Passes the Bechdel test

The Grifters

Name: The Grifters
Released: 1991

1991. Directed by Stephen Frears, written by Jim Thompson and Donald E. Westlake.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 154.
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

Lilly works for a bookie, placing bets to change the odds at the track. When her son is hospitalized after an unsuccessful con job and resultant beating, she finds that even an absentee parent has feelings for her child. This causes her own job to go wrong as well. Each of them faces the downside of the grift.

Released: 25 Jan 1991
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 6.8 / 10
Metascore: 86 / 100
Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars. 11 wins & 21 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Roy 262 lines, man
Lilly 158 lines, woman
Myra 147 lines, woman
Bobo 37 lines, man
Cole 34 lines, man
Kaggs 25 lines, man
Clerk 18 lines, woman
Simms 18 lines
Pierson 17 lines, man
Jeweler 12 lines, man

Full cast, 36 people

Anjelica Huston as Lilly Dillon
John Cusack as Roy Dillon
Annette Bening as Myra Langtry
Jan Munroe as Guy in bar
Robert Weems as Racetrack Announcer
Stephen Tobolowsky as Jeweler
Jimmy Noonan as Bartender
Richard Holden as Cop
Henry Jones as Sims
Michael Laskin as Irv
Eddie Jones as Mintz
Sandy Baron as Doctor
Lou Hancock as Nurse
Gailard Sartain as Joe
Noelle Harling as Nurse Carol Flynn
Ivette Soler as Maid
Pat Hingle as Bobo Justus
Paul Adelstein as Sailor - Young Paul
Jeremy Piven as Sailor - Freshman
Gregory Sporleder as Sailor - Spooney
David Sinaiko as Sailor - Stinky
Jeff Perry as Drunk
Jon Gries as Drunk's Friend
Micole Mercurio as Waitress
Charles Napier as Gloucester Hebbing
J.T. Walsh as Cole
Teresa Gilmore as Receptionist 1
Elizabeth Ann Feeley as Receptionist 2
Billy Ray Sharkey as FBI man
Frances Bay as Arizona Motel Clerk
Xander Berkeley as Lt. Pierson
John Gillespie as Bartender (uncredited)
Juliet Landau as Young Lilly (uncredited)
Sy Richardson as Cab Driver (uncredited)
Martin Scorsese as Opening voice-over (uncredited)
Lee Hollingsworth as Dog Race Spectator (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 154

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 4	1	0
5 to 8	1	0
9 to 12	0	0
13 to 16	6	7
17 to 20	4	11
21 to 24	0	2
25 to 28	8	8
29 to 32	9	13
33 to 36	0	9
37 to 40	3	9
41 to 44	5	5
45 to 48	34	14
49 to 52	38	34
53 to 56	20	26
57 to 60	1	1
61 to 64	12	37
65 to 68	4	9
69 to 72	0	7
73 to 76	24	16
77 to 80	3	0
81 to 84	14	27
85 to 88	6	7
89 to 92	3	16
93 to 96	14	12
97 to 100	6	6
101 to 104	19	14
105 to 108	9	11
109 to 112	22	34
113 to 116	2	3
117 to 120	0	2
121 to 124	12	1
125 to 128	0	0
129 to 132	2	0
133 to 136	4	0
137 to 140	0	26
141 to 144	0	9
145 to 148	0	0
149 to 152	28	26
153 to 154	23	24

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.

LILLY: Come on, kid, let's see if there's any food in the house. CLERK: Hah.

LILLY: You always did. MYRA: "Down to the track?"

LILLY: Should my ears be burning? MYRA: They might as well. LILLY: I heard those skirts were coming back. MYRA: Get well soon.

CLERK: Something wrong? I'm sorry. I thought you were the other lady. MYRA: No. I'm me.

CLERK: I'll give you one oh seven. That's a very nice room, very handy, in the front, right by the pool. MYRA: Oh, don't you have something around back, where it's quieter? CLERK: Everybody wants the back tonight. MYRA: I guess everybody wants privacy.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 44 are women's.

337 lines from women, 426 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 21 men in the cast. 8 women and 13 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 817. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 39 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 50% of the words (3,683), men 50% (3,696). Women have 44% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 34% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Stephen Frears (man)
Written by: Donald E. Westlake (man)
From the novel by: Jim Thompson (man)
Produced by: Robert A. Harris (man), Martin Scorsese (man), Jim Painten (man)
Shot by: Oliver Stapleton (man)
Edited by: Mick Audsley (man)
Music by: Elmer Bernstein (man)
Production design by: Dennis Gassner (man)
Costumes by: Richard Hornung (man)
Cast by: Victoria Thomas (woman), Juliet Taylor (woman)