Passes the Bechdel test
Rear Window
1954. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and Cornell Woolrich.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 443. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Professional photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jefferies breaks his leg while getting an action shot at an auto race. Confined to his New York apartment, he spends his time looking out of the rear window observing the neighbors. He begins to suspect that a man across the courtyard may have murdered his wife. Jeff enlists the help of his high society fashion-consultant girlfriend Lisa Fremont and his visiting nurse Stella to investigate.
- Released
- 01 Sep 1954
- Genres
- Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 8.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 100 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 4 Oscars. 7 wins & 14 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jeff 375 lines, man
- Lisa 189 lines, woman
- Stella 108 lines, woman
- Doyle 92 lines, man
- Gunnison 31 lines, man
- Thorwald 14 lines, man
- Mrs. Doyle 8 lines, woman
- Baby Sitter 5 lines
- Carl 5 lines, man
- Police 5 lines
Full cast, 39 people
- James Stewart as L.B. Jefferies
- Grace Kelly as Lisa Fremont
- Wendell Corey as Thomas Doyle
- Thelma Ritter as Stella
- Raymond Burr as Lars Thorwald
- Judith Evelyn as Miss Lonelyhearts
- Ross Bagdasarian as Songwriter
- Georgine Darcy as Miss Torso
- Sara Berner as Woman on Fire Escape
- Frank Cady as Man on Fire Escape
- Jesslyn Fax as Miss Hearing Aid
- Rand Harper as Newlywed
- Irene Winston as Emma Thorwald
- Havis Davenport as Newlywed
- Jerry Antes as Dancer with Miss Torso (uncredited)
- Benny Bartlett as Man with Miss Torso (uncredited)
- Sue Casey as Sunbather (uncredited)
- Iphigenie Castiglioni as Woman with Bird (uncredited)
- James Cornell as (uncredited)
- Don Dunning as Detective (uncredited)
- Marla English as Girl at Songwriter's Party (uncredited)
- Bess Flowers as Songwriter's Party Guest with Poodle (uncredited)
- Art Gilmore as Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
- Fred Graham as Detective (uncredited)
- Kathryn Grant as Girl at Songwriter's Party (uncredited)
- Charles Harvey as (uncredited)
- Len Hendry as Policeman (uncredited)
- Alfred Hitchcock as Clock-Winder in Songwriter's Apartment (uncredited)
- Harry Landers as Man with Miss Lonelyhearts (uncredited)
- Alan Lee as Newlyweds' Landlord (uncredited)
- Mike Mahoney as Policeman (uncredited)
- Jonnie Paris as Sunbather (uncredited)
- Eddie Parker as Detective (uncredited)
- Robert Sherman as (uncredited)
- Dick Simmons as Man with Miss Torso (uncredited)
- Ralph Smiley as Carl (uncredited)
- Jack Stoney as Ice Man (uncredited)
- Anthony Warde as Detective (uncredited)
- Gig Young as Jeff's Editor (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 10 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 443
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 10 | 0 | 25 |
| 11 to 20 | 0 | 26 |
| 21 to 30 | 33 | 28 |
| 31 to 40 | 8 | 5 |
| 41 to 50 | 33 | 28 |
| 51 to 60 | 4 | 4 |
| 61 to 70 | 4 | 3 |
| 71 to 80 | 14 | 15 |
| 81 to 90 | 8 | 8 |
| 91 to 100 | 0 | 11 |
| 101 to 110 | 0 | 0 |
| 111 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 130 | 18 | 18 |
| 131 to 140 | 4 | 4 |
| 141 to 150 | 11 | 11 |
| 151 to 160 | 17 | 14 |
| 161 to 170 | 6 | 6 |
| 171 to 180 | 5 | 8 |
| 181 to 190 | 2 | 0 |
| 191 to 200 | 1 | 4 |
| 201 to 210 | 0 | 29 |
| 211 to 220 | 0 | 51 |
| 221 to 230 | 0 | 0 |
| 231 to 240 | 8 | 9 |
| 241 to 250 | 34 | 34 |
| 251 to 260 | 3 | 6 |
| 261 to 270 | 6 | 24 |
| 271 to 280 | 3 | 11 |
| 281 to 290 | 2 | 10 |
| 291 to 300 | 9 | 12 |
| 301 to 310 | 14 | 12 |
| 311 to 320 | 11 | 8 |
| 321 to 330 | 2 | 3 |
| 331 to 340 | 26 | 31 |
| 341 to 350 | 0 | 5 |
| 351 to 360 | 0 | 1 |
| 361 to 370 | 5 | 2 |
| 371 to 380 | 1 | 5 |
| 381 to 390 | 3 | 3 |
| 391 to 400 | 10 | 31 |
| 401 to 410 | 0 | 10 |
| 411 to 420 | 0 | 1 |
| 421 to 430 | 1 | 1 |
| 431 to 440 | 3 | 3 |
| 441 to 443 | 1 | 5 |
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.
LISA: It could be -- the knife, and the saw. STELLA: Call Lieutenant Doyle! LISA: No -- let's wait. Let's wait until it gets dark. I'll go over and dig it up!
LISA: And the last thing she'd leave behind would be her wedding ring! Do you ever leave yours at home? STELLA: The only way anybody could get that off would be to chop my finger -- Let's go down and find out what's buried in the garden. LISA: Why not? I always wanted to meet Mrs. Thorwald.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 37 are women's.
310 lines from women, 525 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 22 men in the cast. 3 women and 4 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 54 of 849.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 82 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 (3,539), men 61% (5,566). Women have 37% 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
9
Two men
30
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 6 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 6% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Alfred Hitchcock (man)
- Written by
- John Michael Hayes (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Burks (man)
- Edited by
- George Tomasini (man)
- Music by
- Franz Waxman (man)
- Costumes by
- Edith Head (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
0 women, 4 men
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Georgine Darcy 21, Grace Kelly 24, Sara Berner 42, Judith Evelyn 45, Thelma Ritter 52
Men
Ross Bagdasarian 35, Raymond Burr 37, Frank Cady 38, Wendell Corey 40, James Stewart 46
Exhibit H: the money
It made 37.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1 million
- Box office
- $37 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 443 scenes and 849 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
