -- In b.g., meanwhile, SCHLESINGER is exchanging hellos
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.
171 lines from women, 354 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 33 men in the cast. 12 women and 33 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 642.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 51 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 36% of the words (5,749), men 64% (10,029). Women have 33% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
41
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sidney Lumet (man)
- Written by
- Paddy Chayefsky (man)
- Produced by
- Howard Gottfried (man)
- Shot by
- Owen Roizman (man)
- Edited by
- Alan Heim (man)
- Music by
- Elliot Lawrence (man)
- Production design by
- Philip Rosenberg (man)
- Costumes by
- Theoni V. Aldredge (woman)
- Cast by
- Juliet Taylor (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 0 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 48 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Faye Dunaway 35
Men
Arthur Burghardt 29, Ned Beatty 39, Jordan Charney 39, Robert Duvall 45, William Holden 58, Peter Finch 60, Wesley Addy 63
Exhibit H: the money
It made 6.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.8 million
- Box office
- $23.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 141 scenes and 642 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
