Passes the Bechdel test
The Firm
1993. Directed by Sydney Pollack, written by John Grisham and David Rabe and Robert Towne.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 261. -
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.
The film
Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan...
- Released
- 30 Jun 1993
- Genres
- Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 3 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Mitch 338 lines, man
- Abby 153 lines, woman
- Avery 113 lines, man
- Tarrance 50 lines, man
- Tammy 41 lines, woman
- Oliver 29 lines, man
- Ray 25 lines, man
- Lamar 22 lines, man
- Devasher 20 lines, man
- Mcknight 16 lines, man
Full cast, 71 people
- Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere
- Jeanne Tripplehorn as Abby McDeere
- Gene Hackman as Avery Tolar
- Hal Holbrook as Oliver Lambert
- Terry Kinney as Lamar Quinn
- Wilford Brimley as William Devasher
- Ed Harris as Wayne Tarrance
- Holly Hunter as Tammy Hemphill
- David Strathairn as Ray McDeere
- Gary Busey as Eddie Lomax
- Steven Hill as F. Denton Voyles
- Tobin Bell as The Nordic Man
- Barbara Garrick as Kay Quinn
- Jerry Hardin as Royce McKnight
- Paul Calderon as Thomas Richie
- Jerry Weintraub as Sonny Capps
- Sullivan Walker as Barry Abanks
- Karina Lombard as Young Woman on the Beach
- Margo Martindale as Nina Huff
- John Beal as Nathan Locke
- Dean Norris as The Squat Man
- Lou Walker as Frank Mulholland
- Debbie Turner as Rental Agent
- Tommy Cresswell as Wally Hudson
- David A. Kimball as Randall Dunbar
- Don Jones as Attorney
- Michael Allen as Attorney
- Levi Frazier Jr. as Restaurant Waiter
- Brian Casey as Telephone Installer
- William J. Parham as Minister
- Victor Nelson as Cafe Waiter
- Richard Ranta as Congressman Billings
- Janie Paris as Madge
- Frank Crawford as Judge
- Bart Whiteman as Dutch
- David Dwyer as Prison Guard
- Mark Whitman Johnson as FBI Agent
- Jerry Chipman as FBI Agent
- Jimmy Lackie as Technician
- Afemo Omilami as Cotton Truck Driver
- Clint Smith as Cotton Truck Driver
- Susan Elliott as River Museum Guide
- Erin Branham as River Museum Guide
- Ed Connelly as Pilot
- Joey Anderson as Ruth
- Deborah Thomas as Quinns' Maid
- Tommy Matthews as Elvis Hemphill
- Chris Schadrack as Lawyer Recruiter
- Jeffrey Buckner Ford as Lawyer Recruiter
- Jonathan Kaplan as Lawyer Recruiter
- Rebecca Glenn as Young Woman at Patio Bar
- Terri Welles as Woman Dancing with Avery
- Greg Goossen as Vietnam Veteran
- Jeane Aufdenberg as Car Rental Agent
- Bill Booth as Seaplane Pilot
- Ollie Nightingale as Restaurant Singer
- Teenie Hodges as Restaurant Lead Guitarist
- Little Jimmy King as Memphis Street Musician
- James White as Singer at Hyatt
- Paul Sorvino as Tommy Morolto (uncredited)
- Joe Viterelli as Joey Morolto (uncredited)
- Andy Armstrong as Bad Beach Man (uncredited)
- Ken Axmaker Jr. as Student (uncredited)
- Thomas Callahan as Attorney (uncredited)
- Doshia Darmane as Girl (uncredited)
- Julia Hayes as Girl in Bar (uncredited)
- KaiCarra as Juror (uncredited)
- Tom McCrory as Associate (uncredited)
- Yvonne Sayers as Young Girl (uncredited)
- Ron Clinton Smith as Cotton Truck Driver #1 (uncredited)
- Scott Sumers as Student (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 261
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 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 7 to 12 | 0 | 2 |
| 13 to 18 | 10 | 55 |
| 19 to 24 | 7 | 6 |
| 25 to 30 | 18 | 17 |
| 31 to 36 | 2 | 3 |
| 37 to 42 | 1 | 6 |
| 43 to 48 | 1 | 14 |
| 49 to 54 | 10 | 25 |
| 55 to 60 | 8 | 17 |
| 61 to 66 | 1 | 25 |
| 67 to 72 | 6 | 11 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 32 |
| 79 to 84 | 0 | 15 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 8 |
| 91 to 96 | 4 | 24 |
| 97 to 102 | 1 | 35 |
| 103 to 108 | 6 | 13 |
| 109 to 114 | 19 | 30 |
| 115 to 120 | 0 | 35 |
| 121 to 126 | 12 | 32 |
| 127 to 132 | 9 | 19 |
| 133 to 138 | 3 | 23 |
| 139 to 144 | 11 | 24 |
| 145 to 150 | 0 | 6 |
| 151 to 156 | 12 | 28 |
| 157 to 162 | 9 | 13 |
| 163 to 168 | 3 | 7 |
| 169 to 174 | 13 | 18 |
| 175 to 180 | 9 | 2 |
| 181 to 186 | 10 | 27 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 1 |
| 193 to 198 | 7 | 13 |
| 199 to 204 | 1 | 2 |
| 205 to 210 | 7 | 11 |
| 211 to 216 | 1 | 7 |
| 217 to 222 | 1 | 13 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 14 |
| 229 to 234 | 0 | 4 |
| 235 to 240 | 2 | 12 |
| 241 to 246 | 0 | 0 |
| 247 to 252 | 0 | 0 |
| 253 to 258 | 15 | 72 |
| 259 to 261 | 5 | 5 |
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.
ABBY: Impossible. KAY: No bachelors either. ABBY: How about women? KAY: They had one once -
KAY: In fact they don't .fill.D.t anyone with family money. ABBY: I'm not sure I follow ... ? KAY: They want you lean and hungry. If all your money comes from one source, you tend to be very loyal to that source.
KAY: --she can show you several houses in your price range. ABBY: ... What .is. our price range?
ABBY: Kay, please, I've never had so many people trying to do things for me. KAY: It's the South, Abby. ABBY: That's no excuse.
ABBY: You sure it's tonight? At that moment Kay Quinn walks in. Her eyes are puffy and she holds a handkerchief over her mouth. ABBY: Kay •.• ? KAY: There's been ... Marty Kozinski and Joe Hodge were killed. We just got word twenty minutes ago ..• Did you meet them at the barbecue?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.
224 lines from women, 732 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 33 men in the cast. 7 women and 31 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 53 of 1,007.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 79 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (2,613), men 79% (10,036). Women have 23% 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
9
Two men
69
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 15 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sydney Pollack (man)
- Written by
- David Rabe (man), Robert Towne (man), David Rayfiel (man)
- From the novel by
- John Grisham (man)
- Produced by
- John Davis (man), Sydney Pollack (man), Scott Rudin (man)
- Shot by
- John Seale (man)
- Edited by
- Fredric Steinkamp (man), William Steinkamp (man)
- Music by
- Dave Grusin (man)
- Production design by
- Richard Macdonald (man)
- Costumes by
- Ruth Myers (woman)
- Cast by
- David Rubin (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
4 women, 12 men, 10 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 16 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 12 men, 8 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 13 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 11 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Editing
3 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 49 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jeanne Tripplehorn 30, Holly Hunter 35
Men
Tom Cruise 30, Terry Kinney 39, Ed Harris 42, David Strathairn 44, Gary Busey 49, Wilford Brimley 58, Gene Hackman 63, Hal Holbrook 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 6.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $42 million
- Box office
- $270 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 261 scenes and 1,007 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
