Passes the Bechdel test

The Accidental Tourist

Name: The Accidental Tourist
Released: 1989

1989. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, written by Anne Tyler and Frank Galati and Lawrence Kasdan.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
6 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 176.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

The film

After the death of his son, Macon Leary, a travel writer, seems to be sleep walking through life. Macon's wife, seems to be having trouble too, and thinks it would be best if the two would just split up. After the break up, Macon meets a strange outgoing woman, who seems to bring him back down to earth. After starting a relationship with the outgoing woman, Macon's wife seems to think that their marriage is still worth a try. Macon is then forced to deal many decisions

Released: 06 Jan 1989
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.7 / 10
Metascore: 52 / 100
Awards: Won 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 12 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Macon 509 lines, man
Muriel 215 lines, woman
Sarah 149 lines, woman
Julian 86 lines, man
Rose 51 lines, woman
Porter 30 lines, man
Charles 26 lines, man
Alexander 18 lines, man
Macon'Sv.O 13 lines, man
Mr. Loomis 11 lines, man

Full cast, 29 people

William Hurt as Macon Leary
Kathleen Turner as Sarah Leary
Geena Davis as Muriel Pritchett
Amy Wright as Rose Leary
David Ogden Stiers as Porter Leary
Ed Begley Jr. as Charles Leary
Bill Pullman as Julian Hedge
Robert Hy Gorman as Alexander
Bradley Mott as Lucas Loomis
Seth Granger as Ethan
Amanda Houck as Debbie
Caroline Houck as Dorrie
London Nelson as Caroline
Gregory Gouyer as Paris Boy
Bill Lee Brown as Morgue Detective #1
Donald Neal as Morgue Detective #2
Peggy Converse as Mrs. Barrett
Maureen Kerrigan as Laura Canfield
Jake Kasdan as Scott Canfield
Paul Williamson as London Hotel Manager
Walter Sparrow as Hot Dog Vendor
Todd J. Adelman as Macon's Doctor
Meg Kasdan as Receptionist
David Q. Combs as Minister
Jon Kasdan as Boy at Doctor's Office
Thomas Paolucci as Taunting Boy
Neana N. Collins as Taunting Girl
Roland Riallot as Paris Taxi Driver
Audrey Rapoport as Girl on Plane

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 176

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	26
5 to 8	14	13
9 to 12	0	0
13 to 16	7	8
17 to 20	16	15
21 to 24	0	4
25 to 28	15	14
29 to 32	0	19
33 to 36	10	10
37 to 40	4	22
41 to 44	3	50
45 to 48	4	20
49 to 52	34	16
53 to 56	22	45
57 to 60	32	39
61 to 64	2	0
65 to 68	0	4
69 to 72	0	4
73 to 76	20	39
77 to 80	20	29
81 to 84	8	4
85 to 88	8	9
89 to 92	5	7
93 to 96	0	27
97 to 100	3	16
101 to 104	0	35
105 to 108	2	31
109 to 112	21	19
113 to 116	16	17
117 to 120	18	18
121 to 124	7	5
125 to 128	8	0
129 to 132	13	15
133 to 136	5	6
137 to 140	1	23
141 to 144	15	10
145 to 148	0	0
149 to 152	15	12
153 to 156	12	11
157 to 160	17	15
161 to 164	7	6
165 to 168	19	13
169 to 172	29	29
173 to 176	0	4

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.

SARAH: Not really. ROSE: We're ready now. Sarah's my matron of honor, did I happen to mention that?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.

432 lines from women, 709 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

6 women and 13 men in the cast. 8 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 29 of 1,175. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 80 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 49% of the words (6,909), men 51% (7,284). Women have 38% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 29% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan (man)
Written by: Lawrence Kasdan (man), Frank Galati (man)
Produced by: Michael Grillo (man), Charles Okun (man), Lawrence Kasdan (man)
Shot by: John Bailey (man)
Edited by: Carol Littleton (woman)
Music by: John Williams (man)
Production design by: Bo Welch (man)
Costumes by: Ruth Myers (woman)
Cast by: Wallis Nicita (gender not listed)