Passes the Bechdel test
The Perfect Storm
2000. Directed by Wolfgang Petersen, written by Sebastian Junger and William D. Wittliff.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 171. -
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 October 1991, a confluence of weather conditions combined to form a killer storm in the North Atlantic. Caught in the storm was the sword-fishing boat Andrea Gail. Magnificent foreshadowing and anticipation fill this true-life drama while minute details of the fishing boats, their gear and the weather are juxtaposed with the sea adventure.
- Released
- 30 Jun 2000
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 59 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 4 wins & 28 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Billy 174 lines, man
- Bobby 98 lines, man
- Murph 60 lines, man
- Bugsy 53 lines, man
- Chris 51 lines, woman
- Linda 40 lines, woman
- Ennis 31 lines, man
- Mitchell 28 lines, man
- Ethel 27 lines, woman
- Todd 24 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- George Clooney as Capt. Billy Tyne
- Mark Wahlberg as Bobby Shatford
- Diane Lane as Christina "Chris" Cotter
- John C. Reilly as Dale "Murp" Murphy
- William Fichtner as David "Sully" Sullivan
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Linda Greenlaw
- John Hawkes as Mike "Bugsy" Moran
- Dash Mihok as Sgt. Jeremy Mitchell
- Karen Allen as Melissa Brown
- Bob Gunton as Alexander McAnally III
- Cherry Jones as Edie Bailey
- Allen Payne as Alfred Pierre
- Josh Hopkins as Capt. Darryl Ennis
- Todd Kimsey as Lt. Rob Pettit
- Christopher McDonald as Todd Gross
- Michael Ironside as Bob Brown
- Rusty Schwimmer as Irene "Big Red" Johnson
- Janet Wright as Ethel Shatford
- Chris Palermo as Flight Engineer Borgers
- Wiley M. Pickett as Sgt. Millard Jones
- Hayden Tank as Dale Murphy, Jr.
- Merle Kennedy as Debra Murphy
- Jennifer Sommerfeld as Alfred Pierre's Girlfriend
- Joseph D. Reitman as Douglas Kosco
- Sandy Ward as Quentin - The Old Timer
- Melissa Samuels as Pam - Todd Gross' Assistant
- Steven Barr as Commander Brudnicki
- Billy Mayo as C-130 Pilot
- Marcio Rosario as Pool Player (uncredited)
- Brad Martin as Gloucester Fisherman #1 (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 171
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 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 18 | 13 |
| 9 to 12 | 6 | 58 |
| 13 to 16 | 19 | 34 |
| 17 to 20 | 18 | 38 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 11 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 8 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 14 |
| 33 to 36 | 15 | 27 |
| 37 to 40 | 4 | 6 |
| 41 to 44 | 6 | 6 |
| 45 to 48 | 4 | 25 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 11 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 to 60 | 10 | 17 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 19 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 23 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 2 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 6 |
| 77 to 80 | 3 | 50 |
| 81 to 84 | 11 | 9 |
| 85 to 88 | 8 | 3 |
| 89 to 92 | 5 | 9 |
| 93 to 96 | 0 | 15 |
| 97 to 100 | 11 | 37 |
| 101 to 104 | 2 | 2 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 8 |
| 109 to 112 | 2 | 12 |
| 113 to 116 | 2 | 6 |
| 117 to 120 | 7 | 8 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 8 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 9 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 5 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 4 |
| 137 to 140 | 3 | 3 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 4 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 19 |
| 149 to 152 | 11 | 12 |
| 153 to 156 | 0 | 7 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 15 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 13 |
| 165 to 168 | 0 | 1 |
| 169 to 171 | 3 | 1 |
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.
MELISSA: Edie, the Air Nationel Guard --~- Edie pointa to the H-60, THWAPPING toward them out of the stors, like a giant dragonfly: EDIE: ~- They‘re here!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 23 are women's.
169 lines from women, 578 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 21 men in the cast. 9 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 824.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 70 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 (1,791), men 79% (6,544). 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
Two women
11
Two men
66
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Wolfgang Petersen (man)
- Written by
- William D. Wittliff (man)
- From the novel by
- Sebastian Junger (man)
- Produced by
- Gail Katz (woman), Wolfgang Petersen (man), Paula Weinstein (woman)
- Shot by
- John Seale (man)
- Edited by
- Richard Francis-Bruce (man)
- Music by
- James Horner (man)
- Production design by
- William Sandell (man)
- Costumes by
- Erica Edell Phillips (woman)
- Cast by
- Janet Hirshenson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 22 men, 27 not listed
-
Sound
6 women, 31 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
11 women, 8 men, 24 not listed
-
Visual Effects
2 women, 10 men, 18 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 11 men, 17 not listed
-
Camera
2 women, 11 men, 16 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
6 women, 2 men, 13 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 7 men, 10 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Diane Lane 35, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio 41, Karen Allen 48
Men
Dash Mihok 26, Mark Wahlberg 29, John C. Reilly 35, George Clooney 39, John Hawkes 40, William Fichtner 43, Bob Gunton 54
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $130 million
- Box office
- $329 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 171 scenes and 824 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
