Passes the Bechdel test
Repo Man
1984. Directed by Alex Cox, written by Alex Cox.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 1. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Frustrated punk rocker Otto quits his supermarket job after slugging a co-worker, and is later dumped by his girlfriend at a party. Wandering the streets in frustration, he is recruited in the repossession of a car by a repo agent. After discovering his parents have donated his college fund to a televangelist, he joins the repossession agency (Helping Hand Acceptance Corporation) as an apprentice "repo man". During his training, he is introduced into the mercenary and paranoid world of the drivers, befriended by a UFO conspiracy theorist, confronted by rival repo agents, discovers some of his one-time friends have turned to a life of crime, is lectured to near cosmic unconsciousness by the repo agency grounds worker, and finds himself entangled in a web of intrigue concerning a huge repossession bounty on a 1964 Chevy Malibu driven by a lunatic government scientist, with Top Secret cargo in the trunk.
- Released
- 02 Mar 1984
- Genres
- Action, Comedy, Crime
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 82 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Otto 179 lines, man
- Bud 91 lines, man
- Marlene 40 lines, woman
- Leila 39 lines, woman
- Lite 38 lines, man
- Oly 31 lines, man
- J. Frank Parnell 30 lines, man
- Duke 29 lines, man
- Kevin 28 lines, man
- Plettschner 26 lines, man
Full cast, 76 people
- Emilio Estevez as Otto Maddox
- Harry Dean Stanton as Bud
- Tracey Walter as Miller
- Olivia Barash as Leila
- Sy Richardson as Lite
- Susan Barnes as Agent Rogersz
- Fox Harris as J. Frank Parnell
- Tom Finnegan as Oly
- Del Zamora as Lagarto
- Eddie Velez as Napo
- Zander Schloss as Kevin
- Jennifer Balgobin as Debbi
- Dick Rude as Duke
- Miguel Sandoval as Archie
- Vonetta McGee as Marlene
- Richard Foronjy as Plettschner
- Bruce White as Reverend Larry
- Sue Kiel as Ms. Magruder
- Helen Martin as Mrs. Parks
- Angelique Pettyjohn as Repo Wife #2
- Con Covert as Harry Pace
- Biff Yeager as Agent B
- Ed Pansullo as Agent E
- Jon St. Elwood as Miner
- David Chung as Sheriff
- Cynthia Szigeti as U.F.O. Lady
- Jonathon Hugger as Otto Dad
- Dale Reynolds as Peason
- Dolores DeLuce as Nurse
- Luis Contreras as Mr. Humphries' Security Guard
- Alex Cox as Carwash Attendant
- Michael Nesmith as Rabbi
- Steve Mattson as Agent S
- Thomas Boyd as Agent T
- Charles Hopkins as Mr. Humphries
- Kelitta Kelly as Delilah
- Varnum Honey as Motorcycle Cop
- Dorothy Bartlett as English Dustbin Lady
- Sharon Gregg as Otto Mom
- Jac McAnelly as Pakman
- Jimmy Buffett as Additional Blond Agent
- Shep Wickham as Additional Blond Agent
- Gregg Taylor as Additional Blond Agent
- Jon Fondy as Additional Blond Agent
- Keith Miley as Additional Blond Agent
- Michael Bennett as Additional Blond Agent
- Brad Jamieson as Additional Blond Agent
- Janet Chan as Repo Wife #1
- Logan Carter as Repo Wife #3
- Laura Sorrenson as Repo Wife #4
- George Sawaya as First Repo Victim
- Connie Ponce as Repo Victim's Wife
- Bob Ellis as Soda Jerk
- Quentin Gutierrez as Tow Truck Driver
- Richard Furukawa as Liquor Store Clerk #1
- 'Earthquake' Hesson as Liquor Store Clerk #2
- Keith Morris as Nightclub Band Member
- Greg Hetson as Nightclub Band Member
- Chuck Biscuits as Nightclub Band Member
- Earl Liberty as Nightclub Band Member
- Clyde Grimes as Scooter Guys Member
- Chuck Askerneese as Scooter Guys Member
- Kevin Long as Scooter Guys Member
- Jerry Miller as Scooter Guys Member
- Rob Lampron as Scooter Guys Member
- Josh Harris as Scooter Guys Member
- Herman Askerneese as Scooter Guys Member
- Kim Williams as Laundry Person
- Michele Person as Laundry Person
- Wally Cronin as Doctor
- Monona Wali as Nurse
- Cosmo Mata as Bouncer
- Rodney Bingenheimer as Club Owner
- Jorge Martínez as Tennis Player
- Melanie Schloss as Tennis Player
- Nancy Richardson as Tennis Player
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: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
MARLENE: No thank you. L.A.P.D. I wanted to report a repo in Boro heights area. REPO VICTIM'S GIRL: Let's go.
MARLENE: Helping hand acceptance corporation. Marlene speaking. LEILA: Hello, is Otto there? MARLENE: It's for you. A girl.
AGENT ROGERSZ: That's all part of the plan. MARLENE: Otto, Otto pull your self together.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 21 are women's.
139 lines from women, 532 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 34 men in the cast. 7 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 25 of 756.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 75 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,126), men 84% (5,824). Women have 21% 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
45
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Alex Cox (man)
- Written by
- Alex Cox (man)
- Produced by
- Peter McCarthy (man), Jonathan Wacks (man)
- Shot by
- Robby Müller (man)
- Edited by
- Dennis Dolan (man)
- Music by
- Steven Hufsteter (gender not listed), Tito Larriva (man)
- Production design by
- Lynda Burbank (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Victoria Thomas (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
2 women, 9 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 28 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Olivia Barash 19, Susan Barnes 37
Men
Emilio Estevez 21, Eddie Velez 25, Tracey Walter 36, Sy Richardson 42, Fox Harris 47, Harry Dean Stanton 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1.5 million
- Box office
- $2.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 1 scenes and 756 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
