Fails the Bechdel test
The Hudsucker Proxy
1994. Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, written by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen and Sam Raimi.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
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 1 out of 3.
The film
When Waring Hudsucker, head of hugely successful Hudsucker Industries, commits suicide, his board of directors, led by Sidney Mussberger, comes up with a brilliant plan to make a lot of money: appoint a moron to run the company. When the stock falls low enough, Sidney and friends can buy it up for pennies on the dollar, take over the company, and restore its fortunes. They choose idealistic Norville Barnes, who just started in the mail room. Norville is wacky enough to drive any company to ruin, but soon, tough reporter Amy Archer smells a rat and begins an undercover investigation of Hudsucker Industries.
- Released
- 11 Mar 1994
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 53 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Norville 226 lines, man
- Amy 141 lines, woman
- Mussburger 95 lines, man
- Buzz 48 lines, man
- Hudsucker 27 lines, man
- Moses 23 lines, man
- Veteran #1 21 lines
- Smitty 19 lines, man
- Veteran #2 19 lines
- Executive 17 lines, man
Full cast, 79 people
- Tim Robbins as Norville Barnes
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Amy Archer
- Paul Newman as Sidney J. Mussburger
- Charles Durning as Waring Hudsucker
- Jim True-Frost as Buzz
- John Mahoney as Chief
- Bill Cobbs as Moses
- Bruce Campbell as Smitty
- Harry Bugin as Aloysius
- John Seitz as Benny
- Joe Grifasi as Lou
- Roy Brocksmith as Board Member
- I.M. Hobson as Board Member (Myron Addison)
- John Scanlan as Board Member
- Jerome Dempsey as Board Member
- John Wylie as Board Member
- Gary Allen as Board Member
- Richard Woods as Board Member
- Peter McPherson as Board Member
- David Byrd as Dr. Hugo Bronfenbrenner
- Christopher Darga as Mail Room Orienter
- Patrick Cranshaw as Ancient Sorter
- Robert Weil as Mail Room Boss
- Mary Lou Rosato as Mussburger's Secretary
- Ernest Sarracino as Luigi the Tailor
- Eleanor Glockner as Mrs. Mussburger
- Kathleen Perkins as Mrs. Braithwaite
- Joseph Marcus as Sears Braithwaite of Bullard
- Peter Gallagher as Vic Tenetta
- Noble Willingham as Zebulon Cardozo
- Barbara Ann Grimes as Mrs. Cardozo
- Thom Noble as Thorstenson Finlandson
- Steve Buscemi as Beatnik Barman
- William Duff-Griffin as Newsreel Scientist
- Anna Nicole Smith as Za-Za
- Pamela Everett as Dream Dancer
- Arthur Bridgers as The Hula-Hoop Kid
- Sam Raimi as Hudsucker Brainstormer
- John Cameron as Hudsucker Brainstormer
- Skipper Duke as Mr. Grier
- Jay Kapner as Mr. Levin
- Jon Polito as Mr. Bumstead
- Richard Whiting as Ancient Puzzler
- Linda McCoy as Coffee Shop Waitress
- Stan Adams as Emcee
- John Goodman as Newsreel Announcer (voice)
- Joanne Pankow as Newsreel Secretary
- Mario Todisco as Norville's Goon
- Colin Fickes as Newsboy
- Dick Sasso as Drunk in Alley
- Jesse Brewer as Mailroom Screamer
- Philip Loch as Mailroom Screamer
- Stan Lichtenstein as Mailroom Screamer
- Todd Alcott as Mailroom Screamer
- Ace O'Connell as Mailroom Screamer
- Richard Schiff as Mailroom Screamer
- Frank Jeffreys as Mailroom Screamer
- Lou Criscuolo as Mailroom Screamer
- Michael Earl Reid as Mailroom Screamer
- Mike Starr as Newsroom Reporter
- David Hagar as Newsroom Reporter
- Willie Reale as Newsroom Reporter
- Harvey Meyer as Newsroom Reporter
- Tom Toner as Newsroom Reporter
- David Fawcett as Newsroom Reporter
- Jeff Still as Newsreel Reporter
- David Gould as Newsreel Reporter
- Gil Pearson as Newsreel Reporter
- Marc Garber as Newsreel Reporter
- David Massie as Newsreel Reporter
- Mark Jeffrey Miller as Newsreel Reporter
- Peter Siragusa as Newsreel Reporter
- Nelson George as Newsreel Reporter
- Mike Houlihan as Newsreel Reporter
- Ed Lillard as Newsreel Reporter
- Wantland Sandel as New Year's Mob
- James Deuter as New Year's Mob
- Roderick Peeples as New Year's Mob
- Cynthia Baker as New Year's Mob
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 18% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 25
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 1 | 0 | 19 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 91 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 59 |
| 4 to 4 | 0 | 9 |
| 5 to 5 | 9 | 35 |
| 6 to 6 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 to 7 | 1 | 0 |
| 8 to 8 | 57 | 64 |
| 9 to 9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 to 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 to 11 | 13 | 14 |
| 12 to 12 | 14 | 31 |
| 13 to 13 | 24 | 20 |
| 14 to 14 | 0 | 30 |
| 15 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 16 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 to 17 | 2 | 18 |
| 18 to 18 | 23 | 109 |
| 19 to 19 | 9 | 17 |
| 20 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 21 | 1 | 18 |
| 22 to 22 | 0 | 2 |
| 23 to 23 | 0 | 39 |
| 24 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 25 | 0 | 26 |
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, 20 are women's.
153 lines from women, 613 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 51 men in the cast. 4 women and 31 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 238 of 934.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 237 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (2,066), men 79% (7,569). Women have 20% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
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
32
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 13 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joel Coen (man), Ethan Coen (man)
- Written by
- Ethan Coen (man), Joel Coen (man), Sam Raimi (man)
- Produced by
- Ethan Coen (man)
- Shot by
- Roger Deakins (man)
- Edited by
- Thom Noble (man)
- Music by
- Carter Burwell (man)
- Production design by
- Dennis Gassner (man)
- Cast by
- Donna Isaacson (woman), John S. Lyons (man), Sandra Dawes (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 8 men, 10 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 9 men, 11 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 7 men, 8 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 9 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 6 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 52 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jennifer Jason Leigh 32
Men
Jim True-Frost 27, Tim Robbins 35, Bruce Campbell 35, John Mahoney 53, John Seitz 56, Bill Cobbs 59, Harry Bugin 65, Paul Newman 69, Charles Durning 71
Exhibit G: the money
It made 11% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $2.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 25 scenes and 934 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
