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Passes the Bechdel test

The Graduate

1967. Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry and Charles Webb.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    12 women characters. 7 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 2 scenes out of 168.
  3. 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.

Poster for The Graduate

The film

Benjamin Braddock returns home to California after successfully completing college. He gets a hero's welcome from his parents but Ben isn't quite sure what to do with the rest of his life. He is soon seduced by Mrs. Robinson, the wife of his father's partner, who methodically pursues the inexperienced young man. Soon, they are meeting regularly in hotel rooms. Warned by her to stay away from her daughter Elaine, his father goads him into taking her out on a date. He finds he quite likes Elaine but when she learns he's been having an affair with her own mother, she'll have nothing to do with him. He's smitten however and pursues her.

Released
21 Dec 1967
Genres
Comedy, Drama, Romance
Rated
PG
IMDb
8 / 10
Metascore
83 / 100
Awards
Won 1 Oscar. 23 wins & 17 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Ben 615 lines, man
  2. Mrs. Robinson 275 lines, woman
  3. Elaine 138 lines, woman
  4. Mr. Robinson 53 lines, man
  5. Mr. Braddock 43 lines, man
  6. Mrs. Braddock 31 lines, woman
  7. Mr. Mccleery 18 lines, man
  8. Room Clerk 17 lines, man
  9. Mrs. Singleman 9 lines, woman
  10. Woman 8 lines, woman
Full cast, 45 people
  • Dustin Hoffman as Ben Braddock
  • Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson
  • Katharine Ross as Elaine Robinson
  • William Daniels as Mr. Braddock
  • Murray Hamilton as Mr. Robinson
  • Elizabeth Wilson as Mrs. Braddock
  • Buck Henry as Room Clerk
  • Brian Avery as Carl Smith
  • Walter Brooke as Mr. McGuire
  • Norman Fell as Mr. McCleery
  • Alice Ghostley as Mrs. Singleman
  • Marion Lorne as Miss DeWitte
  • Eddra Gale as Woman on Bus
  • Frank Baker as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
  • George Bruggeman as Church Member (uncredited)
  • Garrett Cassell as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
  • Buddy Douglas as Hotel Lobby Bellhop (uncredited)
  • Richard Dreyfuss as Boarding House Resident (uncredited)
  • Bob Eubanks as The Newlywed Game Host (voice) (uncredited)
  • Mike Farrell as Hotel Lobby Bellhop (uncredited)
  • Bob Folkerson as Bus Passenger (uncredited)
  • Elisabeth Fraser as Party Guest (uncredited)
  • Donald F. Glut as College Student (uncredited)
  • Laurence Haddon as Mr. Carlson (uncredited)
  • Harry Holcombe as Minister (uncredited)
  • Jonathan Hole as Mr. Singleman (uncredited)
  • Robert P. Lieb as Mr. Loomis (Party Guest) (uncredited)
  • Elaine May as Girl with Note for Benjamin (uncredited)
  • Eve McVeagh as Mrs. Carlson (Party Guest) (uncredited)
  • Lainie Miller as Night Club Stripper (uncredited)
  • Ben Murphy as Shaving Fraternity Brother (uncredited)
  • Stuart Nisbet as Birthday Party Guest in Yellow Shirt (uncredited)
  • William H. O'Brien as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
  • Sam O'Steen as Man on Bus (uncredited)
  • Noam Pitlik as Gas Station Attendant (uncredited)
  • Anthony Redondo as Bus Passenger (uncredited)
  • Clark Ross as Waiter (uncredited)
  • Bernard Sell as Party Guest (uncredited)
  • Hal Taggart as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
  • Kevin Tighe as Carter (Showering Fraternity Brother) (uncredited)
  • Arthur Tovey as Hotel Guest (uncredited)
  • Eleanore Vogel as Bus Passenger (uncredited)
  • Wally West as Bus Passenger (uncredited)
  • David Westberg as Valet Parker (uncredited)
  • Maris Wrixon as Welcoming Party Guest (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 1% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 168

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 400
5 to 802
9 to 1202
13 to 16518
17 to 201943
21 to 246764
25 to 281255
29 to 32121
33 to 363338
37 to 401638
41 to 4407
45 to 482122
49 to 5200
53 to 56121151
57 to 6048
61 to 641119
65 to 681316
69 to 721216
73 to 762424
77 to 801715
81 to 8400
85 to 88719
89 to 9224
93 to 9654
97 to 100014
101 to 10403
105 to 1081223
109 to 11200
113 to 1163148
117 to 1201621
121 to 1241015
125 to 128032
129 to 13236
133 to 13602
137 to 14076
141 to 14435
145 to 148016
149 to 15259
153 to 15601
157 to 16003
161 to 16446
165 to 16814

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.
ELAINE: No. STRIPPER: Hey!
MRS. ROBINSON: Elaine - it's too late. ELAINE: Not for me.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 38 are women's.

482 lines from women, 800 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 31 men in the cast. 7 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 7 of 1,294. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 38 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 31% of the words (3,007), men 69% (6,763). Women have 38% 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

1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 7% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Mike Nichols (man)
Written by
Calder Willingham (man), Buck Henry (man)
From the novel by
Charles Webb (man)
Produced by
Lawrence Turman (man)
Shot by
Robert Surtees (man)
Edited by
Sam O'Steen (man)
Production design by
Richard Sylbert (man)
Costumes by
Patricia Zipprodt (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Camera

    0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Other crew

    1 women, 3 men

  • Production

    0 women, 4 men

  • Sound

    0 women, 4 men

  • Art

    0 women, 3 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Writing

    0 women, 3 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 36 on average. Men: 39 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Katharine Ross 27, Anne Bancroft 36, Elizabeth Wilson 46

Men

Brian Avery 27, Dustin Hoffman 30, Buck Henry 37, William Daniels 40, Norman Fell 43, Murray Hamilton 44, Walter Brooke 53

Exhibit H: the money

It made 35.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$3 million
Box office
$105 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 168 scenes and 1,294 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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