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Fails the Bechdel test

Reservoir Dogs

1992. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, written by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

0 / 3

Fails

  1. No 1. At least two women
    Fewer than two women characters.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. No 3. About something besides a man
    Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.

Poster for Reservoir Dogs

The film

Six thugs, who are strangers to each other, are hired by a crime boss, Joe Cabot, to carry out a diamond robbery. Right at the outset, they are given false names with the intention that they won't get too close and will concentrate on the job instead. They are completely sure that the robbery is going to be a success. But, when the police show up right at the time and the site of the robbery, panic spreads amongst the group members, and two of them are killed in the subsequent shootout, along with a few policemen and civilians. When the remaining people assemble at the predetermined rendezvous point (a warehouse), they begin to suspect that one of them is an undercover cop.

Released
02 Sep 1992
Genres
Crime, Thriller
Rated
R
IMDb
8.2 / 10
Metascore
81 / 100
Awards
13 wins & 23 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Mr. White 159 lines, man
  2. Mr. Pink 119 lines, man
  3. Eddie 77 lines, man
  4. Joe 74 lines, man
  5. Freddy 59 lines, man
  6. Mr. Blonde 39 lines, man
  7. Mr. Orange 39 lines, man
  8. Holdaway 33 lines, man
  9. Vic 20 lines, man
  10. Nice Guy Eddie 17 lines, man
Full cast, 27 people
  • Harvey Keitel as Mr. White / Larry Dimmick
  • Tim Roth as Mr. Orange / Freddy Newandyke
  • Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde / Vic Vega
  • Chris Penn as "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot
  • Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink
  • Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot
  • Randy Brooks as Detective Holdaway
  • Kirk Baltz as Officer Marvin Nash
  • Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue
  • Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown
  • Rich Turner as Sheriff #1
  • David Steen as Sheriff #2
  • Tony Cosmo as Sheriff #3
  • Stevo Polyi as Sheriff #4
  • Michael Sottile as Teddy
  • Robert Ruth as Shot Cop
  • Lawrence Bender as Young Cop
  • Linda Kaye as Shocked Woman
  • Suzanne Celeste as Shot Woman
  • Steven Wright as K-Billy DJ (voice)
  • Laurie Lathem as Background Radio Play (voice)
  • Maria Strova as Background Radio Play (voice)
  • Burr Steers as Background Radio Play (voice)
  • Craig Hamann as Background Radio Play (voice)
  • Rowland Wafford as Diner Patron (uncredited)
  • Scott McElroy as Cop (uncredited)
  • Robert Ruth as Shot Cop

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 46

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 101
2 to 2399
3 to 300
4 to 408
5 to 5032
6 to 6017
7 to 700
8 to 802
9 to 900
10 to 1000
11 to 11038
12 to 12041
13 to 13041
14 to 14011
15 to 15064
16 to 1601
17 to 1702
18 to 1801
19 to 19044
20 to 20010
21 to 2100
22 to 22012
23 to 2304
24 to 2400
25 to 25025
26 to 26012
27 to 2701
28 to 2801
29 to 2905
30 to 30013
31 to 3102
32 to 32011
33 to 3302
34 to 3403
35 to 3501
36 to 3604
37 to 37028
38 to 3800
39 to 39020
40 to 40015
41 to 4106
42 to 4203
43 to 4309
44 to 4402
45 to 45021
46 to 46053

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, 0 are women's.

3 lines from women, 665 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

3 women and 21 men in the cast. 0 women and 18 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 52 of 692. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 636 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 0% of the words (24), men 100% (12,372).

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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Quentin Tarantino (man)
Written by
Quentin Tarantino (man)
Produced by
Lawrence Bender (man)
Shot by
Andrzej Sekula (man)
Edited by
Sally Menke (woman)
Production design by
David Wasco (man), Ken Kaufman (gender not listed)
Costumes by
Betsy Heimann (woman)
Cast by
Ronnie Yeskel (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    3 women, 9 men, 15 not listed

  • Sound

    2 women, 7 men, 8 not listed

  • Production

    4 women, 5 men, 7 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 5 men, 6 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 2 men, 3 not listed

  • Editing

    2 women, 0 men, 6 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Men

Chris Penn 26, Quentin Tarantino 29, Tim Roth 31, Kirk Baltz 32, Michael Madsen 34, Steve Buscemi 34, Randy Brooks 42, Harvey Keitel 53, Edward Bunker 58, Lawrence Tierney 73

Exhibit G: the money

It made 2.4 times what it cost.

Budget
$1.2 million
Box office
$2.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 46 scenes and 692 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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