Fails the Bechdel test
The Iron Giant
1999. Directed by Brad Bird, written by Tim McCanlies and Brad Bird and Ted Hughes.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 2 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 0 out of 3.
The film
This is the story of a nine-year-old boy named Hogarth Hughes who makes friends with an innocent alien giant robot that came from outer space. Meanwhile, a paranoid U.S. Government agent named Kent Mansley arrives in town, determined to destroy the giant at all costs. It's up to Hogarth to protect him by keeping him at Dean McCoppin's place in the junkyard.
- Released
- 06 Aug 1999
- Genres
- Animation, Action, Adventure
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 8.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 85 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 BAFTA Award. 20 wins & 18 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Hogarth 274 lines, man
- Kent 93 lines, man
- Dean 77 lines, man
- Annie 73 lines, woman
- Giant 32 lines, man
- Chief 11 lines
- General 11 lines
- Captain 7 lines
- Farmer 6 lines
- First Kid 4 lines
Full cast, 30 people
- Jennifer Aniston as Annie Hughes (voice)
- Harry Connick Jr. as Dean McCoppin (voice)
- Vin Diesel as The Iron Giant (voice)
- James Gammon as Foreman Marv Loach / Floyd Turbeaux (voice)
- Cloris Leachman as Mrs. Lynley Tensedge (voice)
- Christopher McDonald as Kent Mansley (voice)
- John Mahoney as General Rogard (voice)
- Eli Marienthal as Hogarth Hughes (voice)
- M. Emmet Walsh as Earl Stutz (voice)
- Jack Angel as Additional Voices (voice)
- Bob Bergen as Additional Voices (voice)
- Mary Kay Bergman as Additional Voices (voice)
- Michael Bird as Additional Voices (voice)
- Devon Cole Borisoff as Additional Voices (voice)
- Rodger Bumpass as Additional Voices (voice)
- Robert Clotworthy as Additional Voices (voice)
- Jennifer Darling as Additional Voices (voice)
- Zack Eginton as Additional Voices (voice)
- Paul Eiding as Additional Voices (voice)
- Bill Farmer as Additional Voices (voice)
- Charles Howerton as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ollie Johnston as Additional Voices (voice)
- Sherry Lynn as Additional Voices (voice)
- Mickie McGowan as Additional Voices (voice)
- Ryan O'Donohue as Additional Voices (voice)
- Phil Proctor as Additional Voices (voice)
- Frank Thomas as Additional Voices (voice)
- Patti Tippo as Additional Voices (voice)
- Brian Tochi as Additional Voices (voice)
- Carole Jeghers as Firefighter Woman (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 117
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 13 | 14 |
| 10 to 12 | 12 | 27 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 15 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 3 |
| 19 to 21 | 8 | 6 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 6 | 19 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 38 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 7 |
| 34 to 36 | 8 | 15 |
| 37 to 39 | 5 | 18 |
| 40 to 42 | 1 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 11 |
| 46 to 48 | 1 | 20 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 19 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 13 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 34 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 2 |
| 64 to 66 | 2 | 31 |
| 67 to 69 | 0 | 9 |
| 70 to 72 | 3 | 52 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 16 |
| 76 to 78 | 9 | 14 |
| 79 to 81 | 3 | 26 |
| 82 to 84 | 0 | 28 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 6 |
| 91 to 93 | 3 | 2 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 2 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 6 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 13 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 7 |
| 106 to 108 | 2 | 2 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 1 |
| 115 to 117 | 1 | 0 |
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, 15 are women's.
87 lines from women, 484 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
8 women and 22 men in the cast. 2 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 11 of 648.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 96 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (795), men 84% (4,248). Women have 15% 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
40
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Brad Bird (man)
- Written by
- Tim McCanlies (man)
- Produced by
- Allison Abbate (woman), Des McAnuff (man)
- Shot by
- Steven Wilzbach (man)
- Edited by
- Darren T. Holmes (man)
- Music by
- Michael Kamen (man)
- Production design by
- Mark Whiting (man)
- Cast by
- Marci Liroff (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
3 women, 36 men, 41 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 5 men, 35 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 18 men, 9 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 19 men, 5 not listed
-
Other crew
2 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men, 13 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 52 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jennifer Aniston 30, Cloris Leachman 73
Men
Eli Marienthal 13, Harry Connick Jr. 31, Vin Diesel 32, Christopher McDonald 44, James Gammon 59, John Mahoney 59, M. Emmet Walsh 64, Jack Angel 68
Exhibit G: the money
It made 47% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $50 million
- Box office
- $23.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 117 scenes and 648 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
