Fails the Bechdel test
The Rocketeer
1991. Directed by Joe Johnston, written by Dave Stevens and Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 6 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
In 1938 Los Angeles, pilot Cliff Secord crashes his airplane after being struck in the air in a shootout between gangsters and FBI agents in a car chase. Completely broken, his best friend and mechanic A. "Peevy" Peabody attempts to repair a broken down biplane to raise some money in an exhibition show. However, Cliff finds a package hidden by one of the gangsters with a rocket with belts and they find that the device allows a man to fly. Meanwhile, his beloved girlfriend and aspiring actress Jenny Blake succeeds in an audition to make a small role in a movie of the great actor Neville Sinclair who is ranked third at the box-office. During a flight exhibition, the mechanic Malcolm Jones has an accident, and Cliff uses the rocket to save him, being called the Rocketeer by the public. With his picture in the front page of the newspaper, Cliff is chased by the FBI, the gangsters and Nazi agents that abduct Jenny and forces Cliff to rescue her.
- Released
- 21 Jun 1991
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Family
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Cliff 99 lines, man
- Sinclair 68 lines, man
- Peevy 48 lines, man
- Betty 30 lines
- Jenny 23 lines, woman
- Eddie 21 lines, man
- Hughes 17 lines, man
- Fitch 13 lines, man
- Sally 10 lines, woman
- Spanish Johnny 9 lines, man
Full cast, 72 people
- Billy Campbell as Cliff Secord
- Jennifer Connelly as Jenny Blake
- Alan Arkin as A. 'Peevy' Peabody
- Timothy Dalton as Neville Sinclair
- Paul Sorvino as Eddie Valentine
- Terry O'Quinn as Howard Hughes
- Ed Lauter as Fitch
- Jon Polito as Bigelow
- James Handy as Wooly
- Tiny Ron as Lothar / Good Old Boy
- William Sanderson as Skeets
- Margo Martindale as Millie
- Clint Howard as Mark
- John Lavachielli as Rusty
- Eddie Jones as Malcolm
- Max Grodénchik as Wilmer
- Daniel O'Shea as Mike
- Pat Crawford Brown as Mrs. Pye
- Julian Barnes as Charlie
- Charlie Stavola as Assistant Director
- William Boyett as Government Liaison
- William Frankfather as Government Liaison
- Norbert Weisser as Zeppelin Pilot
- Michael Francis Clarke as G-Man
- Darryl Henriques as G-Man
- Scanlon Gail as G-Man at Chaplin Field
- Melora Hardin as South Seas Singer
- Rick Overton as South Seas Patron
- Dick Warlock as FBI Agent
- David Pressman as Hospital Guard
- Taylor Gilbert as Stewardess
- Ele Keats as Girl at Newsstand
- Chance Michael Corbitt as Newspaper Kid
- Merritt Yohnka as Nazi Crewman
- Craig Hosking as Airshow Pilot
- Michael Milhoan as Jeff
- Joe D'Angerio as Stevie
- Tommy J. Huff as Lenny
- Doug McGrath as Reporter
- Herman Poppe as Zeppelin Captain
- Robert Miranda as Spanish Johnny
- Don Pugsley as Goose
- Nada Despotovich as Irma
- America Martin as Patsy
- Paul DeSouza as Pauly
- Sam Vincent as Filmstage Director
- Lisa Pedersen as Noblewoman
- Peter Bromilow as Nobleman
- Tom Kindle as Clapperboy
- Heinrich James as Nazi Agent
- Bob Leeman as W.C. Fields
- Gene Daily as Clark Gable
- Thomas Lee Tully as Reporter
- Mike Finneran as Reporter
- Dave Adams as Reporter
- Arlee Reed as Cameraman
- Kim Sebastian as Nurse
- Lila Finn as Clothesline Lady
- Perry Cook as Good Old Boy
- Danielle Bedau as Girl at Newsstand
- Bob Sandman as South Seas Bandleader
- Lori Lynn Ross as South Seas Mermaid
- Kathleen Michaels as South Seas Camera Girl
- Peter Frankland as Nazi Commando
- Kristopher Logan as Nazi Commando
- Paul Forsyth as Nazi Commando
- Steve Hinton Sr. as Airshow Pilot
- Jim Franklin as Airshow Pilot
- Richard T. Brickert as Airshow Pilot
- Chuck Wentworth as Airshow Pilot
- Bill Turner as Airshow Pilot
- Chuck Riley as Narrator (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 109
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 3 | 0 | 12 |
| 4 to 6 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 1 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 1 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 9 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 28 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 21 |
| 31 to 33 | 4 | 10 |
| 34 to 36 | 10 | 14 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 4 |
| 40 to 42 | 11 | 40 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 4 |
| 46 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 51 | 0 | 12 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 2 |
| 55 to 57 | 0 | 3 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 4 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 1 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 1 | 18 |
| 70 to 72 | 5 | 29 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 34 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 0 | 5 |
| 82 to 84 | 15 | 24 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 1 |
| 88 to 90 | 2 | 41 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 2 |
| 94 to 96 | 2 | 10 |
| 97 to 99 | 1 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 4 | 9 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 0 | 0 |
| 109 to 109 | 0 | 0 |
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, 14 are women's.
56 lines from women, 353 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
10 women and 49 men in the cast. 6 women and 34 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 83 of 478.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 83 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 13% of the words (1,427), men 87% (9,465). Women have 14% 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
3
Two men
41
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Joe Johnston (man)
- Written by
- Paul De Meo (man), Danny Bilson (man)
- Story by
- William Dear (man), Danny Bilson (man), Paul De Meo (man)
- Produced by
- Charles Gordon (man), Lloyd Levin (man), Lawrence Gordon (man)
- Shot by
- Hiro Narita (man)
- Edited by
- Arthur Schmidt (man)
- Music by
- James Horner (man)
- Production design by
- James D. Bissell (man)
- Costumes by
- Marilyn Vance (woman)
- Cast by
- Nancy Foy (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
6 women, 18 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 11 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 6 men
-
Production
1 women, 4 men
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 20 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jennifer Connelly 20
Men
Billy Campbell 31, Terry O'Quinn 38, Jon Polito 40, Tiny Ron 43, Timothy Dalton 45, James Handy 46, Paul Sorvino 52, Ed Lauter 52, Alan Arkin 57
Exhibit G: the money
It made 1.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $42 million
- Box office
- $46.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 109 scenes and 478 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
