Passes the Bechdel test
Someone to Watch Over Me
1987. Directed by Ridley Scott, written by Howard Franklin and Danilo Bach and David Seltzer.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 179. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
In Queens, Mike Keegan is celebrating with his wife Ellie, his son Tommy and friends his recent promotion to detective in a precinct in Manhattan. Meanwhile, in a fancy club, the socialite Claire Gregory witnesses the murder of the owner of the place by the powerful mobster Joey Venza. Mike is assigned to protect her in the night shift in her apartment in Manhattan. When Venza threatens Claire, the contact of Mike with Claire gets closer and conflicts him, dividing between the love for his family and the heat passion for Claire and the fascination for her world.
- Released
- 09 Oct 1987
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 55 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mike 284 lines, man
- Claire 141 lines, woman
- Ellie 87 lines, woman
- Garber 31 lines, man
- Neil 27 lines, man
- Tommy 25 lines, man
- Koontz 23 lines, man
- Venza 21 lines, man
- Win 20 lines, man
- Close On Mike 19 lines, man
Full cast, 19 people
- Tom Berenger as Det. Mike Keegan
- Mimi Rogers as Claire Gregory
- Lorraine Bracco as Ellie Keegan
- Jerry Orbach as Lt. Garber
- John Rubinstein as Neil Steinhart
- Andreas Katsulas as Joey Venza
- Tony DiBenedetto as T.J.
- James E. Moriarty as Koontz
- Mark Moses as Win Hockings
- Daniel Hugh Kelly as Scotty
- Harley Cross as Tommy Keegan
- Joanne Baron as Helen Greening
- Anthony Bishop as Waiter
- David Berman as Cop #1
- Sharon K. Brecke as Bimbo
- Meg Mundy as Antonia Voldt
- Harlan Cary Poe as Killer
- Marilyn Rockafellow as Marge
- Jack McGee as Bartender
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 179
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 | 7 | 8 |
| 5 to 8 | 9 | 9 |
| 9 to 12 | 5 | 9 |
| 13 to 16 | 2 | 7 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 4 |
| 21 to 24 | 1 | 9 |
| 25 to 28 | 4 | 33 |
| 29 to 32 | 7 | 18 |
| 33 to 36 | 2 | 11 |
| 37 to 40 | 4 | 7 |
| 41 to 44 | 5 | 8 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 5 |
| 49 to 52 | 12 | 15 |
| 53 to 56 | 5 | 5 |
| 57 to 60 | 10 | 6 |
| 61 to 64 | 14 | 15 |
| 65 to 68 | 1 | 2 |
| 69 to 72 | 2 | 13 |
| 73 to 76 | 38 | 34 |
| 77 to 80 | 10 | 13 |
| 81 to 84 | 2 | 11 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 3 |
| 89 to 92 | 9 | 18 |
| 93 to 96 | 4 | 6 |
| 97 to 100 | 6 | 9 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 1 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 3 |
| 109 to 112 | 9 | 8 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 17 | 14 |
| 121 to 124 | 2 | 2 |
| 125 to 128 | 4 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 3 | 8 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 0 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 1 |
| 145 to 148 | 5 | 20 |
| 149 to 152 | 4 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 5 | 6 |
| 157 to 160 | 3 | 26 |
| 161 to 164 | 8 | 3 |
| 165 to 168 | 10 | 17 |
| 169 to 172 | 6 | 21 |
| 173 to 176 | 1 | 17 |
| 177 to 179 | 13 | 35 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
HELEN: I'd like to tie her tits together. ELLIE: That wouldn't be too difficult.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.
254 lines from women, 467 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
5 women and 12 men in the cast. 7 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 9 of 755.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 36% of the words (2,391), men 64% (4,338). Women have 35% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
Two women
6
Two men
51
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Ridley Scott (man)
- Written by
- Danilo Bach (man), David Seltzer (man), Howard Franklin (man)
- Produced by
- Thierry de Ganay (man), Harold Schneider (man)
- Shot by
- Steven Poster (man)
- Edited by
- Claire Simpson (woman)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- James D. Bissell (man)
- Cast by
- Joy Todd (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 3 men
-
Art
1 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Mimi Rogers 31, Lorraine Bracco 33
Men
Mark Moses 29, Daniel Hugh Kelly 35, Tom Berenger 38, John Rubinstein 40, Andreas Katsulas 41, Tony DiBenedetto 43, Jerry Orbach 51
Exhibit H: the money
It made 60% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $17 million
- Box office
- $10.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 179 scenes and 755 lines of dialogue. How the test works
