Fails the Bechdel test
Rocky II
1979. Directed by Sylvester Stallone, written by Sylvester Stallone.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
Rocky Balboa is enjoying life. He has a lovely wife, Adrian, had a successful fight with Apollo Creed and is able to enjoy the money he earned from the fight and a new endorsement deal. Unfortunately, Rocky becomes embarrassed when failing to complete an advert and ends up working in a meat packing company. He believes that he will no longer have a career as a boxer. Apollo wants to rematch with Rocky to prove all his critics wrong that he can beat Rocky. Can Rocky once again have a successful fight?
- Released
- 15 Jun 1979
- Genres
- Drama, Sport
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 61 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Rocky 256 lines, man
- Adrian 91 lines, woman
- Mickey 74 lines, man
- Apollo 47 lines, man
- Paulie 26 lines, man
- Commentator #1 19 lines, man
- Trainer 19 lines, man
- Commentator #2 14 lines, man
- Director 12 lines, man
- Announcer 7 lines, man
Full cast, 58 people
- Sylvester Stallone as Robert 'Rocky' Balboa
- Talia Shire as Adrianna 'Adrian' Balboa
- Burt Young as Paulie Pennino
- Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed
- Burgess Meredith as Mickey Goldmill
- Tony Burton as Tony 'Duke' Evers
- Joe Spinell as Tony Gazzo
- Leonard Gaines as Agent
- Sylvia Meals as Mary Anne Creed
- Frank McRae as Meat Foreman (uncredited)
- Al Silvani as Cutman (uncredited)
- John Pleshette as Director (uncredited)
- Stu Nahan as Announcer (uncredited)
- Bill Baldwin as Commentator (uncredited)
- Jerry Ziesmer as Salesman (uncredited)
- Paul Micale as Father Carmine (uncredited)
- Earl Montgomery as Employment Manager (uncredited)
- Herb Nanas as Employment Manager (uncredited)
- Stuart K. Robinson as Johnny (uncredited)
- Frank Stallone Jr. as Singer (uncredited)
- Charles "Honi" Coles as Singer (uncredited)
- Doug Flor as Singer (uncredited)
- Robert Kondyra as Singer (uncredited)
- James Zazzarino as Singer (uncredited)
- Eddie 'El Annimal' Lopez as Fighter (uncredited)
- Taurean Blacque as Lawyer (uncredited)
- James J. Casino as Chink's Manager (uncredited)
- Shaka Cumbuka as Cornerman (uncredited)
- Roberto Durán as Fighter (uncredited)
- Lou Fillipo as Referee (uncredited)
- Ruth Ann Flynn as Jewelry Sales Lady (uncredited)
- Linda Grey as Agent (uncredited)
- Grainger Hines as Emergency Room Aide (uncredited)
- Garrie Kelly as White Hunter (uncredited)
- Ava Lazar as White Hunter (uncredited)
- Joseph Letizia as Car Salesman (uncredited)
- René Le Vant as Young Lugger (uncredited)
- Tawny Little as Reporter (uncredited)
- Paul McCrane as Young Patient (uncredited)
- Sonny Melendrez as Reporter (uncredited)
- Tony Munafo as Boxer (uncredited)
- Brent Musburger as Reporter (uncredited)
- Ed Ness as Timekeeper (uncredited)
- Fred Pinkard as Lawyer (uncredited)
- Jane Marla Robbins as Gloria (uncredited)
- Hank Rolike as Cornerman (uncredited)
- David L. Ross as Reporter (uncredited)
- Fran Ryan as Adrian's Nurse (uncredited)
- Whitney Rydbeck as Sound Man (uncredited)
- Shepherd Sanders as Employment Manager (uncredited)
- Jeff Temkin as Ring Announcer (uncredited)
- Allan Warnick as Makeup Man (uncredited)
- Charles Winkler as Camera Assistant (uncredited)
- James Zaza as Emergency Room Reporter (uncredited)
- Samuel Davis as Apollo's Bodyguard (uncredited)
- Rutanya Alda as Doctor Cooper (uncredited)
- Seargeoh Stallone as Rocky Balboa Jr. (uncredited)
- Butkus Stallone as Dog (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 131
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 | 9 | 43 |
| 4 to 6 | 3 | 20 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 14 |
| 10 to 12 | 10 | 24 |
| 13 to 15 | 5 | 9 |
| 16 to 18 | 2 | 5 |
| 19 to 21 | 8 | 25 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 18 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 11 |
| 28 to 30 | 3 | 11 |
| 31 to 33 | 2 | 8 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 10 |
| 37 to 39 | 12 | 13 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 23 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 24 |
| 46 to 48 | 4 | 14 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 5 |
| 52 to 54 | 4 | 18 |
| 55 to 57 | 7 | 27 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 11 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 4 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 14 |
| 67 to 69 | 8 | 15 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 5 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 2 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 11 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 1 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 5 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 4 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 9 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 1 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 14 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 9 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 10 |
| 124 to 126 | 0 | 56 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 17 |
| 130 to 131 | 0 | 15 |
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, 15 are women's.
98 lines from women, 537 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 37 men in the cast. 7 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 17 of 734.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 143 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,026), men 87% (7,162). Women have 15% 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
1
Two men
52
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 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
- Sylvester Stallone (man)
- Written by
- Sylvester Stallone (man)
- Produced by
- Irwin Winkler (man), Robert Chartoff (man)
- Shot by
- Wilmer Butler (man)
- Edited by
- Janice Hampton (woman), Stanford C. Allen (man)
- Music by
- Bill Conti (man)
- Costumes by
- Sandy Berke Jordan (woman), Tom Bronson (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 44 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Talia Shire 33, Sylvia Meals 36
Men
Carl Weathers 31, Sylvester Stallone 32, Frank McRae 38, Burt Young 39, Tony Burton 42, Joe Spinell 42, Leonard Gaines 56, Burgess Meredith 71
Exhibit G: the money
It made 28.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $7 million
- Box office
- $200 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 131 scenes and 734 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
