Passes the Bechdel test
The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975. Directed by Jim Sharman, written by Richard O'Brien and Jim Sharman.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
15 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 129. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
On a wild and rain-swept late-November evening, somewhere at an empty stretch of road outside Ohio's merry Denton, blissfully-affianced, prudish, boringly-innocent young pair Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) find themselves stranded on their way to visit an ex-tutor. Instead, the couple will inadvertently unearth the cross-dressing Dr. Frank-N-Furter's (Tim Curry's) spooky lair of inexhaustible oddities, just in time to partake in the out-of-this-world mad scientist's proud unveiling of his latest, delightfully extravagant, most daring creation: the ultimate male and the perfect sex symbol: the flaxen-haired Rocky Horror (Peter Hinwood). But, little by little, as the effervescent transgressive force gobbles up whole the unsuspecting visitors of the night, Brad and Janet slowly begin to embrace the potent fascinations of seduction, while an idolized Rocky roams free in the mansion. Who can interrupt man's union with the absolute pleasure?
- Released
- 29 Sep 1975
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror, Musical
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 65 / 100
- Awards
- 4 wins & 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Frank 105 lines, man
- Brad 99 lines, man
- Janet 95 lines, woman
- Guests 34 lines, man
- Riff Raff 34 lines, man
- Dr. Scott 17 lines, man
- Narrator 17 lines
- Rocky 17 lines, man
- Magenta 16 lines, woman
- Columbia 14 lines, woman
Full cast, 48 people
- Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter
- Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss
- Barry Bostwick as Brad Majors
- Richard O'Brien as Riff Raff
- Patricia Quinn as Magenta
- Nell Campbell as Columbia
- Jonathan Adams as Dr. Everett V. Scott
- Peter Hinwood as Rocky Horror
- Meat Loaf as Eddie
- Charles Gray as The Criminologist
- Jeremy Newson as Ralph Hapschatt
- Hilary Farr as Betty Munroe
- Pierre Bedenes as The Transylvanians
- Christopher Biggins as The Transylvanians
- Gaye Brown as The Transylvanians
- Ishaq Bux as The Transylvanians
- Stephen Calcutt as The Transylvanians
- Hugh Cecil as The Transylvanians
- Imogen Claire as The Transylvanians
- Tony Cowan as The Transylvanians
- Sadie Corre as The Transylvanians
- Fran Fullenwider as The Transylvanians
- Lindsay Ingram as The Transylvanians
- Peggy Ledger as The Transylvanians
- Annabel Leventon as The Transylvanians
- Anthony Milner as The Transylvanians
- Pamela Obermeyer as The Transylvanians
- Tony Then as The Transylvanians
- Kimi Wong as The Transylvanians
- Henry Woolf as The Transylvanians
- Lewis Alexander as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- Gina Barrie as Bridesmaid (uncredited)
- Hyma Beckley as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- Ernest Blyth as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- Rufus Collins as The Transylvanians (uncredited)
- Megan Hanks as Bridesmaid (uncredited)
- Aidan Harrington as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- Victor Harrington as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- Mark Johnson as Wedding Guest (uncredited)
- Juba Kennerley as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- Petra Leah as Bridesmaid (uncredited)
- Frank Lester as Wedding Dad (uncredited)
- Aileen Lewis as Floor Show Audience (uncredited)
- John Marquand as Father (uncredited)
- Richard Nixon as Self (archive sound) (uncredited)
- Rhea Ruggiero as Original Trailer Lips / Mouth / Voice (uncredited)
- Koo Stark as Bridesmaid (uncredited)
- Trevor White as Rocky Horror (singing voice) (uncredited)
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 129
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 | 7 | 24 |
| 4 to 6 | 13 | 12 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 6 | 8 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 to 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 to 21 | 3 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 5 | 9 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 1 |
| 28 to 30 | 2 | 6 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 3 |
| 34 to 36 | 1 | 2 |
| 37 to 39 | 7 | 20 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 3 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 3 |
| 46 to 48 | 10 | 23 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 15 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 28 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 7 |
| 58 to 60 | 0 | 0 |
| 61 to 63 | 10 | 8 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 1 |
| 67 to 69 | 5 | 18 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 2 |
| 73 to 75 | 2 | 1 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 1 |
| 79 to 81 | 5 | 0 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 1 |
| 85 to 87 | 12 | 5 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 to 93 | 0 | 10 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 7 |
| 97 to 99 | 4 | 24 |
| 100 to 102 | 4 | 12 |
| 103 to 105 | 4 | 15 |
| 106 to 108 | 5 | 8 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 1 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 2 |
| 118 to 120 | 2 | 7 |
| 121 to 123 | 3 | 35 |
| 124 to 126 | 2 | 2 |
| 127 to 129 | 1 | 5 |
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.
COLUMBIA: Touch-a touch-a touch-a, touch me. MAGENTA: I wanna be dirty. COLUMBIA: Thrill me, chill me, fulfil me. MAGENTA: Creature of the night.
JANET: You've killed them. MAGENTA: I thought you liked them. They liked you.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.
128 lines from women, 338 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
15 women and 24 men in the cast. 5 women and 10 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 21 of 540.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 33 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 26% of the words (1,240), men 74% (3,551). Women have 27% 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
5
Two men
34
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jim Sharman (man)
- Written by
- Jim Sharman (man), Richard O'Brien (man)
- Produced by
- Michael White (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Suschitzky (man)
- Edited by
- Graeme Clifford (man)
- Music by
- Richard Hartley (man)
- Production design by
- Brian Thomson (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Sue Blane (woman)
- Cast by
- Joel Thurm (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 5 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 5 men, 5 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 27 on average. Men: 34 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Nell Campbell 22, Susan Sarandon 28, Patricia Quinn 31
Men
Meat Loaf 27, Tim Curry 29, Peter Hinwood 29, Barry Bostwick 30, Richard O'Brien 33, Jonathan Adams 44, Charles Gray 46
Exhibit H: the money
It made 122.3 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $1.4 million
- Box office
- $171 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 129 scenes and 540 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
