Fails the Bechdel test
The Doors
1991. Directed by Oliver Stone, written by Randall Jahnson and Oliver Stone.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
31 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Oliver Stone's homage to 1960s rock group The Doors also doubles as a biography of the group's late singer, the "Electric Poet" Jim Morrison. The movie follows Morrison from his days as a film student in Los Angeles to his death in Paris, France at age 27 in 1971. The movie features a tour-de-force performance by Val Kilmer, who not only looks like Jim Morrison's long-lost twin brother, but also sounds so much like him that he did much of his own singing. It has been written that even the surviving Doors had trouble distinguishing Kilmer's vocals from Morrison's originals.
- Released
- 01 Mar 1991
- Genres
- Biography, Drama, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 62 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Jim 412 lines, man
- Pam 102 lines, man
- Ray 84 lines, man
- John 49 lines, man
- Patricia 39 lines, woman
- Robbie 30 lines, man
- Jim & Doors 24 lines, man
- Tom 21 lines, man
- Siddons 18 lines, man
- Mike 15 lines, man
Full cast, 99 people
- Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison
- Meg Ryan as Pamela Courson
- Kyle MacLachlan as Ray Manzarek
- Frank Whaley as Robby Krieger
- Kevin Dillon as John Densmore
- Michael Wincott as Paul Rothchild
- Michael Madsen as Tom Baker
- Josh Evans as Bill Siddons
- Dennis Burkley as Dog
- Billy Idol as Cat
- Kathleen Quinlan as Patricia Kennealy
- John Densmore as Engineer - Last Session
- Gretchen Becker as Mom
- Jerry Sturm as Dad
- Sean Stone as Young Jim
- Kendall Deichen as Little Sister
- John Capodice as Jerry
- Mark Moses as Jac Holzman
- Will Jordan as Ed Sullivan
- Robert LuPone as Music Manager
- Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman as Shaman
- Kelly Hu as Dorothy
- Crispin Glover as Andy Warhol
- Paul Williams as Warhol PR
- Debi Mazar as Whiskey Girl
- Phil Fondacaro as Man at Birthday Party
- Oliver Stone as UCLA Film Professor
- Jennifer Rubin as Edie
- Mimi Rogers as Magazine Photographer
- Charlie Spradling as CBS Girl Backstage
- Julie Strain as Concertgoer
- Paul A. Rothchild as Music Manager's Sidekick
- Laura Esterman as New York Journalist
- Fiona as Fog Groupie
- Josie Bissett as Robby Krieger's Girlfriend
- Jack McGee as Miami Cop
- Costas Mandylor as Italian Count
- Wes Studi as Indian in Desert
- Titus Welliver as Macing Cop
- Christina Fulton as Nico
- Cirsten Weldon as Girl in Car
- Adrian Scott as New York Journalist
- Stanley White as New Haven Cop
- Brad Weston as Hippie at Party
- Martin Luther King Jr. as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Robert F. Kennedy as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Richard Nixon as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
- Erik Dellums as Hairdresser
- Rodney A. Grant as Patron at Barney's
- Bill Graham as New Haven Promoter
- Michael Braveheart as Drag Queen (uncredited)
- Sam Whipple as Sullivan's Producer
- Randall Oliver as Groupie
- Rion Hunter as Indian in Desert
- Steve Reevis as Indian in Desert
- Bernard Telsey as Young Man with Pam
- Bruce MacVittie as UCLA Student
- Andrew Lauer as UCLA Student
- Harmonica Fats as Blues Singer on Venice Boardwalk
- Eric Burdon as Backstage Manager
- Sergio Premoli as Patron at The Whiskey
- Frank Military as Bruce Botnick
- Deborah Falconer as John Densmore's Girlfriend
- Michele Bronson as New York Groupie
- Lisa Edelstein as Makeup Artist
- Kristina Hare as Partygoer
- Bernt Kuhlmann as Warhol Eurosnob
- Claire Stansfield as Warhol Eurosnob
- Karina Lombard as Warhol Actress
- Christopher Lawford as New York Journalist
- Dani Klein as New York Journalist
- Deborah Lupard as New York Journalist
- Richard Rifkin as New York Journalist
- Chris Boyle as New York Journalist
- Eagle-Eye Cherry as Roadie
- David Allen Brooks as Roadie
- Danny Sullivan as New Haven Cop
- Frank Girardeau as Police Lieutenant
- Bonnie Bramlett as Bartender
- Hawthorne James as Chuck Vincent
- Csynbidium as Girl in Car
- Patricia Kennealy as Wicca Priestess
- Davidson Thomson as High Priest
- Leonard Crow Dog as Indian at the Outdoor Concert
- Keith Reddin as Miami Journalist
- Billy Vera as Miami Promoter
- Allan Graf as Miami Cop
- Alan Manson as Judge
- William Kunstler as Lawyer
- Peter Crombie as Associate Lawyer
- Robert Marshall as Prosecutor
- Annie McEnroe as Secretary
- Tudor Sherrard as Office Publicist
- Jad Mager as Office P.A.
- Richard Rutowski
- Debra Kay Anderson as Opera Singer (uncredited)
- Theresa Bell as Hippie Girl (uncredited)
- Cindi Braun as Hippie Girl (uncredited)
- Mariana Tosca as Groupie (uncredited)
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 132
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 | 6 |
| 4 to 6 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 14 |
| 13 to 15 | 2 | 14 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 3 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 8 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 98 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 3 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 30 |
| 31 to 33 | 8 | 51 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 12 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 18 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 2 |
| 46 to 48 | 3 | 2 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 34 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 61 |
| 55 to 57 | 14 | 14 |
| 58 to 60 | 6 | 40 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 1 |
| 64 to 66 | 16 | 27 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 15 |
| 70 to 72 | 0 | 9 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 22 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 13 |
| 79 to 81 | 13 | 70 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 11 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 10 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 4 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 17 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 53 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 23 |
| 103 to 105 | 7 | 39 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 48 |
| 109 to 111 | 8 | 18 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 43 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 1 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 11 |
| 124 to 126 | 2 | 31 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 4 |
| 130 to 132 | 0 | 8 |
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, 10 are women's.
95 lines from women, 894 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
31 women and 60 men in the cast. 7 women and 38 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 11 of 1,101.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 123 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 8% of the words (1,291), men 92% (13,951). Women have 10% 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
3
Two men
88
Exhibit E: behind the camera
4 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Oliver Stone (man)
- Written by
- Oliver Stone (man), Randall Jahnson (man)
- Produced by
- Sasha Harari (gender not listed), A. Kitman Ho (man), Bill Graham (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Richardson (man)
- Edited by
- David Brenner (man), Joe Hutshing (man)
- Music by
- Olivia Barash (woman), Carl Orff (man)
- Production design by
- Barbara Ling (woman)
- Costumes by
- Marlene Stewart (woman)
- Cast by
- Risa Bramon Garcia (woman), Billy Hopkins (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 10 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 13 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 7 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Meg Ryan 29
Men
Josh Evans 20, Kevin Dillon 25, Frank Whaley 27, Val Kilmer 31, Kyle MacLachlan 32, Michael Wincott 33, Michael Madsen 33, Billy Idol 35, Dennis Burkley 45
Exhibit G: the money
It made 91% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $38 million
- Box office
- $34.4 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 132 scenes and 1,101 lines of dialogue. How the test works
