Fails the Bechdel test

The Dead Zone

Name: The Dead Zone
Released: 1983

1983. Directed by David Cronenberg, written by Stephen King and Jeffrey Boam.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 5 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Johnny Smith wakes from a coma due to a car accident, only to find he has lost five years of his life, and yet gained psychic powers. Foreseeing the future appears to be a 'gift' at first, but ends up causing problems...

Released: 21 Oct 1983
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.1 / 10
Metascore: 69 / 100
Awards: 7 wins & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Johnny 234 lines, man
Sarah 46 lines, woman
Weizak 38 lines, man
Herb 35 lines, man
Roger 30 lines, man
Bannerman 29 lines, man
Chuck 27 lines, man
Stillson 23 lines, man
Vera 14 lines, woman
Dardis 10 lines, man

Full cast, 38 people

Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith
Brooke Adams as Sarah Bracknell
Tom Skerritt as Sheriff Bannerman
Herbert Lom as Dr. Sam Weizak
Anthony Zerbe as Roger Stuart
Colleen Dewhurst as Henrietta Dodd
Martin Sheen as Greg Stillson
Nicholas Campbell as Frank Dodd
Sean Sullivan as Herb Smith
Jackie Burroughs as Vera Smith
Géza Kovács as Sonny Elliman
Roberta Weiss as Alma Frechette
Simon Craig as Chris Stuart
Peter Dvorsky as Dardis
Julie-Ann Heathwood as Amy
Barry Flatman as Walt
Raffi Tchalikian as Denny #1
Ken Pogue as Vice President
Gordon Jocelyn as Five-Star General
Bill Copeland as Secretary of State
Jack Messinger as Therapist
Chapelle Jaffe as Nurse
Cindy Hinds as Natalie
Helene Udy as Weizak's Mother
Ramon Estevez as Teenage Boy with Camera
Joseph Domenchini as Young Weizak
Roger Dunn as Reporter
Vladimir Bondarenko as Reporter
Claude Rae as Reporter
John Koensgen as T.V. Anchorman
Leslie Carlson as Brenner
James Bearden as Deputy #1
Hardee T. Lineham as Deputy #2
William B. Davis as Ambulance Driver
Seirge LeBlanc as Denny #2
Vera Winiauski as Polish Peasant
Joe Kapnaiko as Polish Peasant
David Rigby as Truck Driver

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 118

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	3
4 to 6	0	5
7 to 9	1	0
10 to 12	8	10
13 to 15	5	7
16 to 18	3	5
19 to 21	2	1
22 to 24	2	1
25 to 27	0	16
28 to 30	11	36
31 to 33	0	26
34 to 36	2	23
37 to 39	6	8
40 to 42	0	0
43 to 45	0	19
46 to 48	0	4
49 to 51	9	9
52 to 54	2	2
55 to 57	5	21
58 to 60	4	16
61 to 63	0	0
64 to 66	0	17
67 to 69	0	21
70 to 72	0	0
73 to 75	2	2
76 to 78	4	23
79 to 81	0	74
82 to 84	0	28
85 to 87	0	0
88 to 90	0	26
91 to 93	0	11
94 to 96	0	0
97 to 99	0	1
100 to 102	0	37
103 to 105	2	15
106 to 108	0	2
109 to 111	0	4
112 to 114	2	8
115 to 117	4	7
118 to 118	0	1

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 13 are women's.

74 lines from women, 489 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

7 women and 22 men in the cast. 5 women and 12 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 14 of 657. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 208 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 11% of the words (697), men 89% (5,512). Women have 13% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit D: 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

6 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: David Cronenberg (man)
Written by: Jeffrey Boam (man)
From the novel by: Stephen King (man)
Produced by: Debra Hill (woman)
Shot by: Mark Irwin (man)
Edited by: Ronald Sanders (man)
Music by: Michael Kamen (man)
Production design by: Carol Spier (woman)
Costumes by: Olga Dimitrovová (woman)
Cast by: Deirdre Bowen (woman), Jane Jenkins (woman), Janet Hirshenson (woman)