Fails the Bechdel test
Rebel Without a Cause
1955. Directed by Nicholas Ray, written by Stewart Stern and Irving Shulman and Nicholas Ray.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 6 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Jim Stark is the new kid in town. He has been in trouble elsewhere; that's why his family has had to move before. Here he hopes to find the love he doesn't get from his middle-class family. Though he finds some of this in his relation with Judy, and a form of it in both Plato's adulation and Ray's real concern for him, Jim must still prove himself to his peers in switchblade knife fights and "chickie" games.
- Released
- 27 Oct 1955
- Genres
- Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 89 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 5 wins & 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jim 277 lines, man
- Judy 114 lines, woman
- Plato 108 lines, man
- Father 76 lines, man
- Ray 61 lines, man
- Buzz 56 lines, man
- Mother 44 lines, woman
- Crunch 25 lines, man
- Judy'S Father 23 lines, man
- Officer 21 lines
Full cast, 43 people
- James Dean as Jim Stark
- Natalie Wood as Judy
- Sal Mineo as John 'Plato' Crawford
- Jim Backus as Frank Stark
- Ann Doran as Carol Stark
- Corey Allen as Buzz Gunderson
- William Hopper as Judy's Father
- Rochelle Hudson as Judy's Mother
- Dennis Hopper as Goon
- Edward Platt as Ray Fremick
- Steffi Sidney as Mil
- Marietta Canty as Crawford Maid
- Virginia Brissac as Jim's Grandmother
- Beverly Long as Helen
- Ian Wolfe as Dr. Minton
- Frank Mazzola as Crunch
- Robert Foulk as Gene
- Jack Simmons as Cookie
- Tom Bernard as Harry
- Nick Adams as Chick
- Jack Grinnage as Moose
- Clifford Morris as Cliff
- Almira Sessions as Planetarium Teacher (uncredited)
- Paul Birch as Police Lieutenant (uncredited)
- Dorothy Abbott as Nurse (uncredited)
- Jimmy Baird as Beau (uncredited)
- Paul Bryar as Desk Sergeant #2 (uncredited)
- John Close as Police Officer (uncredited)
- Chuck Hamilton as Police Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
- Chuck Hicks as Ambulance Attendant (uncredited)
- Nelson Leigh as Desk Sergeant #1 (uncredited)
- David McMahon as Crunch's Father (uncredited)
- Edward McNally as Approaching Officer (uncredited)
- Peter Miller as Hoodlum (uncredited)
- House Peters Jr. as Officer at Police Station (uncredited)
- Nicholas Ray as Man in Last Shot (uncredited)
- Gus Schilling as Attendant (uncredited)
- Bert Stevens as Police Detective (uncredited)
- Dick Wessel as Planetarium Guide (uncredited)
- Robert B. Williams as Ed (uncredited)
- Ralph Moratz as Boy at Planetarium (uncredited)
- Skipper Huerta as Little Boy (uncredited)
- Jack Simmons as Cookie
Who talks, scene by scene
We couldn't read who says what in this film's script, so there's no dialogue chart for it yet.
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, 21 are women's.
194 lines from women, 710 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 34 men in the cast. 6 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 959.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 53 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 22% of the words (1,601), men 78% (5,754). Women have 21% 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
39
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 8 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 5% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Nicholas Ray (man)
- Written by
- Stewart Stern (man)
- Story by
- Nicholas Ray (man)
- Produced by
- David Weisbart (man)
- Shot by
- Ernest Haller (man)
- Edited by
- William H. Ziegler (man)
- Music by
- Leonard Rosenman (man)
- Costumes by
- Moss Mabry (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 29 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Natalie Wood 17, Rochelle Hudson 39, Ann Doran 44
Men
Sal Mineo 16, Dennis Hopper 19, Corey Allen 21, James Dean 24, Edward Platt 39, William Hopper 40, Jim Backus 42
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1.5 million
- Box office
- $4.5 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 959 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
