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Passes the Bechdel test

Silver Bullet

1985. Directed by Daniel Attias, written by Stephen King.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    6 women characters. 7 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 2 scenes out of 509.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

Poster for Silver Bullet

The film

The small town of Tarker's Mills was a place that was very peaceful, where nothing extraordinary ever happened until one night when murders began. The townspeople believe it's some maniacal killer on the loose whom they intend to hunt down. Marty, a young handicapped boy, believes the killer is no man at all, but a werewolf. After a run-in with the werewolf, Marty and his sister Jane hunt all over town for the man who is the werewolf.

Released
11 Oct 1985
Genres
Horror
Rated
R
IMDb
6.4 / 10
Metascore
26 / 100
Awards
2 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Marty 138 lines, man
  2. Uncle Al 109 lines, man
  3. Jane 102 lines, woman
  4. Sound 35 lines
  5. Lowe 33 lines, man
  6. Haller 25 lines, man
  7. Andy 24 lines, man
  8. Nan 20 lines, woman
  9. Herb 19 lines, man
  10. Tammy 17 lines, woman
Full cast, 37 people
  • Gary Busey as Uncle Red
  • Everett McGill as Reverend Lowe
  • Tovah Feldshuh as Older Jane (voice)
  • Megan Follows as Jane Coslaw
  • Corey Haim as Marty Coslaw
  • Terry O'Quinn as Sheriff Joe Haller
  • Robin Groves as Nan Coslaw
  • Leon Russom as Bob Coslaw
  • Bill Smitrovich as Andy Fairton
  • Joe Wright as Brady Kincaid
  • Kent Broadhurst as Herb Kincaid
  • Heather Simmons as Tammy Sturmfuller
  • James A. Baffico as Milt Sturmfuller
  • Rebecca Fleming as Mrs. Sturmfuller
  • Lawrence Tierney as Owen Knopfler
  • William Newman as Virgil Cuts
  • Sam Stoneburner as Mayor O'Banion
  • Laurens Moore as Billy McLaren (as Lonnie Moore)
  • Rick Pasotto as Aspinall
  • Cassidy Eckert as Girl
  • Wendy Walker as Stella Randolph
  • Michael Lague as Stella's Boyfriend
  • Myra Mailloux as Stella's Mother
  • William Brown as Bobby Robertson
  • Herb Harton as Elmer Zinneman
  • David Hart as Pete Sylvester
  • Graham Smith as Porter Zinneman
  • Paul Butler as Edgar Rounds
  • Crystal Field as Maggie Andrews
  • Julius LeFlore as Smokey
  • Roxanne Aalam as Uncle Red's Girl
  • Pearl Jones as Mrs. Thayer
  • Ish Jones Jr. as Mr. Thayer
  • Steven White as Outfielder
  • Conrad McLaren as Mac
  • James Gammon as Arnie Westrum
  • Laura Warner as Towns Girl (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 11 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 509

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 1105
12 to 2224
23 to 3368
34 to 4419
45 to 55126
56 to 6699
67 to 7777
78 to 8821
89 to 991117
100 to 110616
111 to 1211321
122 to 13212
133 to 143319
144 to 15416
155 to 165518
166 to 176015
177 to 187036
188 to 198011
199 to 209112
210 to 220111
221 to 23114
232 to 242331
243 to 25308
254 to 264126
265 to 27502
276 to 28602
287 to 29701
298 to 30801
309 to 3191513
320 to 33075
331 to 34131
342 to 35269
353 to 363721
364 to 374110
375 to 38502
386 to 39601
397 to 40702
408 to 41806
419 to 429322
430 to 4401831
441 to 45127
452 to 462310
463 to 47302
474 to 48402
485 to 49514
496 to 50658
507 to 50920

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.
NAN: I want you two to bury the hatchet. You're being very silly, Jane. JANE: Did you see my knees?
JANE: If you don't stop it I'm going to vomit. I mean it. NAN: You're not going to vomit, Jane. And I think we've all had quite enough of this horror-movie talk.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 26 are women's.

159 lines from women, 464 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 18 men in the cast. 7 women and 25 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 12 of 676. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 70 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 26% of the words (1,766), men 74% (4,969).

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

1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 12% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Dan Attias (man)
Written by
Stephen King (man)
From the novel by
Stephen King (man)
Produced by
Martha De Laurentiis (woman), Dino De Laurentiis (man)
Shot by
Armando Nannuzzi (man)
Edited by
Daniel Loewenthal (man), Tommy Dorsett (gender not listed)
Music by
Jay Chattaway (man)
Production design by
Giorgio Postiglione (man)
Costumes by
Clifford Capone (man)
Cast by
Jeremy Ritzer (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    2 women, 9 men, 3 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 7 men, 3 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 3 men, 4 not listed

  • Production

    1 women, 5 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 4 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 3 men

  • Editing

    1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 3 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 31 on average. Men: 35 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Megan Follows 17, Tovah Feldshuh 36, Robin Groves 40

Men

Corey Haim 13, Terry O'Quinn 33, Bill Smitrovich 38, Everett McGill 39, Gary Busey 41, Leon Russom 43

Exhibit H: the money

It made 1.8 times what it cost.

Budget
$7 million
Box office
$12.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 509 scenes and 676 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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