Passes the Bechdel test
The American President
1995. Directed by Rob Reiner, written by Aaron Sorkin.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
20 women characters. 13 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 108. -
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.
The film
Andrew Shepherd is approaching the end of his first term as President of the United States. He's a widower with a young daughter and has proved to be popular with the public. His election seems assured. That is until he meets Sydney Ellen Wade, a paid political activist working for an environmental lobby group. He's immediately smitten with her and after several amusing attempts, they finally manage to go on a date (which happens to be a State dinner for the visiting President of France). His relationship with Wade opens the door for his prime political opponent, Senator Bob Rumson, to launch an attack on the President's character, something he could not do in the previous election as Shepherd's wife had only recently died.
- Released
- 17 Nov 1995
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 1 win & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Shepherd 489 lines, man
- Sydney 276 lines, woman
- Lewis 97 lines, man
- Lucy 66 lines, woman
- Robin 51 lines, woman
- Janie 46 lines, woman
- Kodak 39 lines, man
- Rumson 27 lines, man
- Beth 23 lines, woman
- Leo 21 lines, man
Full cast, 82 people
- Michael Douglas as Andrew Shepherd
- Annette Bening as Sydney Ellen Wade
- Martin Sheen as A.J. MacInerney
- Michael J. Fox as Lewis Rothschild
- Anna Deavere Smith as Robin McCall
- Samantha Mathis as Janie Basdin
- Shawna Waldron as Lucy Shepherd
- David Paymer as Leon Kodak
- Anne Haney as Mrs. Chapil
- Richard Dreyfuss as Senator Rumson
- Nina Siemaszko as Beth Wade
- Wendie Malick as Susan Sloan
- Beau Billingslea as Agent Cooper
- Gail Strickland as Esther MacInerney
- Joshua Malina as David
- Clement von Franckenstein as President D'Astier
- Efrat Lavie as Madame D'Astier
- John Mahoney as Leo Solomon
- Taylor Nichols as Stu
- John Mahon as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs
- Tom Dahlgren as Defense Secretary
- Ralph Meyering Jr. as General
- Kurt A. Boesen as Security Advisor
- Joseph Latimore as Secret Service Agent
- Darryl Alan Reed as Secret Service Agent
- Andrew Steel as Secret Service Agent
- Jordan Lund as Carl
- Richard McGonagle as Rumson Staffer
- Frank Cavestani as Rumson Staffer
- Richard Stahl as Rumson Staffer
- Alice Kushida as Carol
- Renee Faia as Lisa
- Beans Morocco as Doorkeeper
- Kathryn Ish as Education Secretary
- Kamilah Martin as Flower Girl
- Augie Blunt as Groundskeeper
- Thom Barry as Guard
- Steven Gonzalez as Hud Secretary
- Gabriel Jarret as Jeff
- Karen Maruyama as Leo's Secretary
- Nancy Kandal as Leslie
- George Murdock as Congressman
- Bernie McInerney as Congressman Millman
- Jack Gilroy as Congressman Pennybaker
- Matthew Saks as Congressional Staffer
- Googy Gress as Gil
- Ron Canada as Reporter Lloyd
- Brian Pietro as Reporter
- Rick Garcia as Reporter
- Aaron Sorkin as Aide in Bar
- Kymberly Newberry as Sally
- Greg Poland as Mark
- Leslie Bega as White House Staffer Laura (as Leslie Rae Bega)
- Jennifer Crystal Foley as White House Staffer Maria
- Arthur Senzy as Deputy
- Nick Toth as White House Aide
- Jorge Noa as White House Aide
- Maud Winchester as White House Aide
- Jeffrey Anderson as T.V. News Anchorman
- Suzanne Michaels as T.V. News Anchorwoman
- Mark Thompson as Kenneth Michaels
- David Drew Gallagher as New Guy
- Todd Odom as Uniformed Secret Service Agent
- Michael G. Alexander as Color Guard Officer
- Anthony Backman as Senator from Arizona (uncredited)
- Rose Barrett as Reporter #4 (uncredited)
- Faith Burton as Reporter (uncredited)
- Jan Citron as Lobbyist Banquet (uncredited)
- Arthur Eckdahl as TV Anchor (uncredited)
- Roger Ferreira as Congressman (uncredited)
- Star Halm as White House State Dinner Guest (uncredited)
- Betty Hankins as White House State Dinner Guest (uncredited)
- Gorja Max as Political Assistant (uncredited)
- Mark Norris as Reporter (uncredited)
- Sherry O’Keefe as White House State Dinner Guest (uncredited)
- Roger Steffens as Radio Announcer (voice) (uncredited)
- Helen Thomas as Helen Thomas (uncredited)
- Ray Uhler as Senator (uncredited)
- Michael Wajacs as White House State Dinner Guest (uncredited)
- Mark Watson as Secret Service Agent (uncredited)
- Janet Dey as Banquet Attendee (uncredited)
- Françoise Ruggieri as State Dinner Attendee (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 108
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 | 7 | 20 |
| 4 to 6 | 17 | 48 |
| 7 to 9 | 16 | 14 |
| 10 to 12 | 16 | 31 |
| 13 to 15 | 30 | 13 |
| 16 to 18 | 18 | 44 |
| 19 to 21 | 22 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 13 | 22 |
| 25 to 27 | 3 | 4 |
| 28 to 30 | 20 | 13 |
| 31 to 33 | 20 | 22 |
| 34 to 36 | 17 | 25 |
| 37 to 39 | 40 | 41 |
| 40 to 42 | 19 | 4 |
| 43 to 45 | 12 | 15 |
| 46 to 48 | 10 | 33 |
| 49 to 51 | 6 | 14 |
| 52 to 54 | 26 | 5 |
| 55 to 57 | 46 | 58 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 3 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 1 |
| 67 to 69 | 9 | 19 |
| 70 to 72 | 9 | 23 |
| 73 to 75 | 10 | 18 |
| 76 to 78 | 4 | 9 |
| 79 to 81 | 11 | 14 |
| 82 to 84 | 22 | 38 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 6 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 9 |
| 91 to 93 | 15 | 19 |
| 94 to 96 | 6 | 47 |
| 97 to 99 | 16 | 10 |
| 100 to 102 | 11 | 28 |
| 103 to 105 | 19 | 37 |
| 106 to 108 | 17 | 30 |
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.
SYDNEY: This isn't happening to me. BETH: What's going on? SYDNEY: It's not possible I did this twice in one day.
ROBIN: Does this have something to do with Sydney Wade? JANIE: I'm really not at liberty to say.
LUCY: It was nice meeting you, Mrs.-- SYDNEY: Sydney. LUCY: It was nice meeting you, Sydney. SYDNEY: Thank you. It was nice meeting you.
LUCY: I love you, too. SYDNEY: She's wonderful.
ROBIN: We need a diversion. SYDNEY: A diversion. ROBIN: You understand that by diversion I'm not saying we set the White House on fire.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 41 are women's.
509 lines from women, 747 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
20 women and 46 men in the cast. 13 women and 28 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 1,285.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 32 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 35% of the words (5,264), men 65% (9,763). Women have 41% 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
27
Two men
48
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 33% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rob Reiner (man)
- Written by
- Aaron Sorkin (man)
- Produced by
- Rob Reiner (man)
- Shot by
- John Seale (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Leighton (man)
- Music by
- Marc Shaiman (man)
- Production design by
- Lilly Kilvert (woman)
- Costumes by
- Gloria Gresham (woman)
- Cast by
- Jane Jenkins (woman), Janet Hirshenson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Shawna Waldron 13, Samantha Mathis 25, Annette Bening 37, Anna Deavere Smith 45, Anne Haney 61
Men
Michael J. Fox 34, David Paymer 41, Richard Dreyfuss 48, Michael Douglas 51, Martin Sheen 55
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $62 million
- Box office
- $108 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 108 scenes and 1,285 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
