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Passes the Bechdel test

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

1984. Directed by W.D. Richter, written by Earl Mac Rauch.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    4 women characters. 5 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 242.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

The film

Brain surgeon, rock musician, adventurer Buckaroo Banzai is a modern renaissance man and has made scientific history. He perfected the Oscillation Overthruster, which allows him to travel through solid matter by using the eighth dimension. But when his sworn enemy Dr. Emilio Lizardo devises a plot to steal the device and bring an evil army back to destroy Earth, Buckaroo goes cranium to cranium with the madman in a battle that could spell doom for the universe. Along with his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo must stop the evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer our dimension. He is helped by Penny Priddy, the long-lost twin sister of his late wife, and some good extra-dimensional beings who look and talk like they are from Jamaica.

Released
05 Oct 1984
Genres
Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Rated
PG
IMDb
6.2 / 10
Metascore
70 / 100
Awards
5 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Buckaroo Banzai 156 lines, man
  2. Perfect Tommy 57 lines, man
  3. Penny Priddy 54 lines, woman
  4. Rawhide 41 lines, man
  5. Prof. Hikita 38 lines, man
  6. Secretary Of Defense 38 lines, man
  7. Reno 37 lines, man
  8. Doctor Lizardo 27 lines, man
  9. President Widmark 22 lines, man
  10. General Catburd 20 lines, man
Full cast, 36 people
  • Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai
  • John Lithgow as Lord John Whorfin
  • Ellen Barkin as Penny Priddy
  • Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey
  • Christopher Lloyd as John Bigboote
  • Lewis Smith as Perfect Tommy
  • Rosalind Cash as John Emdall
  • Robert Ito as Professor Hikita
  • Pepe Serna as Reno Nevada
  • Ronald Lacey as President Widmark
  • Matt Clark as Secretary of Defense
  • Clancy Brown as Rawhide
  • William Traylor as General Catburd
  • Carl Lumbly as John Parker
  • Vincent Schiavelli as John O'Connor
  • Dan Hedaya as John Gomez
  • Mariclare Costello as Senator Cunningham
  • Bill Henderson as Casper Lindley
  • Damon Hines as Scooter Lindley
  • Billy Vera as Pinky Carruthers
  • Laura Harrington as Mrs. Johnson
  • Michael Santoro as Billy Travers
  • Jonathan Banks as Lizardo Hospital Guard
  • Robert Gray as Radar Blazer
  • Gary Bisig as Radar Blazer
  • Kent Perkins as Mission Control
  • John Ashton as Highway Patrolman
  • Ken Magee as Duck Hunter Burt
  • James Keane as Duck Hunter Bubba
  • Yakov Smirnoff as National Security Advisor
  • Leonard Gaines as Artie Duncan
  • Francine Lembi as TV Anchorwoman
  • John Walter Davis as Star Surgeon
  • Read Morgan as Exhibitor
  • James Rosin as John Yaya
  • Sam Minsky as Kolodny Brother

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 242

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 605
7 to 1209
13 to 18015
19 to 2415
25 to 3015
31 to 3603
37 to 4219
43 to 4805
49 to 5402
55 to 60018
61 to 66962
67 to 721547
73 to 78415
79 to 8406
85 to 9007
91 to 96316
97 to 102024
103 to 108213
109 to 11439
115 to 120714
121 to 126020
127 to 132218
133 to 1382634
139 to 144012
145 to 150131
151 to 156023
157 to 162222
163 to 168432
169 to 174017
175 to 180029
181 to 18608
187 to 19204
193 to 198013
199 to 20407
205 to 21005
211 to 21603
217 to 22209
223 to 22804
229 to 23402
235 to 240019
241 to 24216

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.
SENATOR CUNNINGHAM: Arachtoids? PENNY PRIDDY: Is this the kind of society you want? A society of weak-kneed jellyfish wallowing in self-pity, prey to ruthless hoodlums who pick us off li… SENATOR CUNNINGHAM: Or a society where we stand strong, take charge of our own destiny, with the cry "So far and no farther will we be pushed!"

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 12 are women's.

82 lines from women, 607 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

4 women and 30 men in the cast. 5 women and 45 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 45 of 736. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 136 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 14% of the words (1,085), men 86% (6,821). Women have 12% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
W.D. Richter (man)
Written by
Earl Mac Rauch (man)
Produced by
Neil Canton (man), W.D. Richter (man)
Shot by
Fred J. Koenekamp (man)
Edited by
George Bowers (man), Richard Marks (man)
Music by
Michael Boddicker (gender not listed)
Production design by
J. Michael Riva (man)
Costumes by
Aggie Guerard Rodgers (woman)
Cast by
Terry Liebling (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    2 women, 9 men, 3 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 9 men, 1 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 6 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

  • Editing

    1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 38 on average. Men: 40 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Ellen Barkin 30, Rosalind Cash 45

Men

Lewis Smith 28, Jeff Goldblum 31, Peter Weller 37, John Lithgow 38, Pepe Serna 40, Christopher Lloyd 45, Ronald Lacey 48, Robert Ito 53

Exhibit H: the money

It made 37% of what it cost.

Budget
$17 million
Box office
$6.3 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 242 scenes and 736 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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