Passes the Bechdel test
Pulp Fiction
1994. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
18 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 96. -
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
Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) are two hitmen who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.
- Released
- 14 Oct 1994
- Genres
- Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 95 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 69 wins & 73 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Vincent 258 lines, man
- Jules 209 lines, man
- Butch 135 lines, man
- Fabienne 90 lines, woman
- Mia 81 lines, woman
- Lance 49 lines, man
- The Wolf 46 lines, man
- Pumpkin 34 lines, man
- Brett 27 lines, man
- Young Man 27 lines, man
Full cast, 52 people
- John Travolta as Vincent Vega
- Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield
- Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace
- Bruce Willis as Butch Coolidge
- Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace
- Harvey Keitel as The Wolf
- Eric Stoltz as Lance
- Tim Roth as Pumpkin
- Amanda Plummer as Honey Bunny
- Maria de Medeiros as Fabienne
- Quentin Tarantino as Jimmie Dimmick
- Christopher Walken as Captain Koons
- Rosanna Arquette as Jody
- Peter Greene as Zed
- Duane Whitaker as Maynard
- Angela Jones as Esmarelda Villalobos
- Phil LaMarr as Marvin
- Steve Buscemi as Buddy Holly
- Bronagh Gallagher as Trudi
- Laura Lovelace as Waitress
- Frank Whaley as Brett
- Burr Steers as Roger
- Paul Calderon as Paul
- Jerome Patrick Hoban as Ed Sullivan
- Michael Gilden as Page for Phillip Morris
- Gary Shorelle as Ricky Nelson
- Susan Griffiths as Marilyn Monroe
- Eric Clark as James Dean
- Joseph Pilato as Dean Martin
- Brad Blumenthal as Jerry Lewis
- Lorelei Leslie as Mamie van Doren
- Emil Sitka as Hold Hands You Lovebirds (archive footage)
- Brenda Hillhouse as Mrs. Coolidge - Butch's Mother
- Chandler Lindauer as Young Butch
- Sy Sher as Klondike
- Robert Ruth as Sportscaster #1 - Coffee Shop
- Rich Turner as Sportscaster #2
- Don Blakely as Wilson's Trainer
- Carl Allen as Dead Floyd Wilson
- Karen Maruyama as Gawker #1
- Kathy Griffin as Kathy Griffin
- Venessia Valentino as Pedestrian / Bonnie Dimmick
- Linda Kaye as Shot Woman
- Stephen Hibbert as The Gimp
- Alexis Arquette as Fourth Man
- Julia Sweeney as Raquel
- Lawrence Bender as Long Hair Yuppy Scum
- Cie Allman as Winston Wolfe's Girlfriend at Party (uncredited)
- Rene Beard as Bar Tender (uncredited)
- Glendon Rich as Drug Dealer (uncredited)
- Ani Sava as Woman in Bathroom (uncredited)
- Richard Rossi as Diner Patron #2 (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 96
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 | 27 | 28 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 33 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 17 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 43 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 81 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 22 |
| 13 to 14 | 4 | 25 |
| 15 to 16 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 to 18 | 2 | 0 |
| 19 to 20 | 4 | 2 |
| 21 to 22 | 2 | 1 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 0 |
| 29 to 30 | 31 | 40 |
| 31 to 32 | 28 | 31 |
| 33 to 34 | 3 | 10 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 38 | 3 | 21 |
| 39 to 40 | 16 | 47 |
| 41 to 42 | 10 | 12 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 3 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 1 |
| 47 to 48 | 2 | 2 |
| 49 to 50 | 16 | 22 |
| 51 to 52 | 3 | 5 |
| 53 to 54 | 78 | 73 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 1 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 1 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 3 | 15 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 26 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 14 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 74 | 12 | 17 |
| 75 to 76 | 2 | 20 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 35 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 30 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 8 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 3 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 23 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 21 |
| 89 to 90 | 0 | 8 |
| 91 to 92 | 0 | 30 |
| 93 to 94 | 15 | 63 |
| 95 to 96 | 11 | 62 |
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.
MIA: Something. JODY: Anybody want a beer?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.
274 lines from women, 897 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
18 women and 29 men in the cast. 12 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,185.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 196 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 18% of the words (2,596), men 82% (11,646). Women have 23% 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
5
Two men
49
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 34% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Quentin Tarantino (man)
- Written by
- Quentin Tarantino (man)
- Story by
- Roger Avary (man), Quentin Tarantino (man)
- Produced by
- Lawrence Bender (man)
- Shot by
- Andrzej Sekula (man)
- Edited by
- Sally Menke (woman)
- Production design by
- David Wasco (man)
- Costumes by
- Betsy Heimann (woman)
- Cast by
- Gary M. Zuckerbrod (man), Ronnie Yeskel (woman), Jeff Olan (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 13 men, 18 not listed
-
Production
6 women, 9 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 4 men, 11 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 7 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Uma Thurman 24, Maria de Medeiros 29, Amanda Plummer 37
Men
Eric Stoltz 32, Tim Roth 33, Ving Rhames 35, Bruce Willis 39, John Travolta 40, Samuel L. Jackson 45, Harvey Keitel 55
Exhibit H: the money
It made 26.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $214 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 96 scenes and 1,185 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
