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Passes the Bechdel test

The Goodbye Girl

1977. Directed by Herbert Ross, written by Neil Simon.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    18 women characters. 27 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 18 scenes out of 82.
  3. 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.

Poster for The Goodbye Girl

The film

A divorced woman and her daughter come home to find that her boyfriend has left for an out of town job with no warning. This has happened before. The second surprise comes in the form of another actor who has sublet the apartment from her boyfriend (who did not mention the pair of females who would be in residence). After some negotiation the two decide to share the apartment even though she has vowed to stay away from actors.

Released
30 Nov 1977
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated
PG
IMDb
7.4 / 10
Metascore
64 / 100
Awards
Won 1 Oscar. 10 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Paula 307 lines, woman
  2. Elliot 289 lines, man
  3. Lucy 154 lines, woman
  4. Donna 22 lines, woman
  5. Frey 14 lines
  6. Mark 13 lines, man
  7. Linda 11 lines, woman
  8. Cont'D 6 lines
  9. Ronnie 5 lines, man
  10. Mrs. Crosby 4 lines, woman
Full cast, 50 people
  • Richard Dreyfuss as Elliot Garfield
  • Marsha Mason as Paula McFadden
  • Quinn Cummings as Lucy McFadden
  • Paul Benedict as Mark
  • Barbara Rhoades as Donna
  • Theresa Merritt as Mrs. Crosby
  • Michael Shawn as Ronnie
  • Patricia Pearcy as Rhonda
  • Gene Castle as Assistant Choreographer
  • Marilyn Sokol as Linda
  • Anita Dangler as Mrs. Morganweiss
  • Victoria Boothby as Mrs. Bodine
  • Robert Costanzo as Liquor Store Salesman
  • Pancho González as Mugger
  • Jose Machado as Mugger
  • Hubert Kelly as Mugger
  • Dana Laurita as Cynthia
  • David S. Cass Sr. as Drunk
  • Clarence Felder as Critic
  • Loyita Chapel as Strip Club Dancer
  • Caprice Clark as Strip Club Dancer
  • Esther Sutherland as Strip Club Manager
  • Kensuke Haga as Japanese Salesman
  • Ryohei Kanokogi as Japanese Salesman
  • Ruby Holbrook as Woman in Audience
  • Kristina Hurrell as Gretchen
  • David Matthau as Furniture Mover
  • Milt Oberman as Furniture Mover
  • Eddie Villery as Painter
  • Joseph Carberry as Strip Club Customer
  • Eric Uhler as Strip Club Customer
  • Raymond J. Barry as Richard III Cast
  • Powers Boothe as Richard III Cast
  • Tom Everett as Richard III Cast
  • Janice Fuller as Richard III Cast
  • Munson Hicks as Richard III Cast
  • Robert Kerman as Richard III Cast
  • Jeanne Lange as Richard III Cast
  • Robert Lesser as Richard III Cast
  • Fred McCarren as Richard III Cast
  • Nicholas Mele as Richard III Cast
  • Maureen Moore as Richard III Cast
  • Joe Regalbuto as Richard III Cast
  • Peter Vogt as Richard III Cast
  • Wendy Cutler as Improvisation Group
  • Susan Elliot as Improvisation Group
  • Andy Goldberg as Improvisation Group
  • Nicol Williamson as Oliver Fry (uncredited)
  • Paul Willson as Improvisation Group
  • Daniel Levins as Dance Instructor

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 82

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 200
3 to 4160
5 to 670
7 to 810
9 to 10561
11 to 12217
13 to 1442
15 to 1611
17 to 1822
19 to 2061
21 to 2224
23 to 243536
25 to 2695
27 to 2880
29 to 3022
31 to 3242
33 to 341016
35 to 3675
37 to 38246
39 to 40142
41 to 42624
43 to 4403
45 to 462927
47 to 4881
49 to 50165
51 to 523118
53 to 5498
55 to 56158
57 to 583617
59 to 60158
61 to 623428
63 to 6460
65 to 6600
67 to 681014
69 to 701411
71 to 721611
73 to 741616
75 to 76921
77 to 783216
79 to 8000
81 to 8200

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.
LUCY: Un huh. PAULA: Me too ... can't wait. LUCY: Were you ever there? PAULA Once ••. for six weeks. Touring with so:ne musical. Middle of December we went swi.rm:iing. LUCY: Which music<\1,1?
LUCY: Can I show Tony all my t:hings first? PAULA: Later. You've got homework to do. LUCY: We had it last week in science. PAULA: ••• Are you serious? . LUCY Dumb! You know you're dumb!
PAULA: Ir: died. Have a lit:r:le respect:. DONNA: Paula? Hi. .. Donna Douglas ... I uas the swing girl i-;hen you --:ere in "Company". PAULA: Oh, sure. Hi, Donna. Whew! DONNA: ~ou~'i'h getting back into shape, isn tic?
PAULA: That bastard! •.. That no-good bast:ard! MRS. CROSBY Uh huh. LUCY: .•• And you're always celling me to • clean up !!!.Z room! LUCY: How'd you do in dance class? PAULA: I got: winded putting on my leotards,
LUCY: It's not for me. All my friends are sleeping. PAULA: Hello?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 62 are women's.

531 lines from women, 328 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

18 women and 26 men in the cast. 27 women and 15 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 3 of 914. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 21 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 52% of the words (7,271), men 48% (6,726). Women have 62% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Herbert Ross (man)
Written by
Neil Simon (man)
Produced by
Ray Stark (man)
Shot by
David M. Walsh (man)
Edited by
John F. Burnett (man)
Music by
Dave Grusin (man)
Production design by
Albert Brenner (man)
Costumes by
Ann Roth (woman)
Cast by
Jennifer Shull (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    3 women, 0 men, 4 not listed

  • Production

    1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed

  • Directing

    1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Editing

    2 women, 2 men

  • Lighting

    0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 33 on average. Men: 34 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Quinn Cummings 10, Barbara Rhoades 30, Patricia Pearcy 30, Marsha Mason 35, Marilyn Sokol 40, Theresa Merritt 55

Men

Richard Dreyfuss 30, Michael Shawn 33, Paul Benedict 39

Exhibit H: the money

What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.

Budget
Not listed
Box office
$102 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 82 scenes and 914 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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