Fails the Bechdel test
Rambling Rose
1991. Directed by Martha Coolidge, written by Calder Willingham.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
3 women characters. 1 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Rose, is taken in by the Hillyer family to serve as a 1930s housemaid so that she can avoid falling into a life of prostitution. Rose's appearance and personality are such that all men fall for her, and Rose knows it. She can't help herself from getting into trouble with men. "Daddy" Hillier soon grows tired of Rose's rambling ways.
- Released
- 20 Sep 1991
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 6 wins & 15 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Daddy 255 lines, man
- Rose 203 lines, woman
- Mother 174 lines, woman
- Buddy 143 lines, man
- Willcox Hillyer 50 lines, man
- Doll 40 lines
- Dave Wilkie 29 lines, man
- Dr. Martinson 27 lines, man
- Waski 13 lines
- Dr. Winton 7 lines, woman
Full cast, 19 people
- Laura Dern as Rose
- Robert Duvall as Mr. Hillyer
- Diane Ladd as Mrs. Hillyer
- Lukas Haas as Willcox "Buddy" Hillyer
- John Heard as Older Willcox "Buddy" Hillyer
- Kevin Conway as Dr. Martinson
- Robert John Burke as Dave Wilkie
- Lisa Jakub as Frances "Dolly" Hillyer
- Evan Lockwood as Warren "Waski" Hillyer
- Matthew Sutherland as Billy
- D. Anthony Pender as Foster
- David E. Scarborough as Horton
- Robin Dale Robertson as Young Salesman
- General Fermon Judd Jr. as Shadrack
- Richard K. Olsen as Chief of Police
- Michael Mott as Man in Store
- James Binns as Minister
- Gelene Krug as Stand-In
- Jeffrey Smith as Stand-In
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 214
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 5 | 0 | 6 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 36 |
| 11 to 15 | 2 | 10 |
| 16 to 20 | 18 | 11 |
| 21 to 25 | 27 | 19 |
| 26 to 30 | 5 | 14 |
| 31 to 35 | 7 | 7 |
| 36 to 40 | 4 | 9 |
| 41 to 45 | 1 | 7 |
| 46 to 50 | 2 | 4 |
| 51 to 55 | 33 | 36 |
| 56 to 60 | 4 | 5 |
| 61 to 65 | 7 | 6 |
| 66 to 70 | 3 | 3 |
| 71 to 75 | 42 | 35 |
| 76 to 80 | 10 | 18 |
| 81 to 85 | 1 | 1 |
| 86 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 95 | 1 | 2 |
| 96 to 100 | 0 | 3 |
| 101 to 105 | 9 | 7 |
| 106 to 110 | 3 | 4 |
| 111 to 115 | 7 | 5 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 17 |
| 121 to 125 | 32 | 17 |
| 126 to 130 | 16 | 5 |
| 131 to 135 | 3 | 8 |
| 136 to 140 | 7 | 8 |
| 141 to 145 | 4 | 7 |
| 146 to 150 | 4 | 0 |
| 151 to 155 | 17 | 22 |
| 156 to 160 | 13 | 11 |
| 161 to 165 | 2 | 11 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 2 |
| 171 to 175 | 3 | 11 |
| 176 to 180 | 14 | 16 |
| 181 to 185 | 29 | 26 |
| 186 to 190 | 22 | 37 |
| 191 to 195 | 20 | 20 |
| 196 to 200 | 6 | 3 |
| 201 to 205 | 8 | 5 |
| 206 to 210 | 0 | 0 |
| 211 to 214 | 0 | 55 |
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, 42 are women's.
386 lines from women, 529 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
3 women and 11 men in the cast. 1 women and 7 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 54 of 973.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 56 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 44% of the words (6,687), men 56% (8,551). Women have 42% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
4
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Martha Coolidge (woman)
- Written by
- Calder Willingham (man)
- Produced by
- Renny Harlin (man)
- Shot by
- Johnny E. Jensen (man)
- Edited by
- Steven Cohen (man)
- Music by
- Elmer Bernstein (man)
- Production design by
- John Vallone (man)
- Costumes by
- Jane Robinson (woman)
- Cast by
- Aleta Chappelle (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 3 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men
-
Directing
1 women, 0 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lisa Jakub 12, Laura Dern 24, Diane Ladd 55
Men
Lukas Haas 15, Robert John Burke 30, John Heard 45, Kevin Conway 49, Robert Duvall 60
Exhibit G: the money
It made 84% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $7.5 million
- Box office
- $6.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 214 scenes and 973 lines of dialogue. How the test works
