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Passes the Bechdel test

The Birds

1963. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Daphne Du Maurier and Evan Hunter.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    12 women characters. 7 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 5 scenes out of 85.
  3. 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.

Poster for The Birds

The film

Melanie Daniels is the modern rich socialite, part of the jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favor. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends the weekends with his mother Lydia and younger sister Cathy. Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. A seagull attacks Melanie as she is crossing the bay in a small boat, and then, Lydia finds her neighbor dead, obviously the victim of a bird attack. Soon, birds in the hundreds and thousands are attacking anyone they find out of doors. There is no explanation as to why this might be happening, and as the birds continue their vicious attacks, survival becomes the priority.

Released
29 Mar 1963
Genres
Drama, Horror, Mystery
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
7.6 / 10
Metascore
90 / 100
Awards
Nominated for 1 Oscar. 5 wins & 7 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Melanie 361 lines, woman
  2. Mitch 277 lines, man
  3. Lydia 116 lines, woman
  4. Annie 85 lines, woman
  5. Cathy 41 lines, woman
  6. Mrs. Bundy 37 lines, woman
  7. Clerk 31 lines, man
  8. Sholes 24 lines, man
  9. Deke 23 lines, man
  10. Malone 21 lines, man
Full cast, 28 people
  • Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels
  • Rod Taylor as Mitch Brenner
  • Jessica Tandy as Lydia Brenner
  • Suzanne Pleshette as Annie Hayworth
  • Veronica Cartwright as Cathy Brenner
  • Ethel Griffies as Mrs. Bundy
  • Charles McGraw as Sebastian Sholes
  • Ruth McDevitt as Mrs. MacGruder
  • Lonny Chapman as Deke Carter
  • Joe Mantell as Le voyageur de commerce au bar
  • Doodles Weaver as Le pêcheur qui aide à la location de bateau
  • Malcolm Atterbury as Deputy Al Malone
  • John McGovern as Postal Clerk
  • Karl Swenson as Le prophète de malheur ivre au bar
  • Richard Deacon as Mitch's City Neighbor
  • Elizabeth Wilson as Helen Carter
  • Bill Quinn as Sam
  • Doreen Lang as Hysterical Mother in Diner
  • Alfred Hitchcock as Pet Store Customer (uncredited)
  • Morgan Brittany as Brunette Girl at Birthday Party (uncredited)
  • Darlene Conley as Waitress (uncredited)
  • Betsy Hale as Little Girl (uncredited)
  • Dal McKennon as Sam the Cook (uncredited)
  • Mike Monteleone as Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
  • Renn Reed as Girl at Birthday Party (uncredited)
  • Arnold Roberts as Townsman (uncredited)
  • Jeannie Russell as School Child (uncredited)
  • Rory Stevens as Scared Boy in Diner (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 85

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 200
3 to 410773
5 to 6350
7 to 800
9 to 104356
11 to 127220
13 to 1414647
15 to 161736
17 to 183522
19 to 20482
21 to 2200
23 to 24120
25 to 2600
27 to 2800
29 to 3000
31 to 3200
33 to 3400
35 to 3600
37 to 3800
39 to 4000
41 to 4200
43 to 4400
45 to 4600
47 to 4800
49 to 5000
51 to 5200
53 to 5400
55 to 5600
57 to 5800
59 to 6000
61 to 6200
63 to 6400
65 to 6600
67 to 6800
69 to 7000
71 to 729494
73 to 7410
75 to 7600
77 to 7800
79 to 8000
81 to 8223
83 to 84166
85 to 856657

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.
MELANIE: I'm sorry. I couldn't possibly... LYDIA: You did say birds?
MELANIE: That's silly, isn't it? Teaching a bird to shock my aunt. That's just silly and childish. Maybe I ought to go join the other children. ANNIE: All right then, here we go. Once! Twice! Three! Go get 'em, Cathy!
MELANIE: Yes. ANNIE: That's the darnest thing thing I've ever seen in my life. LYDIA: Are they gone?
ANNIE: Children, they were only seagulls. CATHY: They must have been after the food, Mother.
MELANIE: No, thank you. CATHY: Why didn't Annie stay for dinner?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 63 are women's.

694 lines from women, 416 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 13 men in the cast. 7 women and 6 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,138. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 16 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 65% of the words (6,683), men 35% (3,618). Women have 63% 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 7 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Alfred Hitchcock (man)
Written by
Evan Hunter (man)
Produced by
Alfred Hitchcock (man)
Shot by
Robert Burks (man)
Edited by
George Tomasini (man)
Production design by
Robert F. Boyle (man)
Costumes by
Edith Head (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 1 men

  • Art

    0 women, 3 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 2 men

  • Writing

    1 women, 1 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 46 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Veronica Cartwright 13, Suzanne Pleshette 26, Tippi Hedren 33, Jessica Tandy 53, Ruth McDevitt 67, Ethel Griffies 84

Men

Rod Taylor 33, Lonny Chapman 42, Joe Mantell 47, Charles McGraw 48

Exhibit H: the money

It made 4.6 times what it cost.

Budget
$2.5 million
Box office
$11.5 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 85 scenes and 1,138 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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