Fails the Bechdel test
No Country for Old Men
2007. Directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen and Cormac McCarthy.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
In rural Texas, welder and hunter Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers the remains of several drug runners who have all killed each other in an exchange gone violently wrong. Rather than report the discovery to the police, Moss decides to simply take the two million dollars present for himself. This puts the psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), on his trail as he dispassionately murders nearly every rival, bystander and even employer in his pursuit of his quarry and the money. As Moss desperately attempts to keep one step ahead, the blood from this hunt begins to flow behind him with relentlessly growing intensity as Chigurh closes in. Meanwhile, the laconic Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) blithely oversees the investigation even as he struggles to face the sheer enormity of the crimes he is attempting to thwart.
- Released
- 21 Nov 2007
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 92 / 100
- Awards
- Won 4 Oscars. 165 wins & 139 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Moss 150 lines, man
- Bell 144 lines, man
- Chigurh 115 lines, man
- Carla Jean 64 lines, woman
- Wells 51 lines, man
- Wendell 49 lines, man
- Man 38 lines, man
- Proprietor 36 lines, man
- Woman 26 lines, woman
- Ellis 25 lines, man
Full cast, 52 people
- Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh
- Tommy Lee Jones as Ed Tom Bell
- Josh Brolin as Llewelyn Moss
- Woody Harrelson as Carson Wells
- Kelly Macdonald as Carla Jean Moss
- Garret Dillahunt as Wendell
- Tess Harper as Loretta Bell
- Barry Corbin as Ellis
- Stephen Root as Man Who Hires Wells
- Rodger Boyce as El Paso Sheriff
- Beth Grant as Carla Jean's Mother
- Ana Reeder as Poolside Woman
- Kit Gwin as Sheriff Bell's Secretary
- Zach Hopkins as Strangled Deputy
- Chip Love as Man in Ford
- Eduardo Antonio Garcia as "Agua" Man
- Gene Jones as Gas Station Proprietor
- Myk Watford as "Managerial" Victim
- Boots Southerland as "Managerial" Victim
- Kathy Lamkin as Desert Aire Manager
- Johnnie Hector as Cabbie at Bus Station
- Margaret Bowman as Del Rio Motel Clerk
- Thomas Kopache as Boot Salesman
- Jason Douglas as Cabbie at Motel
- Doris Hargrave as Waitress
- Rutherford Cravens as Gun Store Clerk
- Matthew Posey as Sporting Goods Clerk
- George Adelo as Mexican in Bathtub
- Mathew Greer as Hitchhiking Driver
- Trent Moore as Nervous Accountant
- Marc Miles as Hotel Eagle Clerk
- Luce Rains as Pickup Driver
- Philip Bentham as Border Bridge Youth
- Eric Reeves as Border Bridge Youth
- Josh Meyer as Border Bridge Youth
- Chris Warner as Flatbed Driver
- Brandon Smith as INS Official
- Roland Uribe as Well Dressed Mexican
- Richard Jackson as Chicken Farmer
- Josh Blaylock as Boy on Bike
- Caleb Landry Jones as Boy on Bike
- Dorsey Ray as Odessa Cabbie
- Angel H. Alvarado Jr. as Norteño Band
- David A. Gomez as Norteño Band
- Milton Hernandez as Norteño Band
- John Mancha as Norteño Band
- Scott Flick as Cab Driver (uncredited)
- Albert Fry Jr. as El Paso Deputy (uncredited)
- Angelo Martinez as Bus Passenger (uncredited)
- James Rishe as Coffee Shop Customer (uncredited)
- Elizabeth Slagsvol as Nurse (uncredited)
- Rachel Manera as Pharmacy Driver (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 159
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 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 13 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 2 |
| 17 to 20 | 9 | 9 |
| 21 to 24 | 5 | 7 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 75 |
| 29 to 32 | 6 | 13 |
| 33 to 36 | 6 | 36 |
| 37 to 40 | 15 | 35 |
| 41 to 44 | 3 | 34 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 9 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 12 |
| 57 to 60 | 1 | 24 |
| 61 to 64 | 5 | 5 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 6 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 2 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 2 |
| 81 to 84 | 0 | 4 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 32 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 5 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 1 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 7 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 21 |
| 113 to 116 | 9 | 65 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 43 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 42 |
| 125 to 128 | 14 | 19 |
| 129 to 132 | 11 | 21 |
| 133 to 136 | 9 | 8 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 5 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 13 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 1 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 46 |
| 153 to 156 | 9 | 8 |
| 157 to 159 | 7 | 26 |
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, 15 are women's.
113 lines from women, 660 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 30 men in the cast. 3 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 38 of 866.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 157 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (826), men 87% (5,774). Women have 15% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
0
Two men
13
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joel Coen (man), Ethan Coen (man)
- Written by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man)
- From the novel by
- Cormac McCarthy (man)
- Produced by
- Joel Coen (man), Ethan Coen (man), Scott Rudin (man)
- Shot by
- Roger Deakins (man)
- Edited by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man)
- Music by
- Carter Burwell (man)
- Production design by
- Jess Gonchor (man)
- Costumes by
- Mary Zophres (woman)
- Cast by
- Ellen Chenoweth (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 7 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 7 men, 10 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 14 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 3 men, 7 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 10 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 9 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 44 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kelly Macdonald 31, Tess Harper 57
Men
Javier Bardem 38, Josh Brolin 39, Garret Dillahunt 42, Woody Harrelson 46, Stephen Root 55, Tommy Lee Jones 61, Barry Corbin 67
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $172 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 159 scenes and 866 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
