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Passes the Bechdel test

The Omen

1976. Directed by Richard Donner, written by David Seltzer and Harvey Bernhard.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    11 women characters. 5 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 121.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for The Omen

The film

Robert and Katherine Thorn seem to have it all. They are happily married and he is the US Ambassador to Rome, but they want nothing more than to have children. When Katharine has a stillborn child, Robert is approached by a priest at the hospital who suggests that they take a healthy newborn whose mother has just died in childbirth. Without telling his wife, he agrees. After relocating to London, strange events - and the ominous warnings of a priest - lead him to believe that the child he took from that Italian hospital is evil incarnate.

Released
25 Jun 1976
Genres
Horror, Mystery
Rated
R
IMDb
7.5 / 10
Metascore
63 / 100
Awards
Won 1 Oscar. 6 wins & 9 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Thorn 262 lines, man
  2. Jennings 117 lines, man
  3. Kathy 89 lines, woman
  4. Priest 38 lines, man
  5. Mrs. Baylock 25 lines, woman
  6. Bugenhagen 24 lines, man
  7. Monk 17 lines, man
  8. Katherine 16 lines, woman
  9. Spiletto 15 lines, man
  10. Greer 12 lines, man
Full cast, 40 people
  • Gregory Peck as Robert Thorn
  • Lee Remick as Katherine Thorn
  • David Warner as Jennings
  • Billie Whitelaw as Mrs. Baylock
  • Harvey Stephens as Damien
  • Patrick Troughton as Father Brennan
  • Martin Benson as Father Spiletto
  • Robert Rietti as Monk
  • Tommy Duggan as Priest
  • John Stride as The Psychiatrist
  • Anthony Nicholls as Dr. Becker
  • Holly Palance as Nanny
  • Roy Boyd as Reporter
  • Freda Dowie as Nun
  • Sheila Raynor as Mrs. Horton
  • Robert MacLeod as Horton
  • Bruce Boa as Thorn's Aide
  • Don Fellows as Thorn's Second Aide
  • Patrick McAlinney as Photographer
  • Dawn Perllman as Chambermaid
  • Nancy Mannigham as Nurse
  • Miki Iveria as First Nun
  • Betty McDowall as American Secretary
  • Nicholas Campbell as Marine
  • Burnell Tucker as Secret Service Man
  • Ronald Leigh-Hunt as Gentleman at Rugby Match
  • Guglielmo Spoletini as Italian Taxi Driver
  • Ya'ackov Banai as Arab
  • Harvey Bernhard as Man Walking Across Street (uncredited)
  • Michael Byrne as Monk (uncredited)
  • Leo McKern as Carl Bugenhagen (uncredited)
  • Bill Reimbold as General (uncredited)
  • Michael Leader as Rugby Match Spectator (uncredited)
  • Mary Burleigh as Rugby Match Spectator (uncredited)
  • Ann Barrass as Guest at Damien’s Birthday Party (uncredited)
  • Mark Baxter as Boy (uncredited)
  • Victor Harrington as Monk (uncredited)
  • Suzanne Heimer as Rugby Match Spectator (uncredited)
  • Walter Henry as Hospital Orderly (uncredited)
  • Trevor Wedlock as Man Buying Ice Cream at Safari Park (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 121

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 301
4 to 600
7 to 9027
10 to 1246
13 to 1597
16 to 182730
19 to 21124
22 to 24233
25 to 272419
28 to 30765
31 to 3300
34 to 3600
37 to 392549
40 to 42023
43 to 4500
46 to 4805
49 to 51127
52 to 54024
55 to 57910
58 to 6006
61 to 631027
64 to 66011
67 to 6902
70 to 72036
73 to 75033
76 to 7828
79 to 8121
82 to 84019
85 to 8703
88 to 90033
91 to 93039
94 to 9600
97 to 9900
100 to 10200
103 to 10500
106 to 10800
109 to 11110
112 to 11401
115 to 11702
118 to 12002
121 to 12107

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.
KATHY: I'll call to confirm that, MRS. BAYLOCK: That'll be fine. Here are my references, MRS. BAYLOCK: If you'll excuse me now. KATHY: {uneasy ) Yes, of course,

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.

156 lines from women, 530 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

11 women and 26 men in the cast. 5 women and 21 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 35 of 737. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 101 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 (1,703), men 79% (6,265). Women have 23% 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

1 of the 8 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Richard Donner (man)
Written by
David Seltzer (man)
Produced by
Harvey Bernhard (man), Charles Orme (man)
Shot by
Gilbert Taylor (man)
Edited by
Stuart Baird (man)
Music by
Jerry Goldsmith (man)
Cast by
Maude Spector (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Production

    1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 3 men

  • Costume & Make-Up

    2 women, 2 men

  • Sound

    0 women, 4 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 3 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 42 on average. Men: 46 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Lee Remick 40, Billie Whitelaw 44

Men

Harvey Stephens 5, David Warner 34, John Stride 39, Robert Rietti 53, Patrick Troughton 56, Martin Benson 57, Gregory Peck 60, Tommy Duggan 66

Exhibit H: the money

It made 21.8 times what it cost.

Budget
$2.8 million
Box office
$60.9 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 121 scenes and 737 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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