Fails the Bechdel test

The Lost Boys

Name: The Lost Boys
Released: 1987

1987. Directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Jan Fischer and James Jeremias and Jeffrey Boam.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 3 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

A mother and her two sons move to a small coast town in California. The town is plagued by bikers and some mysterious deaths. The younger boy makes friends with two other boys who claim to be vampire hunters while the older boy is drawn into the gang of bikers by a beautiful girl. The older boy starts sleeping days and staying out all night while the younger boy starts getting into trouble because of his friends' obsession.

Released: 31 Jul 1987
Genres: Comedy, Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 63 / 100
Awards: 3 wins & 5 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Sam 150 lines, man
Michael 127 lines, man
Lucy 98 lines, woman
Edgar 62 lines, man
David 53 lines, man
Star 52 lines, woman
Max 44 lines, man
Grandpa 35 lines, man
Alan 34 lines, man
Laddie 8 lines, man

Full cast, 35 people

Jason Patric as Michael
Corey Haim as Sam
Dianne Wiest as Lucy
Barnard Hughes as Grandpa
Edward Herrmann as Max
Kiefer Sutherland as David
Jami Gertz as Star
Corey Feldman as Edgar Frog
Jamison Newlander as Alan Frog
Brooke McCarter as Paul
Billy Wirth as Dwayne
Alex Winter as Marko
Chance Michael Corbitt as Laddie
Alexander Bacan Chapman as Greg
Nori Morgan as Shelly
Todd Feder as Surf Nazi #1
Christopher Peters as Surf Nazi #2
Keith Butterfield as Surf Nazi #3
Gerald Younggren as Surf Nazi #4
Eric Graves as Surf Nazi #5
J. Dinan Myrtetus as Security Guard
Kelly Jo Minter as Maria
Timmy Cappello as Beach Concert Star
Jim Turner as Gas Station Owner
Tony Cain as Lost Child
Melanie Bishop as Child's Mother
Nicole Vigil as Girl on Boardwalk (uncredited)
Sandra E. Garcia as Runaway #1
Ian Guindon as Runaway #2
Jane Bare as Frog Mother
B. Lowenberg as Frog Father
Captain Colourz as Tattoo Man
Inez Pandalfi as Security Guard's Wife
Douglas Mellor as (uncredited)
Bill Baker as Blonde Surfer Guy / Blonde Man at Christening (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 175

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	0	3
5 to 8	5	6
9 to 12	12	22
13 to 16	2	15
17 to 20	13	25
21 to 24	3	6
25 to 28	12	12
29 to 32	3	12
33 to 36	0	2
37 to 40	8	35
41 to 44	0	14
45 to 48	0	32
49 to 52	14	40
53 to 56	4	10
57 to 60	0	9
61 to 64	5	8
65 to 68	0	0
69 to 72	0	13
73 to 76	0	15
77 to 80	2	10
81 to 84	2	2
85 to 88	3	2
89 to 92	0	0
93 to 96	2	4
97 to 100	12	22
101 to 104	4	11
105 to 108	12	37
109 to 112	8	38
113 to 116	3	10
117 to 120	0	1
121 to 124	0	5
125 to 128	0	5
129 to 132	0	32
133 to 136	6	6
137 to 140	1	8
141 to 144	3	8
145 to 148	0	0
149 to 152	0	0
153 to 156	2	5
157 to 160	1	12
161 to 164	0	5
165 to 168	3	7
169 to 172	6	20
173 to 175	2	4

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, 22 are women's.

153 lines from women, 533 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

9 women and 22 men in the cast. 3 women and 14 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 687. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 48 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 23% of the words (1,250), men 77% (4,098). Women have 22% 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

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Joel Schumacher (man)
Written by: James Jeremias (man), Jeffrey Boam (man), Jan Fischer (gender not listed)
Produced by: Harvey Bernhard (man)
Shot by: Michael Chapman (man)
Edited by: Robert Brown (man)
Music by: Thomas Newman (man)
Production design by: Bo Welch (man)
Costumes by: Susan Becker (woman)
Cast by: Marion Dougherty (woman)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

5 women, 23 men, 19 not listed
Sound

0 women, 10 men, 6 not listed
Camera

1 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
Art

1 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
Production

2 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
Directing

0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
Editing

1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 30 on average. Men: 29 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Jami Gertz 21, Dianne Wiest 39

Men

Corey Haim 15, Corey Feldman 16, Jamison Newlander 17, Kiefer Sutherland 20, Jason Patric 21, Brooke McCarter 24, Edward Herrmann 44, Barnard Hughes 72

Exhibit G: the money

It made 3.8 times what it cost.

Budget: $8.5 million
Box office: $32.2 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 175 scenes and 687 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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