Fails the Bechdel test

Sling Blade

Name: Sling Blade
Released: 1997

1997. Directed by Billy Bob Thornton, written by Billy Bob Thornton.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

2 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
4 women characters. 3 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

A partially handicapped man named Karl is released from a mental hospital, about 20 years after murdering his mother and another person. Karl is often questioned if he will ever kill again, and he shrugs in response saying there is no reason to. Now out of the mental institution, Karl settles in his old, small hometown, occupying himself by fixing motors. After meeting a young boy named Frank, who befriends him, Karl is invited to stay at Frank's house with his mother Linda, who views Karl as a strange but kind and generous man. However, Linda's abusive boyfriend, Doyle, sees things differently in the way rules ought to be run- normally insulting Linda's homosexual friend Vaughan as well as Karl's disabilities, and having wild parties with his friends. As Karl's relationship with Frank grows, he is watchful of Doyle's cruel actions.

Released: 14 Mar 1997
Genres: Drama
Rated: R
IMDb: 8 / 10
Metascore: 85 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 14 wins & 15 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Karl 222 lines, man
Frank 145 lines, man
Doyle 84 lines, man
Linda 81 lines, woman
Woolridge 66 lines, man
Vaughan 57 lines, man
Bill 40 lines, man
Marsha 23 lines
Boy 14 lines, man
Melinda 12 lines, woman

Full cast, 32 people

Billy Bob Thornton as Karl Childers
Dwight Yoakam as Doyle Hargraves
J.T. Walsh as Charles Bushman
John Ritter as Vaughan Cunningham
Lucas Black as Frank Wheatley
Natalie Canerday as Linda Wheatley
James Hampton as Jerry Woolridge
Robert Duvall as Karl's Father
Rick Dial as Bill Cox
Brent Briscoe as Scooter Hodges
Christine Renee Ward as Melinda
Sarah Boss as Marsha Dwiggins
Kathy Sue Brown as Theresa Evans
Wendell Rafferty as Melvin
Bruce Hampton as Morris
Vic Chesnutt as Terence
Mickey Jones as Monty Johnson
Ian Moore as Randy Horsefeathers
Judy Pryor Trice as Mrs. Woolridge
Scott Stewart as Bubba Woolridge
Betty Lynn Hall as Woolridge Daughter
Jim Jarmusch as Frostee Cream Boy
Gary Don Fletcher as Preacher
Tim Holder as Albert
Tom Kagy as Freddy
Stacy Thomason as Woodridge Secretary
Jackie Stewart as Walter
Jamie Stewart as Teenage Boy
D.J. Royston as Housekeeper
Lacy Bailey as Karen
Raymond Lewallen as Ticket Agent
Bill Glasscock as Old Man (voice)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 87

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 2	0	1
3 to 4	0	6
5 to 6	0	3
7 to 8	0	3
9 to 10	0	5
11 to 12	0	2
13 to 14	0	7
15 to 16	0	14
17 to 18	0	15
19 to 20	0	32
21 to 22	0	3
23 to 24	0	16
25 to 26	5	8
27 to 28	2	7
29 to 30	0	28
31 to 32	0	16
33 to 34	9	41
35 to 36	0	30
37 to 38	6	28
39 to 40	4	38
41 to 42	7	24
43 to 44	5	16
45 to 46	0	2
47 to 48	9	56
49 to 50	19	20
51 to 52	0	24
53 to 54	14	18
55 to 56	4	17
57 to 58	0	67
59 to 60	3	5
61 to 62	0	5
63 to 64	0	17
65 to 66	0	9
67 to 68	0	0
69 to 70	0	0
71 to 72	0	9
73 to 74	0	1
75 to 76	2	5
77 to 78	4	10
79 to 80	7	34
81 to 82	0	10
83 to 84	0	0
85 to 86	0	0
87 to 87	0	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, 13 are women's.

100 lines from women, 668 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

4 women and 14 men in the cast. 3 women and 11 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 142 of 828. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 141 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 10% of the words (1,463), men 90% (13,064). Women have 13% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Billy Bob Thornton (man)
Written by: Billy Bob Thornton (man)
Produced by: Brandon Rosser (man), David L. Bushell (man)
Shot by: Barry Markowitz (man)
Edited by: Hughes Winborne (man)
Music by: Daniel Lanois (man)
Production design by: Clark Hunter (man)
Costumes by: Doug Hall (man)
Cast by: Sarah Tackett (woman)

The crew, department by department

Art

1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
Production

1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
Directing

0 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
Writing

0 women, 2 men
Camera

0 women, 1 men
Other crew

0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
Editing

0 women, 1 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 34 on average. Men: 44 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Natalie Canerday 34

Men

Lucas Black 13, Brent Briscoe 35, Dwight Yoakam 39, Billy Bob Thornton 41, Rick Dial 41, John Ritter 47, J.T. Walsh 52, James Hampton 60, Robert Duvall 65

Exhibit G: the money

It made 28.4 times what it cost.

Budget: $1.2 million
Box office: $34.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 87 scenes and 828 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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