Fails the Bechdel test
The Road Warrior
1982. Directed by George Miller, written by Terry Hayes and George Miller and Brian Hannant.
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
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
After eradicating Night Rider's followers in Mad Max (1979), former patrolman Max Rockatansky now scavenges for food and precious petrol on the deserted highways of an energy-starved Australia. Then, Max stumbles upon a small oil refinery in the scorched wilderness; however, there's a catch: the community of survivors is under siege by brutal biker warlord Lord Humungus and his barbarian marauders. Now, to get his hands on as much gas as he can carry, Mad Max will have to provide the defenceless residents with a powerful truck. Using this method, they can transport gasoline to safety. Of course, this is easier said than done. Is the Road Warrior up to the task?
- Released
- 21 May 1982
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 77 / 100
- Awards
- 8 wins & 16 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Max 207 lines, man
- Pappagallo 57 lines, man
- Wez 45 lines, man
- Gyro Captain 29 lines, man
- Narrator 19 lines, man
- Big Rebecca 9 lines, woman
- Curmudgeon 7 lines, man
- Mechanic 7 lines, man
- Warrior Woman 7 lines, woman
- Wipe 7 lines
Full cast, 27 people
- Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky
- Bruce Spence as The Gyro Captain
- Michael Preston as Pappagallo
- Max Phipps as The Toadie
- Vernon Wells as Wez
- Kjell Nilsson as The Humungus
- Emil Minty as The Feral Kid
- Virginia Hey as Warrior Woman
- William Zappa as Zetta
- Arkie Whiteley as The Captain's Girl
- Steve J. Spears as Mechanic
- Syd Heylen as Curmudgeon
- Moira Claux as Big Rebecca
- David Downer as Nathan
- David Slingsby as Quiet Man
- Kristoffer Greaves as Mechanic's Assistant
- Max Fairchild as Broken Victim
- Tyler Coppin as Defiant Victim
- Jerry O'Sullivan as Golden Youth
- Tony Deary as Grinning Mohawker
- Kathleen McKay as Victim
- Guy Norris as Bearclaw Mohawk
- Anne Jones as Tent Lover
- James McCardell as Tent Lover
- Harold Baigent as Voice of Narrator
- Stewart Finlay-McLennan as Medic (uncredited)
- Joanne Samuel as Jessie Rockatansky (archive footage) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 3
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 | 110 |
| 2 to 2 | 16 | 283 |
| 3 to 3 | 0 | 3 |
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, 4 are women's.
16 lines from women, 396 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 17 men in the cast. 2 women and 15 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 131 of 461.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 177 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 (261), men 97% (10,137). Women have 4% 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
25
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 12% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- George Miller (man)
- Written by
- Terry Hayes (man), George Miller (man), Brian Hannant (man)
- Produced by
- Byron Kennedy (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Semler (man)
- Edited by
- Tim Wellburn (gender not listed), Michael Balson (gender not listed), David Stiven (man)
- Music by
- Brian May (man)
- Costumes by
- Norma Moriceau (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 6 men, 14 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 8 men, 12 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 8 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 2 men, 9 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 23 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Arkie Whiteley 17, Virginia Hey 29
Men
Emil Minty 9, Mel Gibson 25, Kjell Nilsson 32, William Zappa 33, Vernon Wells 35, Bruce Spence 36, Max Phipps 42, Michael Preston 43
Exhibit G: the money
It made 12.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $2 million
- Box office
- $24.6 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 3 scenes and 461 lines of dialogue. How the test works
