Fails the Bechdel test
The Great Escape
1963. Directed by John Sturges, written by Paul Brickhill and James Clavell and W.R. Burnett.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
Based on a true story, a group of allied escape artist-type prisoners-of-war are all put in an "escape proof" camp. Their leader decides to try to take out several hundred all at once. The first half of the movie is played for comedy, as the prisoners mostly outwit their jailers to dig the escape tunnel. The second half is high adventure as they use planes, trains, and boats to get out of occupied Europe.
- Released
- 04 Jul 1963
- Genres
- Adventure, Drama, Thriller
- Rated
- Approved
- IMDb
- 8.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 86 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 12 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bartlett 120 lines, man
- Hendley 70 lines, man
- Ramsey 61 lines, man
- Hilts 58 lines, man
- Macdonald 50 lines, man
- Von Luger 40 lines, man
- Blythe 36 lines, man
- Willie 30 lines, man
- Danny 28 lines, man
- Sedgwick 27 lines, man
Full cast, 27 people
- Steve McQueen as Hilts 'The Cooler King'
- James Garner as Hendley 'The Scrounger'
- Richard Attenborough as Bartlett 'Big X'
- James Donald as Ramsey 'The SBO'
- Charles Bronson as Danny 'Tunnel King'
- Donald Pleasence as Blythe 'The Forger'
- James Coburn as Sedgwick 'Manufacturer'
- Hannes Messemer as Von Luger 'The Kommandant'
- David McCallum as Ashley-Pitt 'Dispersal'
- Gordon Jackson as MacDonald 'Intelligence'
- John Leyton as Willie 'Tunnel King'
- Angus Lennie as Ives 'The Mole'
- Nigel Stock as Cavendish 'The Surveyor'
- Robert Graf as Werner 'The Ferret'
- Jud Taylor as Goff
- Hans Reiser as Herr Kuhn
- Harry Riebauer as Stratwitch
- William Russell as Sorren
- Robert Freitag as Capt. Posen
- Ulrich Beiger as Preissen
- George Mikell as Lt. Dietrich
- Lawrence Montaigne as Haynes ('Diversions')
- Robert Desmond as Griffith 'Tailor'
- Til Kiwe as Frick
- Heinz Weiss as Kramer
- Tom Adams as Dai Nimmo ('Diversions')
- Karl-Otto Alberty as S.S. Officer Steinach
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 6 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 256
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 | 1 |
| 7 to 12 | 0 | 73 |
| 13 to 18 | 0 | 42 |
| 19 to 24 | 0 | 61 |
| 25 to 30 | 0 | 31 |
| 31 to 36 | 0 | 29 |
| 37 to 42 | 0 | 8 |
| 43 to 48 | 0 | 51 |
| 49 to 54 | 0 | 26 |
| 55 to 60 | 0 | 22 |
| 61 to 66 | 0 | 4 |
| 67 to 72 | 0 | 25 |
| 73 to 78 | 0 | 21 |
| 79 to 84 | 0 | 4 |
| 85 to 90 | 0 | 32 |
| 91 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 102 | 0 | 0 |
| 103 to 108 | 0 | 21 |
| 109 to 114 | 0 | 22 |
| 115 to 120 | 0 | 23 |
| 121 to 126 | 0 | 3 |
| 127 to 132 | 0 | 29 |
| 133 to 138 | 0 | 12 |
| 139 to 144 | 0 | 0 |
| 145 to 150 | 0 | 26 |
| 151 to 156 | 0 | 18 |
| 157 to 162 | 0 | 16 |
| 163 to 168 | 0 | 6 |
| 169 to 174 | 0 | 2 |
| 175 to 180 | 0 | 9 |
| 181 to 186 | 0 | 4 |
| 187 to 192 | 0 | 12 |
| 193 to 198 | 0 | 3 |
| 199 to 204 | 0 | 0 |
| 205 to 210 | 0 | 2 |
| 211 to 216 | 0 | 6 |
| 217 to 222 | 0 | 3 |
| 223 to 228 | 0 | 9 |
| 229 to 234 | 0 | 19 |
| 235 to 240 | 0 | 13 |
| 241 to 246 | 0 | 8 |
| 247 to 252 | 0 | 11 |
| 253 to 256 | 0 | 35 |
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, 0 are women's.
0 lines from women, 742 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
0 women and 27 men in the cast. 0 women and 38 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
No woman speaks.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 831 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 0% of the words (0), men 100% (11,932).
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
0
Two men
89
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Sturges (man)
- Written by
- James Clavell (man), W.R. Burnett (man)
- From the novel by
- Paul Brickhill (man)
- Produced by
- John Sturges (man), James Clavell (man)
- Shot by
- Daniel L. Fapp (man)
- Edited by
- Ferris Webster (man)
- Music by
- Elmer Bernstein (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 4 men
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
David McCallum 29, Steve McQueen 33, James Coburn 34, James Garner 35, Richard Attenborough 39, Hannes Messemer 39, Gordon Jackson 39, Charles Bronson 41, Donald Pleasence 43, James Donald 46
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $4 million
- Box office
- $11.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 256 scenes and 831 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
