Fails the Bechdel test
The Santa Clause
1994. Directed by John Pasquin, written by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnick.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
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
Scott Calvin is disgusted to learn that his ex-wife, Laura, and her husband, Neil, have tried and failed to break it easy to their 6-year-old son, Charlie, that Santa Claus isn't real. On Christmas Eve, Scott reads "The Night Before Christmas" and then receives an unexpected visitor on his roof. When Santa is startled by Scott's calling out and falls off, he disappears, leaving only an 8-reindeer sleigh and a suit with instructions to put it on if he's involved in an accident. Scott does so and is transported around the town dropping gifts through chimneys until he's taken to the North Pole and informed by a group, who claim they're elves, that he is now Santa. Charlie is proud of Scott's new job, though he's convinced it was a dream. Then his hair turns white, his beard refuses to stay shaved, he gains weight inexplicably, and he has a sudden love of junk food. Now he's accepted it, there's just one problem: how to keep it a secret from his disbelieving family.
- Released
- 11 Nov 1994
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Family
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 57 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Scott 192 lines, man
- Tim 155 lines, man
- Santa 110 lines, man
- Bernard 102 lines, man
- Laura 97 lines, woman
- Quintin 73 lines, man
- Neal 65 lines, man
- Judy 28 lines, woman
- Scottt 16 lines
- Detective Nunzio 14 lines, man
Full cast, 59 people
- Tim Allen as Scott Calvin
- Judge Reinhold as Neal
- Wendy Crewson as Laura
- Eric Lloyd as Charlie
- David Krumholtz as Bernard
- Larry Brandenburg as Detective Nunzio
- Mary Gross as Ms. Daniels
- Paige Tamada as Elf-Judy
- Peter Boyle as Mr. Whittle
- Judith Scott as Susan
- Jayne Eastwood as Waitress
- Melissa King as Little Girl
- Bradley Wentworth as Elf at North Pole
- Azura Bates as Elf in Hangar
- Joshua Satok as Elf-Larry
- Zachary McLemore as Bobby
- Joyce Guy as Principal Compton
- Lindsay Lupien as Kid Two
- Alexandra Petrocci as Kid Three
- Jesse Collins as Ad Executive
- David-Paul Grove as Waiter
- Steve Vinovich as Dr. Novos
- Aimee McIntyre as Ruth
- Tabitha Lupien as Ballet Girl
- Lachlan Murdoch as Fax Kid
- David Sparrow as Bobby's Dad
- Ron Hartmann as Judge
- Nic Knight as Quintin
- Scott Wickware as Malone
- Gene Mack as Newman
- Brett Moon as Elf One
- Ryan Moon as Elf Two
- Jack Newman as Santa in Street
- Michael Caruana as Officer #1
- Micha Jackson as Child One
- Cody Jones as Child Two
- Kenny Vadas as E.L.F.S. Leader
- Brian Reilly as Tinsel Man
- Gordon Masten as Desk Sergeant
- Philip Williams as Sharpshooter
- Chris Benson as Fireman
- Laura Catalano as Veronica
- Peter Kosaka as Japanese Businessman
- Ivanka Kotalto as E.L.F.S. #2
- Todd Davis as E.L.F.S. #3
- Marc Pichette as E.L.F.S. #4
- John Pasquin as Santa #6
- Tony Krolo as Coffee Cop
- Alec Bachlow as Neighbour
- Jim Labriola as Truck Driver
- Steve Kosaka as Japanese Businessman
- Lawrence Nakamura as Japanese Businessman
- Hun Sun Tran as Japanese Businessman
- Steve Tsukamoto as Japanese Businessman
- Frank Welker as Reindeer Voices (voice)
- Kerrigan Mahan as Reindeer Voices (voice)
- Bob Dermer as Puppet Punch (voice)
- Nina Keogh as Puppet Judy (voice)
- Dennis O'Connor as Mailman
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 77
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 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 20 | 32 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 44 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 31 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 20 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 10 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 3 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 6 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 19 |
| 19 to 20 | 4 | 28 |
| 21 to 22 | 2 | 29 |
| 23 to 24 | 5 | 4 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 26 |
| 27 to 28 | 13 | 20 |
| 29 to 30 | 23 | 24 |
| 31 to 32 | 18 | 11 |
| 33 to 34 | 8 | 29 |
| 35 to 36 | 6 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 6 | 77 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 19 |
| 41 to 42 | 3 | 29 |
| 43 to 44 | 2 | 4 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 36 |
| 47 to 48 | 2 | 23 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 1 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 4 |
| 53 to 54 | 4 | 23 |
| 55 to 56 | 1 | 15 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 6 |
| 59 to 60 | 5 | 18 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 12 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 11 |
| 65 to 66 | 5 | 33 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 14 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 16 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 13 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 12 |
| 75 to 76 | 5 | 22 |
| 77 to 77 | 6 | 11 |
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, 16 are women's.
139 lines from women, 740 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 31 men in the cast. 3 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 979.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 154 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 14% of the words (1,241), men 86% (7,947). Women have 16% 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
83
Exhibit E: behind the camera
3 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Pasquin (man)
- Written by
- Leo Benvenuti (man), Steve Rudnick (man)
- Produced by
- Brian Reilly (man), Jeffrey Silver (man), Robert Newmyer (man)
- Shot by
- Walt Lloyd (man)
- Edited by
- Larry Bock (man)
- Music by
- Michael Convertino (man)
- Production design by
- Carol Spier (woman)
- Costumes by
- Carol Ramsey (woman)
- Cast by
- Renee Rousselot (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 9 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
5 women, 9 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 6 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 29 on average. Men: 35 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Paige Tamada 9, Judith Scott 28, Wendy Crewson 38, Mary Gross 41
Men
Eric Lloyd 8, David Krumholtz 16, Judge Reinhold 37, Tim Allen 41, Larry Brandenburg 46, Peter Boyle 59
Exhibit G: the money
It made 8.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $22 million
- Box office
- $190 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 77 scenes and 979 lines of dialogue. How the test works
