Does it pass? bechdel.io

Passes the Bechdel test

Psycho

1960. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Joseph Stefano and Robert Bloch.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    8 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 3 scenes out of 127.
  3. 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.

Poster for Psycho

The film

Phoenix office worker Marion Crane is fed up with the way life has treated her. She has to meet her lover Sam in lunch breaks, and they cannot get married because Sam has to give most of his money away in alimony. One Friday, Marion is trusted to bank forty thousand dollars by her employer. Seeing the opportunity to take the money and start a new life, Marion leaves town and heads towards Sam's California store. Tired after the long drive and caught in a storm, she gets off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman who seems to be dominated by his mother.

Released
08 Sep 1960
Genres
Drama, Horror, Mystery
Rated
R
IMDb
8.5 / 10
Metascore
97 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 4 Oscars. 9 wins & 14 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Sam 167 lines, man
  2. Norman 119 lines, man
  3. Lila 110 lines, woman
  4. Mary 98 lines, woman
  5. Arbogast 54 lines, man
  6. Sheriff 31 lines
  7. Car Dealer 19 lines, woman
  8. Mrs. Chambers 19 lines, woman
  9. Patrolman 16 lines
  10. Cassidy 14 lines, man
Full cast, 34 people
  • Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates
  • Janet Leigh as Marion Crane
  • Vera Miles as Lila Crane
  • John Gavin as Sam Loomis
  • Martin Balsam as Milton Arbogast
  • John McIntire as Al Chambers
  • Simon Oakland as Fred Richman
  • Frank Albertson as Tom Cassidy
  • Patricia Hitchcock as Caroline
  • Vaughn Taylor as George Lowery
  • Lurene Tuttle as Mrs. Chambers
  • John Anderson as California Charlie
  • Mort Mills as Highway Patrol Officer
  • Fletcher Allen as Policeman on Steps (uncredited)
  • Walter Bacon as Church Member (uncredited)
  • Kit Carson as (uncredited)
  • Francis De Sales as Alan Deats (uncredited)
  • George Dockstader as (uncredited)
  • George Eldredge as James Mitchell (uncredited)
  • Harper Flaherty as (uncredited)
  • Sam Flint as County Sheriff (uncredited)
  • Virginia Gregg as Norma Bates (voice) (uncredited)
  • Alfred Hitchcock as Man Outside Office (uncredited)
  • Paul Jasmin as Norma Bates (voice) (uncredited)
  • Lee Kass as (uncredited)
  • Frank Killmond as Bob Summerfield (uncredited)
  • Ted Knight as Policeman in Hallway Opening Door (uncredited)
  • Pat McCaffrie as Police Guard (uncredited)
  • Hans Moebus as Passerby on Sidewalk (uncredited)
  • Jeanette Nolan as Norma Bates (voice) (uncredited)
  • Lillian O'Malley as (uncredited)
  • Robert Osborne as Man (uncredited)
  • Fred Scheiwiller as (uncredited)
  • Helen Wallace as Hardware Store Customer (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 127

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 32427
4 to 6915
7 to 954
10 to 1200
13 to 1500
16 to 1800
19 to 21100
22 to 2400
25 to 27230
28 to 3070
31 to 3362
34 to 3622
37 to 3902
40 to 4203
43 to 451619
46 to 4834
49 to 512830
52 to 5401
55 to 5700
58 to 6000
61 to 633854
64 to 6600
67 to 6900
70 to 7200
73 to 7505
76 to 78077
79 to 8101
82 to 8401
85 to 871215
88 to 9001
91 to 934026
94 to 9633
97 to 991915
100 to 102216
103 to 1051417
106 to 10804
109 to 11115
112 to 11405
115 to 117013
118 to 12000
121 to 12313
124 to 12646
127 to 12720

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.
CAROLINE: Aren't you going to take the pills? They'll knock that headache out. MARY: I don't need pills... just sleep.
CAR DEALER: With you in a second! CAR DEALER: I'm in no mood for trouble! MARY: What? CAR DEALER: There's an old saying, "First customer of the day is always the most trouble!" But like I said, I'm in no mood for it so I'm just going to t…
CAR DEALER: That's the one I'd've picked for you myself! MARY: How much? CAR DEALER: Go ahead! Spin it around the block. Now I know you don't know anything about engine condition, but you can feel, can't you... and it's all i… MARY: It looks fine. How much will it be, with my car...?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.

269 lines from women, 376 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

8 women and 24 men in the cast. 3 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 707. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 86 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 39% of the words (3,157), men 61% (4,877). Women have 42% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

None of the 7 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock (man)
Written by
Joseph Stefano (man)
From the novel by
Robert Bloch (man)
Produced by
Alfred Hitchcock (man)
Shot by
John L. Russell (man)
Edited by
George Tomasini (man)
Music by
Bernard Herrmann (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Art

    0 women, 4 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 2 men

  • Sound

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Production

    0 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Other crew

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 31 on average. Men: 42 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Vera Miles 29, Patricia Hitchcock 31, Janet Leigh 32

Men

Anthony Perkins 28, John Gavin 29, Martin Balsam 40, Simon Oakland 44, Vaughn Taylor 49, Frank Albertson 51, John McIntire 52

Exhibit H: the money

It made 62.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$806,947
Box office
$50 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 127 scenes and 707 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

Related films

Back to the whole shelf