Passes the Bechdel test
The Hills Have Eyes
1977. Directed by Wes Craven, written by Wes Craven.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 132. -
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
A family going to California accidentally goes through an Air Testing range closed to the public. They crash and are stranded in a desert. They are being stalked by a group of people, which have not emerged into modern times.
- Released
- 22 Jul 1977
- Genres
- Horror, Thriller
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bobby 112 lines, man
- Doug 96 lines, man
- Brenda 56 lines, woman
- Lynne 47 lines, woman
- Ethel 46 lines, woman
- Bob 15 lines, man
- Pa Pa 15 lines, man
- Ma Ma 14 lines, woman
- Pluto 14 lines, man
- Ruby 11 lines, woman
Full cast, 14 people
- Susan Lanier as Brenda Carter
- Robert Houston as Bobby Carter
- Martin Speer as Doug Wood
- Dee Wallace as Lynne Wood
- Russ Grieve as Big Bob Carter
- John Steadman as Fred
- James Whitworth as Jupiter
- Virginia Vincent as Ethel Carter
- Lance Gordon as Mars
- Michael Berryman as Pluto
- Janus Blythe as Ruby
- Cordy Clark as Mama
- Brenda Marinoff as Katy
- Peter Locke as Mercury
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 132
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 3 | 5 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 19 | 14 |
| 7 to 9 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 7 | 8 |
| 13 to 15 | 36 | 16 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 1 | 2 |
| 25 to 27 | 12 | 0 |
| 28 to 30 | 17 | 5 |
| 31 to 33 | 15 | 17 |
| 34 to 36 | 3 | 13 |
| 37 to 39 | 1 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 7 | 6 |
| 43 to 45 | 5 | 12 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 4 | 6 |
| 52 to 54 | 1 | 2 |
| 55 to 57 | 1 | 1 |
| 58 to 60 | 3 | 13 |
| 61 to 63 | 4 | 0 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 7 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 2 |
| 79 to 81 | 5 | 12 |
| 82 to 84 | 6 | 4 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 24 |
| 88 to 90 | 3 | 2 |
| 91 to 93 | 4 | 30 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 9 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 5 |
| 100 to 102 | 6 | 8 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 8 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 2 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 1 |
| 112 to 114 | 2 | 7 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 3 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 1 |
| 121 to 123 | 1 | 0 |
| 124 to 126 | 1 | 1 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 0 |
| 130 to 132 | 0 | 3 |
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.
ETHEL: Calling Smokey the Bear, calling Smokey the Bear, this is Moby Grape... hello? ETHEL: Maypole, maypole, this is Moby Grape calling. Hello there, um... LYNNE: It's "Mayday," Mom, not "Maypole." ETHEL: Oh.
LYNNE: We tried. Nothing. ETHEL: Once it sounded like the thing was an obscene phone caller.
ETHEL: I knew when you smelled food you'd show up! LYNNE: Find anything?
LYNNE: Where the fucking hell you think you're going with my kid? ETHEL: Get out of here, you nigger!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 41 are women's.
181 lines from women, 256 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
6 women and 7 men in the cast. 4 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 474.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 35% of the words (1,419), men 65% (2,618). Women have 41% 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
13
Two men
13
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 8 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Wes Craven (man)
- Written by
- Wes Craven (man)
- Produced by
- Peter Locke (man)
- Shot by
- Eric Saarinen (man)
- Edited by
- Wes Craven (man)
- Music by
- Don Peake (man)
- Costumes by
- Joanne Jaffe (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Gus Schirmer (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 6 men, 10 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 0 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Dee Wallace 28, Susan Lanier 29, Virginia Vincent 53
Men
Robert Houston 21, Michael Berryman 28, Martin Speer 36, James Whitworth 41, Russ Grieve 53, John Steadman 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 71.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $350,000
- Box office
- $25 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 132 scenes and 474 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
