Passes the Bechdel test
The Outsiders
1983. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Kathleen Rowell and S.E. Hinton.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 8. -
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
It is 1964, and Tulsa, Oklahoma is divided in two along social lines. The youths of each side form gangs in line with these two camps: the working class Greasers and the wealthier South Side gang, the Socs. The two sides use any opportunity to niggle each other and whenever they meet, there is friction. Then one night, a gang of Socs attack two Greasers with a knife. This sets off a chain of events.
- Released
- 25 Mar 1983
- Genres
- Crime, Drama
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7 / 10
- Metascore
- 45 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Contd 63 lines, man
- Ponyboy 54 lines, man
- Dallas 42 lines, man
- Johnny 31 lines, man
- Sodapop 28 lines, man
- Cherry 24 lines, woman
- Darrel 20 lines, man
- Ponysoy 18 lines, man
- Pony Boy 15 lines, man
- Randy 9 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- C. Thomas Howell as Ponyboy Curtis
- Matt Dillon as Dallas Winston
- Ralph Macchio as Johnny Cade
- Patrick Swayze as Darrel Curtis
- Rob Lowe as Sodapop Curtis
- Emilio Estevez as Two-Bit Matthews
- Tom Cruise as Steve Randle
- Glenn Withrow as Tim Shepard
- Diane Lane as Cherry Valance
- Leif Garrett as Bob Sheldon
- Darren Dalton as Randy Anderson
- Michelle Meyrink as Marcia
- Tom Waits as Buck Merrill
- Gailard Sartain as Jerry
- William Smith as Store Clerk
- Tom Hillmann as Greaser in Concession Stand
- Hugh Walkinshaw as Soc in Concession Stand
- Sofia Coppola as Little Girl
- Teresa Wilkerson Hunt as Woman at Fire
- Linda Nystedt as Nurse
- S.E. Hinton as Nurse
- Brent Beesley as Suburb Guy
- John C. Meier as Paul
- Ed Jackson as Motorcycle Cop
- Daniel R. Suhart as Orderly
- Trey Callaway as Soc (uncredited)
- Ronald Colby as College Professor (uncredited)
- Flea as Soc (uncredited)
- Cam Neely as Soc (uncredited)
- Jonnie Parnell as Hospital Lab Tech (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 20% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 8
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 | 42 |
| 2 to 2 | 0 | 23 |
| 3 to 3 | 16 | 18 |
| 4 to 4 | 14 | 106 |
| 5 to 5 | 0 | 70 |
| 6 to 6 | 1 | 12 |
| 7 to 7 | 0 | 60 |
| 8 to 8 | 0 | 18 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
MARCIA: You want to do this? CHERRY: I came to see a movie, and I'n going to see a mvie.
MARCIA: That's the greaser that jockeys for the Slash J sometimes. CHERRY: You'd petter leave us alone, or I'll call the cops. 3/1/82
MARCIA: You don't Leek old enough te be going to high school. CHERRY: What's a nice, smart kid like you rumning around with trash like that for?
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 8 are women's.
31 lines from women, 349 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
5 women and 19 men in the cast. 3 women and 25 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 80 of 473.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 202 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 3% of the words (372), men 97% (12,709). Women have 8% 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
Two women
4
Two men
47
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Written by
- Kathleen Rowell (woman)
- From the novel by
- S.E. Hinton (woman)
- Produced by
- Fred Roos (man), Gray Frederickson (man), Francis Ford Coppola (man)
- Shot by
- Stephen H. Burum (man)
- Edited by
- Anne Goursaud (woman)
- Music by
- Carmine Coppola (man)
- Production design by
- Dean Tavoularis (man)
- Cast by
- Janet Hirshenson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 4 men
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 3 men
-
Art
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
2 women, 0 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 18 on average. Men: 22 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Diane Lane 18
Men
C. Thomas Howell 16, Matt Dillon 19, Rob Lowe 19, Emilio Estevez 20, Tom Cruise 20, Ralph Macchio 21, Leif Garrett 21, Glenn Withrow 29, Patrick Swayze 30
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $10 million
- Box office
- $33.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 8 scenes and 473 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
