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Passes the Bechdel test

Romancing the Stone

1984. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Diane Thomas.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    7 women characters. 6 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 2 scenes out of 95.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

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

Poster for Romancing the Stone

The film

Joan Wilder, a mousy romance novelist, receives a treasure map in the mail from her recently murdered brother-in-law. Meanwhile, her sister Elaine is kidnapped in Colombia and the two criminals responsible demand that she travel to Colombia to exchange the map for her sister. Joan does, and quickly becomes lost in the jungle after being waylayed by Zolo, a vicious and corrupt Colombian cop who will stop at nothing to obtain the map. There, she meets an irreverent soldier-of-fortune named Jack Colton who agrees to bring her back to civilization. Together, they embark upon an adventure that could be straight out of Joan's novels.

Released
30 Mar 1984
Genres
Action, Adventure, Comedy
Rated
PG
IMDb
6.9 / 10
Metascore
63 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 8 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Jack 182 lines, man
  2. Joan 167 lines, woman
  3. Zolo 31 lines, man
  4. Ralph 29 lines, man
  5. Juan 26 lines, man
  6. Ira 24 lines, man
  7. Angelina 11 lines, woman
  8. Elaine 11 lines, woman
  9. Joan X 5 lines, woman
  10. Carolyn 4 lines
Full cast, 30 people
  • Michael Douglas as Jack T. Colton
  • Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder
  • Danny DeVito as Ralph
  • Zack Norman as Ira
  • Alfonso Arau as Juan
  • Manuel Ojeda as Zolo
  • Holland Taylor as Gloria
  • Mary Ellen Trainor as Elaine
  • Eve Smith as Mrs. Irwin
  • Joe Nesnow as Super
  • José Chávez as Santos
  • Evita Muñoz 'Chachita' as Hefty Woman
  • Camillo García as Bus Driver
  • Rodrigo Puebla as Bad Hombre
  • Paco Morayta as Hotel Clerk
  • Jorge Zamora as Maitre'D
  • Kymberly Herrin as Angelina
  • William H. Burton Jr. as Jessie
  • Ted White as Grogan
  • Manuel E. Santiago as Vendor
  • Ron Silver as Vendor
  • Michael Cassidy as Zolo's Men
  • Vince Deadrick Sr. as Zolo's Men
  • Richard Drown as Zolo's Men
  • Joe Finnegan as Zolo's Men
  • Jimmy Medearis as Zolo's Men
  • Jeff Ramsey as Zolo's Men
  • Pablo Guisa Koestinger as Child in Plaza
  • Lorna Lable as Vendor
  • Jos Laniado as Juan Alvarez (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 95

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 242
3 to 491
5 to 670
7 to 839
9 to 10160
11 to 1262
13 to 1400
15 to 1600
17 to 1800
19 to 2070
21 to 2234
23 to 241617
25 to 261340
27 to 28411
29 to 3067
31 to 3202
33 to 34615
35 to 36712
37 to 381418
39 to 40823
41 to 4202
43 to 4401
45 to 4602
47 to 4806
49 to 5000
51 to 5218
53 to 5400
55 to 5610
57 to 5801
59 to 6015
61 to 6203
63 to 6402
65 to 6639
67 to 6876
69 to 7057
71 to 7247
73 to 7402
75 to 7624
77 to 7822
79 to 801222
81 to 8200
83 to 8443
85 to 8600
87 to 881212
89 to 9010
91 to 9200
93 to 941435
95 to 9556

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.
JOAN: I'm sorry to bother you. DRIVER: Que? JOAN: What time do we arrive in Cartagena? Uh que hora -- JOAN: Yes -- si am I on the right bus?
JOAN: Let me see Elaine. ELAINE: Joan?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 40 are women's.

203 lines from women, 308 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 22 men in the cast. 6 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 563. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 17 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 33% of the words (2,161), men 67% (4,354). Women have 40% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

5 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 31% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Robert Zemeckis (man)
Written by
Diane Thomas (woman)
Produced by
Michael Douglas (man), Treva Silverman (woman)
Shot by
Dean Cundey (man)
Edited by
Donn Cambern (man), Frank Morriss (man)
Music by
Alan Silvestri (man)
Production design by
Lawrence G. Paull (man)
Costumes by
Marilyn Vance (woman)
Cast by
Karen Rea (woman), Claudia Becker (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    0 women, 7 men, 4 not listed

  • Other crew

    3 women, 5 men

  • Production

    3 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 0 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 45 on average. Men: 45 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Kathleen Turner 29, Mary Ellen Trainor 31, Holland Taylor 41, Eve Smith 78

Men

Michael Douglas 39, Danny DeVito 39, Zack Norman 43, Manuel Ojeda 43, Alfonso Arau 52, Joe Nesnow 52

Exhibit H: the money

It made 8.7 times what it cost.

Budget
$10 million
Box office
$86.6 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 95 scenes and 563 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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