Fails the Bechdel test
The Producers
1968. Directed by Mel Brooks, written by Mel Brooks.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
0 / 3
Fails
-
No
1. At least two women
Fewer than two women characters. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
Down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock is forced to romance rich old ladies to finance his efforts. When timid accountant Leo Bloom reviews Max's accounting books, the two hit upon a way to make a fortune by producing a sure-fire flop. The play which is to be their gold mine? "Springtime for Hitler."
- Released
- 10 Nov 1968
- Genres
- Comedy, Music
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 96 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 4 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Bialystock 283 lines, man
- Bloom 155 lines, man
- Liebkind 104 lines, man
- De Bris 40 lines, man
- Little Old Lady 28 lines, woman
- Lsd 20 lines
- Carmen 14 lines, man
- Bialystock And Bloom 13 lines, man
- Ulla 13 lines, woman
- Drunk 10 lines, man
Full cast, 36 people
- Zero Mostel as Max Bialystock
- Gene Wilder as Leo Bloom
- Dick Shawn as Lorenzo St. DuBois (L.S.D.)
- Kenneth Mars as Franz Liebkind
- Estelle Winwood as "Hold Me Touch Me"
- Christopher Hewett as Roger De Bris
- Andréas Voutsinas as Carmen Ghia
- Lee Meredith as Ulla
- Renée Taylor as Eva Braun
- Michael Davis as Production Tenor
- John Zoller as Drama Critic
- Madlyn Cates as Concierge
- Frank Campanella as The Bartender
- Arthur Rubin as Auditioning Hitler
- Zale Kessler as Jason Green
- Bernie Allen as Auditioning Hitler
- Rusty Blitz as Auditioning Hitler
- Anthony Gardell as Auditioning Hitler
- Mary Love as Lady
- Amelie Barleon as Lady
- Nell Harrison as Lady
- Elsie Kirk as Lady
- Anne Ives as Lady
- Barney Martin as Göring
- David Patch as Goebbels
- Diana Eden as Showgirl
- Tucker Smith as Lead Dancer
- David Evans as Lead Dancer
- Josip Elic as Violinist
- Shimen Ruskin as The Landlord
- William Hickey as The Drunk
- Brutus Peck as Hot Dog Vendor
- Mel Brooks as Singer in "Springtime for Hitler" (voice) (uncredited)
- Bill Macy as Jury Foreman (uncredited)
- Linda Gillen as Sax Player (uncredited)
- Robert Paget as Auditioning Hitler (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 4
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 | 0 |
| 2 to 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 to 3 | 42 | 371 |
| 4 to 4 | 19 | 273 |
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, 9 are women's.
62 lines from women, 646 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 18 men in the cast. 2 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 773.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 285 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 7% of the words (543), men 93% (6,969). Women have 9% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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
0
Two men
31
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 8 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 5% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mel Brooks (man)
- Written by
- Mel Brooks (man)
- Produced by
- Sidney Glazier (gender not listed)
- Shot by
- Joseph F. Coffey (man)
- Edited by
- Ralph Rosenblum (man)
- Music by
- John Morris (man)
- Production design by
- Charles Rosen (man)
- Costumes by
- Gene Coffin (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 46 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lee Meredith 20, Renée Taylor 34, Estelle Winwood 85
Men
Michael Davis 14, Kenneth Mars 32, Gene Wilder 34, Andréas Voutsinas 35, Dick Shawn 44, Christopher Hewett 45, Zero Mostel 53
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $947,000
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 4 scenes and 773 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
