Passes the Bechdel test
Super Mario Bros.
1993. Directed by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, written by Parker Bennett and Terry Runte and Ed Solomon.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 112. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Can you make a movie out of a video game? That's the question that is answered by this film. Mario Mario and Luigi Mario, two hard working plumbers find themselves in an alternate universe where evolved dinosaurs live in medium hi-tech squalor. They find themselves the only hope to save the Earth from invasion.
- Released
- 28 May 1993
- Genres
- Adventure, Comedy, Family
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 4.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 35 / 100
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Luigi 142 lines, man
- Mario 137 lines, man
- Koopa 66 lines, man
- Daisy 61 lines, woman
- Spike 33 lines, man
- Iggy 31 lines, man
- Lena 24 lines, woman
- Daniella 21 lines, woman
- Simon 12 lines, man
- Kcopa 10 lines
Full cast, 52 people
- Bob Hoskins as Mario Mario
- John Leguizamo as Luigi Mario
- Dennis Hopper as King Koopa
- Samantha Mathis as Daisy
- Fisher Stevens as Iggy
- Richard Edson as Spike
- Fiona Shaw as Lena
- Dana Kaminski as Daniella
- Mojo Nixon as Toad
- Gianni Russo as Scapelli
- Francesca P. Roberts as Bertha
- Lance Henriksen as The King
- Sylvia Harman as Old Lady
- Desiree Marie Velez as Angelica
- Andrea Powell as Brooklyn Girl
- Heather Pendergast as Brooklyn Girl
- Melanie Salvatore as Brooklyn Girl
- John Fifer as Goomba Toad
- Don Lake as Sgt. Simon
- Terry Finn as Hatcheck Girl
- Thomas Merdis as Goomba
- Michael Harding as Goomba
- Michael Lynch as Goomba
- Scott Mactavish as Goomba
- Wallace Merck as Goomba
- Mona B. Fierro as Nun
- Karen Brigman as Nun
- Christi K. Work as Nun
- Joy Reese as Nun
- Lucy Alpaugh as Nun
- Robert D. Raiford as T.V. Announcer
- Harry S. Murphy as Reporter #1
- Patt Noday as Reporter #2
- Robert Lee Edwards as Scapelli Bodyguard
- Ronald Lou Edwards as Scapelli Bodyguard
- Matthew Zachary Hopkins as Pizza Delivery Boy
- Robert Priester as Egon
- Preston Lane as James
- Jim Asaki as Japanese Businessman #1
- Matt Nikko as Japanese Businessman #2
- Kevin West as Devo Controller
- Jeffrey Pillars as Devo Technician
- Frank Welker as Creatures (voice)
- Dan Castellaneta as Narrator (voice)
- Fred Folger as Goomba (uncredited)
- David Kraus as Singing Waiter (uncredited)
- Ronnie Jay Leipold as Crazed Lunatic (uncredited)
- Alan McCoy as Devo Technician (uncredited)
- Mark Jeffrey Miller as Vendor (uncredited)
- Carlene Moore as Prostitute (uncredited)
- Neil Riddaway as Brooklyn Girl (uncredited)
- Joe West as Archaeology Student (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 16% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 112
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 5 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 20 |
| 10 to 12 | 2 | 16 |
| 13 to 15 | 9 | 30 |
| 16 to 18 | 8 | 12 |
| 19 to 21 | 17 | 22 |
| 22 to 24 | 3 | 17 |
| 25 to 27 | 1 | 8 |
| 28 to 30 | 3 | 32 |
| 31 to 33 | 9 | 29 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 18 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 19 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 13 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 15 |
| 46 to 48 | 4 | 17 |
| 49 to 51 | 9 | 5 |
| 52 to 54 | 10 | 25 |
| 55 to 57 | 1 | 34 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 5 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 9 |
| 64 to 66 | 6 | 7 |
| 67 to 69 | 7 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 10 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 0 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 15 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 6 | 16 |
| 85 to 87 | 5 | 8 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 1 |
| 94 to 96 | 7 | 21 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 5 | 5 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 1 |
| 109 to 111 | 3 | 6 |
| 112 to 112 | 0 | 6 |
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.
DAISY: Actually... I don’t take it off. I know it’s weird, but it’s the only thing I’ve got from when I was found. DANIELLA: I’m sorry? Found? DAISY: I was abandened. I was brought up in St. Teresa’s on Fulton Street.
DAISY: You can’t keep us here. LENA: Trust me, I don’t want you here either. DANIELLA: Are you here to help us? & ~ LENA: Hardly. Let me guess... which one is Princess Daisy? :
LENA: It's mine! I've earned the power! DANIELLA: Hey -- that's where we came through!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 22 are women's.
123 lines from women, 448 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 20 men in the cast. 8 women and 24 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 43 of 676.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 64 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 18% of the words (1,107), men 82% (5,038). Women have 22% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
8
Two men
62
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 28% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rocky Morton (man), Annabel Jankel (woman)
- Written by
- Parker Bennett (man), Terry Runte (man), Ed Solomon (man)
- Produced by
- Jake Eberts (man), Roland Joffé (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Semler (man)
- Edited by
- Mark Goldblatt (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Production design by
- David L. Snyder (man)
- Costumes by
- Joseph A. Porro (man)
- Cast by
- Don Finn (gender not listed), Mali Finn (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
6 women, 14 men, 7 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 2 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 5 men
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Samantha Mathis 23, Fiona Shaw 34
Men
Fisher Stevens 29, John Leguizamo 32, Mojo Nixon 35, Richard Edson 39, Gianni Russo 49, Bob Hoskins 50, Dennis Hopper 57
Exhibit H: the money
It made 44% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $48 million
- Box office
- $20.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 112 scenes and 676 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
