Passes the Bechdel test
The Beguiled
1971. Directed by Don Siegel, written by Albert Maltz and Irene Kamp and Thomas Cullinan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 18 scenes out of 111. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
As the costly American Civil War still rages on, a twelve-year-old student of the forgotten Miss Martha Farnsworth's Seminary for Young Ladies in warm and humid Louisiana stumbles upon a gravely wounded Union soldier, Corporal John McBurney. Taken in to recover from his injuries, before long, McBurney will find himself imprisoned in a small room inside the mansion. Little by little, the seductive but unwanted guest tries to take advantage of the female inhabitants' wartime-subdued desires; however, is McBurney really in control over the situation?
- Released
- 23 Jan 1971
- Genres
- Drama, Thriller, War
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Martha 172 lines, woman
- Edwina 116 lines, woman
- Mcb 68 lines, man
- Hallie 52 lines, woman
- Amy 50 lines, woman
- Carol 37 lines, woman
- Doris 18 lines, woman
- Jepson 11 lines, man
- Janie 8 lines, woman
- Abigail 5 lines, woman
Full cast, 20 people
- Clint Eastwood as John McBurney
- Geraldine Page as Martha
- Elizabeth Hartman as Edwina
- Jo Ann Harris as Carol
- Darleen Carr as Doris
- Mae Mercer as Hallie
- Pamelyn Ferdin as Amy
- Melody Thomas Scott as Abigail
- Peggy Drier as Lizzie
- Patricia Mattick as Janie
- Charlie Briggs as 1st Confederate Captain
- George Dunn as Sam Jefferson
- Charles G. Martin as 2nd Confederate Captain
- Matt Clark as Scrogins
- Patrick Culliton as Miles Farnswoth
- Buddy Van Horn as Soldier
- Victor Izay as Wagon Driver (uncredited)
- Jim Malinda as Wade (uncredited)
- Bill Lee as Singer (uncredited)
- Jim Malinda as Confederate Sergeant (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 111
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 | 19 | 3 |
| 4 to 6 | 5 | 6 |
| 7 to 9 | 11 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 32 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 10 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 4 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 14 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 11 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 0 |
| 28 to 30 | 14 | 6 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 3 |
| 34 to 36 | 12 | 6 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 18 | 2 |
| 43 to 45 | 6 | 1 |
| 46 to 48 | 36 | 14 |
| 49 to 51 | 29 | 3 |
| 52 to 54 | 14 | 3 |
| 55 to 57 | 5 | 3 |
| 58 to 60 | 9 | 7 |
| 61 to 63 | 18 | 2 |
| 64 to 66 | 5 | 4 |
| 67 to 69 | 3 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 1 |
| 73 to 75 | 14 | 1 |
| 76 to 78 | 6 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 8 | 1 |
| 82 to 84 | 10 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 2 |
| 88 to 90 | 14 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 14 | 2 |
| 94 to 96 | 6 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 4 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 17 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 46 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 9 | 1 |
| 109 to 111 | 26 | 2 |
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.
AMY: There's no fire here! McB ( locking arcunc:Il Where's my rifle? Can't sharpshcct without rifle. AMY: Don't stop nowt We're almost there. Lock! AMY: Miss Martha ••• help! ••• Miss Martha! EDWINA: I can't emphasize enough that French is a smiling language, , Le maxi de Marie est ici a Paris aJourd'huio \gently) Janie, you're net paying…
EDWINA: Where are you going? AMY: Miss Martha ••••
MARTHA: l?ou know very well whatl Aren't you forgetting my parents brought you up a Christian? HALLIE: Oh, no, I'm a believer to the bottom £J£ my heart, MARTHA: Then show it by your behavior! It says in the Bible ---
AMY: Hello, Mrs. Spider. I wish I could spin a web the way you de -- it's so beautiful. But I'll have to tear it apart now. If Hallie gets to not… HALLIE: That's your third glass. I better quick get you a potty. HALLIE: You're comin' back to life right smart. If all Billy Yanks are like you, the Johnny Rebs are gonna get their tails whupped good. You'll get …
HALLIE: Don't think I won 1 t have my eye on every one of you. Half of what we get to eat next fall and winter depends on how you do your nigger wor… DORIS: Miss Martha, we know we have to do field work, but do we have to listen to the same lecture every other day? MARTHA: Hallie is Hallie. Let 1 s go.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 85 are women's.
468 lines from women, 85 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 11 men in the cast. 12 women and 2 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 4 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 83% of the words (7,117), men 17% (1,425). Women have 85% 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
52
Two men
1
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Don Siegel (man)
- Written by
- Albert Maltz (man), Irene Kamp (woman), Don Siegel (man), Clint Eastwood (man), Claude Traverse (gender not listed)
- From the novel by
- Thomas Cullinan (man)
- Produced by
- Don Siegel (man)
- Shot by
- Bruce Surtees (man)
- Edited by
- Carl Pingitore (man)
- Music by
- Lalo Schifrin (man)
- Production design by
- Ted Haworth (man)
- Costumes by
- Helen Colvig (woman)
- Cast by
- Robert J. LaSanka (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 25 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Pamelyn Ferdin 11, Melody Thomas Scott 14, Patricia Mattick 19, Darleen Carr 20, Jo Ann Harris 21, Elizabeth Hartman 27, Mae Mercer 38, Geraldine Page 46
Men
Clint Eastwood 40
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $475,000
- Box office
- $1.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 111 scenes and 585 lines of dialogue. How the test works
