Fails the Bechdel test
Road House
1989. Directed by Rowdy Herrington, written by R. Lance Hill and Hilary Henkin.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
16 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Serene and laconic but powerful and lethal, expert martial artist Dalton is the best professional bouncer in the business. With his reputation preceding him, Dalton arrives in Jasper, Missouri, to clean up The Double Deuce, a seedy bar terrorised by troublemakers. However, Dalton is unaware that villainous local entrepreneur Brad Wesley wants things to stay as they are. As a result, the newcomer gets a deep stab wound from Wesley's hired goons, catching charming physician Dr Elizabeth Clay's eye. For this alone, corrupt Wesley has enough reason to get rid of Dalton at all costs. But a bouncer like Dalton always has the final say.
- Released
- 19 May 1989
- Genres
- Action, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 36 / 100
- Awards
- 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dalton 231 lines, man
- Zee 78 lines, woman
- Doc 40 lines
- Cody 30 lines, man
- Wade 28 lines, man
- Rancher 25 lines, man
- Hank 22 lines
- Ginger 18 lines, man
- Jack The Bear 18 lines, man
- Tilghman 16 lines, man
Full cast, 41 people
- Patrick Swayze as James Dalton
- Kelly Lynch as Dr. Elizabeth Clay
- Sam Elliott as Wade Garrett
- Ben Gazzara as Brad Wesley
- Marshall R. Teague as Jimmy
- Julie Michaels as Denise
- Red West as Red Webster
- Sunshine Parker as Emmet
- Kevin Tighe as Frank Tilghman
- John Doe as Pat McGurn
- Kathleen Wilhoite as Carrie
- Travis McKenna as Jack
- Roger Hewlett as Younger
- Bob Jennings as Bandstand Bouncer
- Kym Malin as Party Girl
- Jeff Healey as Cody
- Gary Hudson as Steve
- Joe Unger as Karpis
- Sheila Ryan as Judy (as Sheila Caan)
- Keith David as Ernie Bass
- Patricia Tallman as Bandstand Babe
- Heidi Paine as Party Girl
- Jacklyn Palmer as Party Girl
- Daryl Marsh as Strip Joint Bartender
- Laura Albert as Strip Joint Girl
- Christina Veronica as Strip Joint Girl
- Jasae as Strip Joint Girl
- Michele Burger as Strip Joint Girl
- Terry Funk as Morgan
- Susan Lentini as Bandstand Babe
- Cheryl Baker as Well-Endowed Wife
- Dawn Ciccone as Steve's Girl
- Benny Urquidez as Laughing Henchman (uncredited)
- Julie Royer as Steve's Girl
- Tiny Ron as Mountain
- Chino 'Fats' Williams as Derelict
- Christopher Collins as Sharing Husband
- Michael Rider as O'Connor
- John William Young as Tinker
- Joey Plewa as Bandstand Tough Guy
- Kurt James Stefka as Hank
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 21% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 126
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 3 | 5 | 7 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 21 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 9 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 27 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 20 |
| 25 to 27 | 15 | 21 |
| 28 to 30 | 12 | 12 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 20 |
| 34 to 36 | 1 | 32 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 27 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 7 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 19 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 13 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 24 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 4 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 17 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 13 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 6 |
| 76 to 78 | 2 | 16 |
| 79 to 81 | 2 | 16 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 11 |
| 85 to 87 | 9 | 4 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 3 |
| 94 to 96 | 3 | 11 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 24 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 8 | 5 |
| 106 to 108 | 3 | 6 |
| 109 to 111 | 14 | 14 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 0 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 123 | 7 | 6 |
| 124 to 126 | 4 | 16 |
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, 18 are women's.
95 lines from women, 444 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
16 women and 24 men in the cast. 1 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 680.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 173 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 14% of the words (717), men 86% (4,266). Women have 18% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
44
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rowdy Herrington (man)
- Written by
- R. Lance Hill (man), Hilary Henkin (woman)
- Produced by
- Joel Silver (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Cundey (man)
- Edited by
- John F. Link (man), Frank J. Urioste (man)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Costumes by
- Marilyn Vance (woman)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 26 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Julie Michaels 18, Kelly Lynch 30
Men
John Doe 35, Patrick Swayze 36, Marshall R. Teague 36, Sam Elliott 44, Kevin Tighe 44, Red West 53, Ben Gazzara 58, Sunshine Parker 61
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.0 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $15 million
- Box office
- $30.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 126 scenes and 680 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
