Fails the Bechdel test
Silverado
1985. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, written by Lawrence Kasdan and Mark Kasdan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
7 women characters. 6 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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
In 1880, four men travel together to the city of Silverado. They come across many dangers before they finally engage the "bad guys" and bring peace and equality back to the city.
- Released
- 10 Jul 1985
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Western
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 1 win & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Paden 80 lines, man
- Emmett 67 lines, man
- Cobb 44 lines, man
- Jake 28 lines, man
- Mal 27 lines, man
- Stella 26 lines, woman
- Langston 16 lines, man
- Hannah 13 lines, woman
- Hobart 11 lines, man
- Rae 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 41 people
- Kevin Kline as Paden
- Scott Glenn as Emmett
- Danny Glover as Malachi 'Mal' Johnson
- Kevin Costner as Jake
- Brian Dennehy as Cobb
- Rosanna Arquette as Hannah
- John Cleese as Sheriff John T. Langston
- Linda Hunt as Stella
- Jeff Goldblum as Slick
- Ray Baker as McKendrick
- Lynn Whitfield as Rae
- Joe Seneca as Ezra
- Jeff Fahey as Tyree
- Brad Leland as Trooper (as Brad Williams)
- Marvin J. McIntyre as Clerk
- Sheb Wooley as Cavalry Sergeant
- Jon Kasdan as Boy at Outpost
- Todd Allen as Deputy Kern
- Kenny Call as Deputy Block
- Bill Thurman as Carter
- Meg Kasdan as Barmaid
- Dick Durock as Bar Fighter
- Gene Hartline as Bar Fighter
- Autry Ward as Hat Thief
- Jake Kasdan as Stable Boy
- Rusty Meyers as Conrad
- Zeke Davidson as Mr. Parker
- Lois Geary as Mrs. Parker
- James Gammon as Dawson
- Troy Ward as Baxter
- Roy McAdams as Tall outlaw
- Patricia Gaul as Kate
- Amanda Wyss as Phoebe
- Earl Hindman as J.T.
- Thomas Wilson Brown as Augie
- Jim Haynie as Bradley
- Richard Jenkins as Kelly
- Ken Farmer as Deputy Kyle
- Sam Gauny as Deputy Garth
- Brion James as Hobart
- Richard Lester as Saloon Patron (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 164
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 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 11 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 15 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 28 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 55 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 6 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 6 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 10 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 12 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 4 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 6 |
| 45 to 48 | 1 | 11 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 0 |
| 53 to 56 | 6 | 21 |
| 57 to 60 | 12 | 19 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 3 |
| 65 to 68 | 4 | 36 |
| 69 to 72 | 11 | 27 |
| 73 to 76 | 1 | 22 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 4 |
| 81 to 84 | 3 | 3 |
| 85 to 88 | 4 | 15 |
| 89 to 92 | 1 | 2 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 100 | 1 | 0 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 6 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 3 | 3 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 3 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 2 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 1 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 1 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 1 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 2 | 4 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 0 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 0 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 4 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 164 | 3 | 7 |
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, 14 are women's.
57 lines from women, 355 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
7 women and 32 men in the cast. 6 women and 27 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 59 of 444.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 110 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 (734), men 87% (5,050). Women have 14% 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
53
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Lawrence Kasdan (man)
- Written by
- Lawrence Kasdan (man), Mark Kasdan (man)
- Produced by
- Lawrence Kasdan (man)
- Shot by
- John Bailey (man)
- Edited by
- Carol Littleton (woman)
- Music by
- Bruce Broughton (man)
- Production design by
- Ida Random (woman)
- Costumes by
- Kristi Zea (woman)
- Cast by
- Wallis Nicita (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
8 women, 26 men, 16 not listed
-
Sound
4 women, 18 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 8 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
3 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Rosanna Arquette 25, Linda Hunt 40
Men
Kevin Costner 30, Jeff Goldblum 32, Kevin Kline 37, Ray Baker 37, Danny Glover 38, John Cleese 45, Scott Glenn 46, Brian Dennehy 47
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $23 million
- Box office
- $32.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 164 scenes and 444 lines of dialogue. How the test works
