Passes the Bechdel test
The Fighter
2010. Directed by David O. Russell, written by Keith Dorrington and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
15 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 25. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
The Fighter is a drama about boxer "Irish" Micky Ward's unlikely road to the world light welterweight title. His Rocky-like rise was shepherded by half-brother Dicky, a boxer-turned-trainer on the verge of being KO'd by drugs and crime.
- Released
- 17 Dec 2010
- Genres
- Action, Biography, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 79 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 74 wins & 123 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Micky 168 lines, man
- Dicky 166 lines, man
- Charlene 88 lines, woman
- Alice 86 lines, woman
- Mickey O'Keefe 27 lines, man
- George 11 lines, man
- Lou Gold 11 lines, man
- Laurie 7 lines, woman
- Sal Lonano 7 lines, man
- Booboo 6 lines
Full cast, 89 people
- Mark Wahlberg as Micky Ward
- Christian Bale as Dicky Eklund
- Amy Adams as Charlene Fleming
- Melissa Leo as Alice Ward
- Mickey O'Keefe as Mickey O'Keefe
- Jack McGee as George Ward
- Melissa McMeekin as "Little Alice" Eklund
- Bianca Hunter as Cathy "Pork" Eklund
- Erica McDermott as Cindy "Tar" Eklund
- Jill Quigg as Donna Eklund Jaynes
- Dendrie Taylor as Gail "Red Dog" Eklund
- Kate B. O'Brien as Phyllis "Beaver" Eklund
- Jenna Lamia as Sherri Ward
- Frank Renzulli as Sal Lanano
- Paul Campbell as Gary "Boo Boo" Giuffrida
- Caitlin Dwyer as Kasie Ward
- Chanty Sok as Karen
- Ted Arcidi as Lou Gold
- Ross Bickell as Mike Toma
- Sean Malone as Wolfie
- José Antonio Rivera as Gilberto Brown aka Jose
- Richard Farrell as HBO Cameraman #1
- Matthew Muzio as HBO Cameraman #2
- Steven Barkhimer as HBO Producer
- Art Ramalho as Art Ramalho
- Sugar Ray Leonard as Sugar Ray Leonard
- Jackson Nicoll as Little Dicky
- Alison Folland as Laurie Carroll
- Sean Patrick Doherty as Jimmy (Laurie's Husband)
- Sue Costello as Becky
- Thomas Benton as Businessman
- Ray Greenhalge as Ray Ramalho
- Tino Kimly as Pran
- Epifanio Melendez as Carlos Garcia
- Jeremiah Kissel as Bald Businessman
- Sean Eklund as Man in Diner
- Roeun Chea as Chan
- Brian Nguyen as Brian
- Rikki Kleiman as Court Clerk
- Michael Dell'Orto as WBU Commissioner
- Paul Locke as Reporter #1
- Kim Carrell as Reporter #2
- Colin Hamell as John Hyland
- Dale Place as Referee Micky Vann
- Eddie Lee Anderson as Referee Joe Cortez
- Joe Lupino as Referee Mitch Halpern
- Bonnie Aarons as Crackhead Bonnie
- Walter Driscoll as Court Officer
- Matt Russell as Photo Guy On Street
- A. Joseph Denucci as Man on Street #1
- Dicky Eklund as Man on Street #2
- George Michael Ward as Man on Street #3
- Dicky Eklund Jr. as Man on Street #4
- Jack Greenhalge as Man on Street #5
- Kevin Paige as Man on Street #6
- David A. Ramalho Sr. as Trainer
- Ziad Akl as Inmate
- Simon Hamlin as Movie Patron
- Gerald Greenhalge as Uncle Jerry
- Matthew Russell as Running Kid #1
- Tommy Eklund as Running Kid #2
- Rita Mercier as Woman on Street #1
- Deborah Bolanger as Woman on Street #2
- Kerry Moore as Woman on Street #3
- Philip Dorn Hebert as Micky's Cutman
- Raul Vera as Sanchez Trainer
- Jack Lally as Neary Trainer
- Carlos L. Smith as Sugar Ray Leonard Bodyguard
- Jerrell Lee Wesley as Fight Spectator #1
- Hugh Long as Fight Spectator #2
- Catherine Lynn Stone as Fan
- Eric Weinstein as Micky's Friend
- Bo Cleary as Cop
- Anthony Molinari as Neary
- Peter Cunningham as Mike "Machine Gun" Mungin
- Miguel Espino as Alfonso Sanchez
- Anthony "Ace" Thomas as Castillo
- Brian Christensen as Drunk Guy
- Jen Weissenberg as Drunk Girl
- Michael Buffer as Fight Announcer
- Larry Merchant as Fight Announcer
- Jim Lampley as Fight Announcer
- Emanuel Steward as Fight Announcer
- Roy Jones Jr. as Fight Announcer
- George Foreman as Fight Announcer
- Don Dunphy as Fight Announcer
- James Donnelly as Donut Shop Patron (uncredited)
- Al Conti as Larry Merchant (uncredited)
- Dannielle Rose as Ringside Spectator (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 25
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 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 36 | 81 |
| 3 to 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 4 to 4 | 9 | 8 |
| 5 to 5 | 9 | 82 |
| 6 to 6 | 25 | 26 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 to 8 | 39 | 22 |
| 9 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 10 | 2 | 13 |
| 11 to 11 | 4 | 2 |
| 12 to 12 | 1 | 0 |
| 13 to 13 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 to 14 | 0 | 9 |
| 15 to 15 | 7 | 5 |
| 16 to 16 | 4 | 19 |
| 17 to 17 | 3 | 10 |
| 18 to 18 | 1 | 3 |
| 19 to 19 | 0 | 1 |
| 20 to 20 | 3 | 8 |
| 21 to 21 | 26 | 43 |
| 22 to 22 | 0 | 17 |
| 23 to 23 | 17 | 27 |
| 24 to 24 | 7 | 14 |
| 25 to 25 | 6 | 18 |
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.
ALICE: I have done everything [pauses] I CHARLENE: Stop callin' me a MTV girl, whatever the fuck that means.
KAREN: Why you let them film you smokin'? What this movie about again? BONNIE: Hey's crazy!
ALICE: Didn't she just staht workin' there? CHARLENE: She did. But she's wants to quit to go for teachah certification.
TAR: Skank. PORK: She's a fuckin' bah skank! CHARLENE: Don't call me skank, I'll rip that hair right outta ya fuckin' head! Red Dog lunges at Charlene and takes poke at her; Charlene grabs Red Do…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.
203 lines from women, 417 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
15 women and 29 men in the cast. 11 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 11 of 679.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 36 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 (2,524), men 75% (7,610). Women have 33% 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
20
Two men
49
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 19 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David O. Russell (man)
- Written by
- Scott Silver (man), Paul Tamasy (man), Eric Johnson (man)
- Story by
- Paul Tamasy (man), Eric Johnson (man), Keith Dorrington (man)
- Produced by
- Dorothy Aufiero (woman), David Hoberman (man), Ryan Kavanaugh (man), Todd Lieberman (man), Paul Tamasy (man), Mark Wahlberg (man)
- Shot by
- Hoyte van Hoytema (man)
- Edited by
- Pamela Martin (woman)
- Music by
- Michael Brook (man)
- Production design by
- Judy Becker (woman)
- Costumes by
- Mark Bridges (man)
- Cast by
- Sheila Jaffe (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
3 women, 16 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 10 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 6 men
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 1 men
-
Editing
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Amy Adams 36, Erica McDermott 37, Melissa McMeekin 38, Bianca Hunter 41, Melissa Leo 50
Men
Christian Bale 36, Mark Wahlberg 39, Jack McGee 61
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $129 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 25 scenes and 679 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
