Passes the Bechdel test
The Last Picture Show
1971. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, written by Larry McMurtry and Peter Bogdanovich.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
8 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 104. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
In tiny Anarene, Texas, in the lull between World War Two and the Korean Conflict, Sonny and Duane are best friends. Enduring that awkward period of life between boyhood and manhood, the two pass their time the best way they know how -- with the movie house, football, and girls. Jacy is Duane's steady, wanted by every boy in school, and she knows it. Her daddy is rich and her mom is good looking and loose. It's the general consensus that whoever wins Jacy's heart will be set for life. But Anarene is dying a quiet death as folks head for the big cities to make their livings and raise their kids. The boys are torn between a future somewhere out there beyond the borders of town or making do with their inheritance of a run-down pool hall and a decrepit movie house -- the legacy of their friend and mentor, Sam the Lion. As high school graduation approaches, they learn some difficult lessons about love, loneliness, and jealousy. Then folks stop attending the second-run features at the movie house and the time comes for the last picture show. With the closure of the movie house, the boys feel that a stage of their lives is closing. They stand uneasily on the threshold of the rest of their lives. (The movie was adapted from the novel by Larry McMurtry).
- Released
- 22 Oct 1971
- Genres
- Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 8 / 10
- Metascore
- 93 / 100
- Awards
- Won 2 Oscars. 19 wins & 22 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sonny 178 lines, man
- Jacy 107 lines, woman
- Duane 94 lines, man
- Lois 48 lines, woman
- Ruth 34 lines, woman
- Sam 30 lines, man
- Genevieve 23 lines, woman
- Leroy 17 lines, man
- Charlene 16 lines, woman
- Abilene 14 lines, man
Full cast, 48 people
- Timothy Bottoms as Sonny Crawford
- Cybill Shepherd as Jacy Farrow
- Jeff Bridges as Duane Jackson
- Cloris Leachman as Ruth Popper
- Ellen Burstyn as Lois Farrow
- Ben Johnson as Sam the Lion
- Randy Quaid as Lester Marlow
- Clu Gulager as Abilene
- Eileen Brennan as Genevieve
- Sam Bottoms as Billy
- Sharon Ullrick as Charlene Duggs
- Bill Thurman as Coach Popper
- Jessie Lee Fulton as Miss Mosey
- Helena Humann as Jimmie Sue
- Barc Doyle as Joe Bob Blanton
- Gary Brockette as Bobby Sheen
- John Hillerman as English teacher
- Joe Heathcock as Sheriff
- Kimberly Hyde as Annie-Annie Martin
- Noble Willingham as Chester
- Janice O'Malley as Mrs. Clarg
- Grover Lewis as Sonny's father
- Peter Bogdanovich as DJ (voice) (uncredited)
- Loyd Catlett as Leroy
- Robert Glenn as Gene Farrow
- Floyd Mahaney as Oklahoma Patrolman
- Joye Hash as Mrs. Jackson
- Gordon Hurst as Monroe
- Charles Seybert as Andy Fanner
- Frank Marshall as Tommy Logan
- Tom Martin as Larry
- Stuart Spates as Roughneck in Truck (uncredited)
- Marjorie Jay as Winnie Snips
- Pamela Keller as Jackie Lee French
- Mike Hosford as Johnny
- Faye Jordan as Nurse
- Rebecca Ulrick as Marlene
- Merrill Shepherd as Agnes
- Buddy Wood as Bud
- Kenny Wood as Ken
- Leon Brown as Cowboy in Cafe
- Bobby McGriff as Truck Driver
- Jack Mueller as Oil Pumper
- Robert Arnold as Brother Blanton
- Otis Elmore as 1st Mechanic
- Charles Salmon as Roughneck Driver
- George Gaulden as Cowboy
- Will Morris Hannis as Gas Station Man
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 104
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 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 15 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 13 |
| 10 to 12 | 3 | 1 |
| 13 to 15 | 7 | 4 |
| 16 to 18 | 10 | 9 |
| 19 to 21 | 6 | 14 |
| 22 to 24 | 3 | 3 |
| 25 to 27 | 29 | 4 |
| 28 to 30 | 16 | 12 |
| 31 to 33 | 31 | 42 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 13 |
| 37 to 39 | 5 | 1 |
| 40 to 42 | 18 | 32 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 25 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 24 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 13 | 8 |
| 58 to 60 | 2 | 1 |
| 61 to 63 | 6 | 7 |
| 64 to 66 | 8 | 10 |
| 67 to 69 | 15 | 4 |
| 70 to 72 | 6 | 4 |
| 73 to 75 | 6 | 42 |
| 76 to 78 | 8 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 17 | 14 |
| 82 to 84 | 11 | 8 |
| 85 to 87 | 10 | 13 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 3 | 17 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 16 |
| 97 to 99 | 0 | 4 |
| 100 to 102 | 1 | 1 |
| 103 to 104 | 4 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
LOIS: Hi, Ruth! JACY: It's too hot in here. Let's go outside for a while. JACY: I don't want a lot of drunk hillbi+lies tromping on my feet.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 40 are women's.
245 lines from women, 371 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
8 women and 16 men in the cast. 10 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 55 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 45% of the words (4,508), men 55% (5,530). Women have 40% 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
7
Two men
28
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Peter Bogdanovich (man)
- Written by
- Larry McMurtry (man), Peter Bogdanovich (man)
- From the novel by
- Larry McMurtry (man)
- Produced by
- Stephen J. Friedman (man), Bob Rafelson (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Surtees (man)
- Edited by
- Peter Bogdanovich (man), Donn Cambern (man)
- Production design by
- Polly Platt (woman)
- Costumes by
- Polly Platt (woman)
- Cast by
- Ross Brown (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 29 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Cybill Shepherd 21, Ellen Burstyn 38, Eileen Brennan 39, Cloris Leachman 45
Men
Sam Bottoms 15, Timothy Bottoms 20, Jeff Bridges 21, Randy Quaid 21, Clu Gulager 42, Ben Johnson 53
Exhibit H: the money
It made 22.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1.3 million
- Box office
- $29.1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 104 scenes and 697 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
