Passes the Bechdel test
The Big Easy
1987. Directed by Jim McBride, written by Daniel Petrie Jr. and Jack Baran and Jim McBride.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 117. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Set in New Orleans. Remy McSwain, lieutenant in Homicide finds that he has two problems, the first of a series of gang killings and Ann Osborne, a beautiful attorney from the D.A.'s police corruption task force in his office. He begins a relationship with her as the killings continue only to have charges filed against him for accepting bribes as he stumbles on a police corruption Sting. While this is happening, the criminals insist that none of the crime gangs are behind the killings.
- Released
- 21 Aug 1987
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 77 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Remy 217 lines, man
- Anne 148 lines, woman
- Kellom 35 lines, man
- Lamar Parmentel 24 lines, man
- Bobby 20 lines, man
- Mccabe 20 lines, woman
- Dodge 16 lines, man
- Judge Noland 12 lines
- Mama 10 lines, woman
- George Joel 8 lines
Full cast, 17 people
- Dennis Quaid as Remy McSwain
- Ellen Barkin as Anne Osborne
- Ned Beatty as Jack Kellom
- John Goodman as Andre DeSoto
- Lisa Jane Persky as McCabe
- Ebbe Roe Smith as Ed Dodge
- Tom O'Brien as Bobby McSwain
- Charles Ludlam as Lamar Parmentel
- Grace Zabriskie as Mama
- Marc Lawrence as Vinnie 'The Cannon' DiMotti
- Solomon Burke as Daddy Mention
- Gailard Sartain as Chef Paul
- Jim Chimento as Freddie Angelo
- Edward Saint Pe' as Patrolman
- Robert Lesser as 'Silky' Foster
- Jim Garrison as Judge #2
- Carol Sutton as Judge #1
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 117
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 | 4 | 6 |
| 7 to 9 | 15 | 29 |
| 10 to 12 | 12 | 19 |
| 13 to 15 | 4 | 10 |
| 16 to 18 | 12 | 11 |
| 19 to 21 | 6 | 12 |
| 22 to 24 | 7 | 10 |
| 25 to 27 | 9 | 19 |
| 28 to 30 | 5 | 7 |
| 31 to 33 | 1 | 5 |
| 34 to 36 | 8 | 7 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 13 |
| 40 to 42 | 2 | 2 |
| 43 to 45 | 2 | 12 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 19 |
| 52 to 54 | 12 | 8 |
| 55 to 57 | 5 | 2 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 2 |
| 61 to 63 | 1 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 22 | 24 |
| 67 to 69 | 7 | 10 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 3 |
| 73 to 75 | 4 | 30 |
| 76 to 78 | 6 | 11 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 7 | 8 |
| 85 to 87 | 2 | 11 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 4 |
| 91 to 93 | 11 | 11 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 6 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 7 |
| 100 to 102 | 8 | 18 |
| 103 to 105 | 2 | 4 |
| 106 to 108 | 3 | 5 |
| 109 to 111 | 2 | 1 |
| 112 to 114 | 2 | 9 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 1 |
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.
ANNE: But the restaurant is going to expect extra protection in return, and expect the officer. to overlook any code violations. ANNE.: So what you're deaing here is defending corruption.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 35 are women's.
194 lines from women, 362 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 12 men in the cast. 10 women and 20 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 7 of 620.
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 33% of the words (2,692), men 67% (5,422). Women have 35% 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
2
Two men
42
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 38% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jim McBride (man)
- Written by
- Daniel Petrie Jr. (man)
- Produced by
- Stephen J. Friedman (man)
- Shot by
- Affonso Beato (man)
- Edited by
- Mia Goldman (woman)
- Music by
- Brad Fiedel (man)
- Production design by
- Jeannine Oppewall (woman)
- Costumes by
- Tracy Tynan (woman)
- Cast by
- David Rubin (man), Wilma Francis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
3 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 42 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lisa Jane Persky 31, Ellen Barkin 32, Grace Zabriskie 45
Men
Tom O'Brien 21, Dennis Quaid 32, John Goodman 34, Ebbe Roe Smith 37, Charles Ludlam 43, Ned Beatty 49, Marc Lawrence 76
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8.5 million
- Box office
- $17.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 117 scenes and 620 lines of dialogue. How the test works
