Passes the Bechdel test
The Cotton Club
1984. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by William Kennedy and Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
21 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 94. -
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
The Cotton Club was a famous Harlem nightclub. This is the story of the people who visited this club as well as the people who ran it, and the film is generously peppered with the jazz music that made the Cotton Club so renowned in the 1920s and 1930s.
- Released
- 14 Dec 1984
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 68 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 1 win & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dixie 169 lines, man
- Vera 82 lines, woman
- Dutch 61 lines, man
- Sandman 38 lines, man
- Madden 30 lines, man
- Vince 27 lines, man
- Lila Rose 25 lines, woman
- Tish 19 lines, woman
- Frenchy 17 lines, man
- Holmes 15 lines, man
Full cast, 73 people
- Richard Gere as Richard 'Dixie' Dwyer
- Gregory Hines as Delbert 'Sandman' Williams
- Diane Lane as Vera Cicero
- Lonette McKee as Lila Rose Oliver
- Bob Hoskins as Owney Madden
- James Remar as Dutch Schultz
- Nicolas Cage as Vincent Dwyer
- Allen Garfield as Otto 'Abbadabba' Berman
- Fred Gwynne as Frenchy Demange
- Gwen Verdon as Tish Dwyer
- Lisa Jane Persky as Frances Flegenheimer
- Maurice Hines as Clay Williams
- Julian Beck as Sol Weinstein
- Novella Nelson as Madame St. Clair
- Laurence Fishburne as Bumpy Rhodes
- John P. Ryan as Joe Flynn
- Tom Waits as Irving Stark
- Ron Karabatsos as Mike Best
- Glenn Withrow as Ed Popke
- Jennifer Grey as Patsy Dwyer
- Wynonna Smith as Winnie Williams
- Thelma Carpenter as Norma Williams
- Charles "Honi" Coles as Suger Coates
- Larry Marshall as Cab Calloway
- Joe Dallesandro as Charles 'Lucky' Luciano
- Diane Venora as Gloria Swanson
- Tucker Smallwood as Kid Griffin
- Marc Coppola as Ted Husing
- Robert Earl Jones as Stage Door Joe
- Sofia Coppola as Child in Street
- Tracey Ross as Dancer
- Mario Van Peebles as Dancer
- Ed O'Ross as Monk
- Frederick Downs Jr. as Sullen Man
- Woody Strode as Holmes
- Bill Graham as J.W.
- Dayton Allen as Solly
- Kim Chan as Ling
- Ed Rowan as Messiah
- Leonard Termo as Danny
- Brian Tarantina as Vince Hood
- Bruce MacVittie as Vince Hood
- James Russo as Vince Hood
- Giancarlo Esposito as Bumpy Hood
- Rony Clanton as Caspar Holstein
- Damien Leake as Bub Jewett
- Bill Cobbs as Big Joe Ison
- Joe Lynn as Marcial Flores
- Oscar Barnes as Spanish Henry
- Ed Zang as Hotel Clerk
- Sandra Beall as Myrtle Fay
- Zane Mark as Duke Ellington
- Paul Herman as Policeman #1
- Randle Mell as Policeman #2
- Gregory Rozakis as Charlie Chaplin
- Vincent Jerman-Jerosa as James Cagney
- Rosalind Harris as Fanny Brice
- Jackée Harry as Dancer
- Sonya Hensley as Dancer
- Valarie Pettiford as Dancer
- Kimberly Dorsey as Joan Blondell (uncredited)
- Anton Evangelista as Ownie Hood (uncredited)
- Nicholas J. Giangiulio as Screen Test Thug (uncredited)
- Suzanne Kaaren as The Duchess of Park Avenue (uncredited)
- Robin Karfo as Vera's Sidekick / Banville Club (uncredited)
- Mark Margolis as Charlie Workman (uncredited)
- Naylon Mitchell as Busboy (uncredited)
- Ray Negron as Waiter (uncredited)
- Kirk Taylor as Cotton Club Waiter (uncredited)
- Rick Washburn as Hitman (uncredited)
- Linda Gillen as voice (uncredited)
- Rima Vetter as Dancer
- Charles Young as Hoofer
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 94
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 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 8 | 50 |
| 5 to 6 | 14 | 30 |
| 7 to 8 | 4 | 6 |
| 9 to 10 | 6 | 7 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 25 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 8 |
| 15 to 16 | 11 | 46 |
| 17 to 18 | 1 | 9 |
| 19 to 20 | 9 | 11 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 4 | 13 |
| 27 to 28 | 2 | 7 |
| 29 to 30 | 6 | 22 |
| 31 to 32 | 2 | 6 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 4 |
| 35 to 36 | 4 | 4 |
| 37 to 38 | 5 | 15 |
| 39 to 40 | 1 | 0 |
| 41 to 42 | 8 | 12 |
| 43 to 44 | 6 | 22 |
| 45 to 46 | 4 | 6 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 2 |
| 49 to 50 | 6 | 10 |
| 51 to 52 | 11 | 14 |
| 53 to 54 | 5 | 7 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 20 |
| 57 to 58 | 3 | 1 |
| 59 to 60 | 1 | 1 |
| 61 to 62 | 4 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 16 |
| 65 to 66 | 8 | 7 |
| 67 to 68 | 2 | 11 |
| 69 to 70 | 1 | 2 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 6 |
| 73 to 74 | 3 | 6 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 1 |
| 77 to 78 | 1 | 2 |
| 79 to 80 | 3 | 4 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 7 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 8 |
| 85 to 86 | 2 | 4 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 0 |
| 89 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 92 | 0 | 16 |
| 93 to 94 | 8 | 8 |
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.
WINNIE: It's awful, I hate it. NORMA: You don't hate it. You love it. It's gonna make you win that contest.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 26 are women's.
161 lines from women, 459 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
21 women and 45 men in the cast. 12 women and 34 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 672.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 42 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 25% of the words (2,492), men 75% (7,374). Women have 26% 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
3
Two men
53
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 16 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Written by
- Francis Ford Coppola (man), William Kennedy (man)
- Story by
- Francis Ford Coppola (man), William Kennedy (man), Mario Puzo (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Evans (man), Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Shot by
- Stephen Goldblatt (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Q. Lovett (man), Barry Malkin (man)
- Music by
- John Barry (man)
- Production design by
- Richard Sylbert (man)
- Costumes by
- Milena Canonero (woman)
- Cast by
- Lois Planco (gender not listed), Gretchen Rennell (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 6 men
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Diane Lane 19, Lonette McKee 30, Gwen Verdon 59
Men
Nicolas Cage 20, James Remar 30, Richard Gere 35, Gregory Hines 38, Bob Hoskins 42, Allen Garfield 45, Fred Gwynne 58
Exhibit H: the money
It made 45% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $58 million
- Box office
- $25.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 94 scenes and 672 lines of dialogue. How the test works
