Passes the Bechdel test
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1975. Directed by Miloš Forman, written by Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman and Ken Kesey.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 107. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
McMurphy has a criminal past and has once again gotten himself into trouble and is sentenced by the court. To escape labor duties in prison, McMurphy pleads insanity and is sent to a ward for the mentally unstable. Once here, McMurphy both endures and stands witness to the abuse and degradation of the oppressive Nurse Ratched, who gains superiority and power through the flaws of the other inmates. McMurphy and the other inmates band together to make a rebellious stance against the atrocious Nurse.
- Released
- 21 Nov 1975
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 84 / 100
- Awards
- Won 5 Oscars. 38 wins & 15 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mcmurphy 391 lines, man
- Big Nurse 141 lines, woman
- Harding 72 lines, man
- Billy 65 lines, man
- Turkle 47 lines, man
- Spivey 40 lines, man
- Martini 37 lines, man
- Sefelt 34 lines, man
- Cheswick 32 lines, man
- Rose 30 lines, woman
Full cast, 34 people
- Jack Nicholson as Randle Patrick McMurphy
- Brad Dourif as Billy Bibbit
- Louise Fletcher as Nurse Mildred Ratched
- Danny DeVito as Martini
- William Redfield as Dale Harding
- Scatman Crothers as Orderly Turkle
- Christopher Lloyd as Max Taber
- Will Sampson as Chief Bromden
- Dean R. Brooks as Dr. John Spivey
- Michael Berryman as Ellis
- Sydney Lassick as Charlie Cheswick
- William Duell as Jim Sefelt
- Vincent Schiavelli as Bruce Fredrickson
- Peter Brocco as Col. Matterson
- Alonzo Brown as Miller
- Mwako Cumbuka as Warren
- Josip Elic as Bancini
- Ken Kenny as Beans Garfield
- Nathan George as Washington
- Ted Markland as Hap Arlich
- Louisa Moritz as Rose
- Mews Small as Candy
- Delos V. Smith Jr. as Scanlon
- Lan Fendors as Nurse Itsu
- Mimi Sarkisian as Nurse Pilbow
- Mel Lambert as Harbor Master
- Kay Lee as Night Supervisor
- Dwight Marfield as Ellsworth
- Tin Welch as Ruckley
- Philip Roth as Woolsey
- Aurore Clément as Lady on Pier (uncredited)
- Anjelica Huston as Woman in Crowd on Pier (uncredited)
- Audrey Landers as Actress on TV Screen (uncredited)
- Saul Zaentz as Captain on Shore (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 107
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 | 1 |
| 4 to 6 | 4 | 4 |
| 7 to 9 | 3 | 5 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 9 | 37 |
| 16 to 18 | 12 | 92 |
| 19 to 21 | 23 | 105 |
| 22 to 24 | 11 | 20 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 5 |
| 28 to 30 | 10 | 19 |
| 31 to 33 | 17 | 89 |
| 34 to 36 | 24 | 43 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 18 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 40 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 39 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 20 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 14 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 7 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 19 |
| 61 to 63 | 7 | 12 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 24 |
| 67 to 69 | 27 | 94 |
| 70 to 72 | 36 | 51 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 4 |
| 76 to 78 | 8 | 14 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 3 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 16 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 1 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 7 |
| 91 to 93 | 8 | 19 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 2 |
| 97 to 99 | 5 | 18 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 5 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 106 to 107 | 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.
CANDY: Sock it to 'em, kid! ROSE: Are they all crazies?
CANDY: Yeah, well you look like hell warmed over... ROSE: Hey, pssst! Whadda 'bout me?
CANDY: Pssst! Hey Rose! There they are! ROSE: What? Where? CANDY: In there. ROSE: Wow! They're so quiet.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
220 lines from women, 847 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 22 men in the cast. 5 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 10 of 1,100.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 177 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 23% of the words (2,068), men 77% (7,101). Women have 21% 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
5
Two men
54
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Miloš Forman (man)
- Written by
- Bo Goldman (man), Lawrence Hauben (man)
- From the novel by
- Ken Kesey (man)
- Produced by
- Michael Douglas (man), Saul Zaentz (man)
- Shot by
- Haskell Wexler (man)
- Edited by
- Sheldon Kahn (man), Lynzee Klingman (woman)
- Music by
- Jack Nitzsche (man)
- Production design by
- Paul Sylbert (man)
- Costumes by
- Aggie Guerard Rodgers (woman)
- Cast by
- Jane Feinberg (woman), Mike Fenton (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Louise Fletcher 41
Men
Brad Dourif 25, Michael Berryman 27, Danny DeVito 31, Christopher Lloyd 37, Jack Nicholson 38, Will Sampson 42, William Redfield 48, Dean R. Brooks 59, Scatman Crothers 65
Exhibit H: the money
It made 36.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3 million
- Box office
- $109 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 107 scenes and 1,100 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
