Fails the Bechdel test
Soylent Green
1973. Directed by Richard Fleischer, written by Stanley R. Greenberg and Harry Harrison.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
18 women characters. 14 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
In 2022, Earth is overpopulated and totally polluted; the natural resources have been exhausted, and the nourishment of the population is provided by Soylent Industries, a company that makes a food consisting of plankton from the oceans. In New York City, when Soylent's member of the board, William R. Simonson, is murdered, apparently by a burglar at the Chelsea Towers West where he lives, efficient Detective Thorn is assigned to investigate the case with his partner Solomon "Sol" Roth. Thorn comes to the fancy apartment and meets Simonson's bodyguard Tab Fielding and the "furniture" (woman that is rented together with the flat) Shirl and the detective concludes that the executive was not a burglary victim but executed. Further, he finds that the Governor Santini and other powerful men want to disrupt and end Thorn's investigation. But Thorn continues his work and discovers a bizarre, disturbing secret of the ingredient used to manufacture Soylent Green.
- Released
- 09 May 1973
- Genres
- Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Thorn 264 lines, man
- Shirl 94 lines, woman
- Sol 61 lines, man
- Hatcher 40 lines, man
- Tab 30 lines, man
- Martha 18 lines, woman
- Charles 15 lines, man
- Donovan 11 lines, man
- Priest 11 lines, man
- Simonson 10 lines, man
Full cast, 43 people
- Charlton Heston as Detective Robert Thorn
- Leigh Taylor-Young as Shirl
- Chuck Connors as Tab Fielding
- Joseph Cotten as William R. Simonson
- Brock Peters as Chief Hatcher
- Paula Kelly as Martha Phillips
- Edward G. Robinson as Sol Roth
- Stephen Young as Gilbert
- Mike Henry as Kulozik
- Lincoln Kilpatrick as The Priest
- Roy Jenson as Donovan
- Leonard Stone as Charles
- Whit Bissell as Gov. Santini
- Celia Lovsky as The Exchange Leader
- Dick Van Patten as Usher #1
- Morgan Farley as Book #1
- John Barclay as Book #2
- Belle Mitchell as Book #3
- Cyril Delevanti as Book #4
- Faith Quabius as Attendant
- Jane Dulo as Mrs. Santini
- John Dennis as Wagner
- Jan Bradley as Bandana Woman
- Carlos Romero as New Tenant
- Pat Houtchens as Fat Guard
- Joyce Williams as The Furniture Girls
- Erica Hagen as The Furniture Girls
- Beverly Gill as The Furniture Girls
- Suesie Eejima as The Furniture Girls
- Cheri Howell as The Furniture Girls
- Kathy Silva as The Furniture Girls
- Jennifer King as The Furniture Girls
- Marion Charles as The Furniture Girls
- Molly Dodd as Soylent Yellow Seller (uncredited)
- Gwen Farrell as Woman in Confessional Line (uncredited)
- Bern Hoffman as Plastics Seller (uncredited)
- Robert Ito as Shoe Seller (uncredited)
- Nora Marlowe as Soylent Crumbs Seller (uncredited)
- Ida Mae McKenzie as Woman Calling for Revolution (uncredited)
- Richard Sterne as TV Announcer (uncredited)
- Jeff Winkless as Suicide Parlor Attendant (uncredited)
- Tim Herbert as Brady
- Forrest Wood as Attendent
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 110
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 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 20 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 32 |
| 13 to 15 | 1 | 5 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 17 |
| 19 to 21 | 2 | 29 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 4 |
| 25 to 27 | 27 | 64 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 18 |
| 31 to 33 | 2 | 47 |
| 34 to 36 | 17 | 14 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 16 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 35 |
| 43 to 45 | 39 | 57 |
| 46 to 48 | 2 | 26 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 18 |
| 52 to 54 | 4 | 11 |
| 55 to 57 | 1 | 6 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 18 |
| 61 to 63 | 5 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 16 | 15 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 4 |
| 70 to 72 | 5 | 3 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 11 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 17 |
| 82 to 84 | 4 | 5 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 7 | 12 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 2 |
| 109 to 110 | 0 | 10 |
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, 21 are women's.
142 lines from women, 529 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
18 women and 21 men in the cast. 14 women and 34 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 54 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 19% of the words (1,145), men 81% (4,808). Women have 21% 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
48
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Richard Fleischer (man)
- Written by
- Stanley R. Greenberg (man)
- From the novel by
- Harry Harrison (man)
- Produced by
- Walter Seltzer (man), Russell Thacher (man)
- Shot by
- Richard H. Kline (man)
- Edited by
- Samuel E. Beetley (man)
- Music by
- Fred Myrow (man)
- Costumes by
- Pat Barto (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Jack Baur (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
2 women, 5 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 4 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men
-
Sound
0 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 50 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Leigh Taylor-Young 28, Paula Kelly 29
Men
Stephen Young 33, Mike Henry 36, Lincoln Kilpatrick 41, Brock Peters 45, Charlton Heston 49, Chuck Connors 52, Joseph Cotten 67, Edward G. Robinson 79
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $3.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 110 scenes and 720 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
