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Passes the Bechdel test

The Searchers

1956. Directed by John Ford, written by Frank S. Nugent and Alan Le May.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    9 women characters. 6 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 6 scenes out of 228.
  3. 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.

Poster for The Searchers

The film

Three years after the Civil War, battle-scarred Confederate veteran Ethan Edwards returns to his brother Aaron's remote Texan homestead. But instead of finding peace, the taciturn soldier finds tragedy when the murderous raiding party of ruthless Comanche Chief Scar massacres his family, burns the ranch to the ground, and abducts his 9-year-old niece, Debbie. Fearing the worst, Ethan and his young companion, Martin Pawley, embark on a dangerous 5-year odyssey to rescue the girl, fuelled by hatred and a thirst for vengeance. However, as the searchers ride through the unforgiving desert to track down their lost Debbie, they must confront their demons and answer an unvoiced question. Is the woman they seek still the same person they once knew?

Released
26 May 1956
Genres
Adventure, Western
Rated
Approved
IMDb
7.8 / 10
Metascore
94 / 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
  1. Ethan 232 lines, man
  2. Martin 170 lines, man
  3. Clayton 84 lines, man
  4. Laurie 41 lines, woman
  5. Jorgensen 38 lines
  6. Mrs. Jorgensen 34 lines, woman
  7. Aaron 33 lines, man
  8. Mose 31 lines, man
  9. Charlie 26 lines, man
  10. Debbie 23 lines, woman
Full cast, 26 people
  • John Wayne as Ethan Edwards
  • Jeffrey Hunter as Martin Pawley
  • Vera Miles as Laurie Jorgensen
  • Ward Bond as Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton
  • Natalie Wood as Debbie Edwards
  • John Qualen as Lars Jorgensen
  • Olive Carey as Mrs. Jorgensen
  • Henry Brandon as Chief Cicatriz (Scar)
  • Ken Curtis as Charlie McCorry
  • Harry Carey Jr. as Brad Jorgensen
  • Antonio Moreno as Emilio Gabriel Fernandez y Figueroa
  • Hank Worden as Mose Harper
  • Beulah Archuletta as Look
  • Walter Coy as Aaron Edwards
  • Dorothy Jordan as Martha Edwards
  • Pippa Scott as Lucy Edwards
  • Patrick Wayne as Lt. Greenhill
  • Lana Wood as Younger Debbie Edwards
  • Mae Marsh as Dark Cloaked Woman at Fort Guarding Deranged Woman (uncredited)
  • Ruth Clifford as Deranged Woman at Fort (uncredited)
  • Chuck Roberson as Ranger at Wedding (uncredited)
  • Chuck Hayward as Man at Wedding (uncredited)
  • Peter Mamakos as Jerem Futterman (uncredited)
  • Frank McGrath as Texas Ranger (uncredited)
  • Jack Pennick as Sergeant at Fort (uncredited)
  • Terry Wilson as Texas Ranger (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, 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 228

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 500
6 to 1001
11 to 152048
16 to 20240
21 to 25222
26 to 3022
31 to 3554
36 to 4000
41 to 451211
46 to 50012
51 to 55524
56 to 60016
61 to 65012
66 to 70012
71 to 7503
76 to 80015
81 to 85030
86 to 9000
91 to 9507
96 to 1001515
101 to 105924
106 to 110034
111 to 115111
116 to 120126
121 to 125520
126 to 130420
131 to 13507
136 to 14009
141 to 145011
146 to 150928
151 to 15509
156 to 160021
161 to 16505
166 to 170016
171 to 175019
176 to 180813
181 to 18504
186 to 190010
191 to 1951327
196 to 200652
201 to 205034
206 to 21013
211 to 21501
216 to 22001
221 to 22503
226 to 22800

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.
DEBBIE: She don't wear it much account of it makes her neck green. LUCY: Deborah! DEBBIE: Well, it does... But I wouldn't care if you gave me a gold locket if it made my neck green or not.
LUCY: Mother, I can't see what I'm doing!... MARTHA: NOT YET, LUCY!...
LUCY: Pa? MARTHA: Where's Deborah?... DEBORAH! DEBBIE: I only took one, ma... Topsy was hungry.
MARTHA: We're going to play the sleep-out game... Remember?... Where you hide out with grandma? DEBBIE: Where's she buried? MARTHA: And you'll go along the ditch -- very quietly -- like a... DEBBIE: Like a little mouse.
MARTHA: There!... And you won't come back or make a sound... no matter what you hear? Promise!... No matter what? DEBBIE: I promise... Wait!

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 17 are women's.

131 lines from women, 662 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 17 men in the cast. 6 women and 11 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 4 of 865. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 111 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 19% of the words (1,504), men 81% (6,323). Women have 17% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

None of the 8 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 3% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
John Ford (man)
Written by
Frank S. Nugent (man)
From the novel by
Alan Le May (man)
Produced by
C.V. Whitney (gender not listed)
Shot by
Winton C. Hoch (man)
Edited by
Jack Murray (man)
Music by
Max Steiner (man)
Costumes by
Charles Arrico (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    0 women, 12 men, 2 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 5 men

  • Art

    0 women, 4 men

  • Production

    0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Writing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 34 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Natalie Wood 17, Vera Miles 25, Olive Carey 60

Men

Jeffrey Hunter 29, Harry Carey Jr. 35, Ken Curtis 39, Henry Brandon 43, John Wayne 48, Ward Bond 53, John Qualen 56

Exhibit H: the money

What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.

Budget
$3.8 million
Box office
Not listed

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 228 scenes and 865 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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