Fails the Bechdel test
The Star Wars Holiday Special
1978. Directed by Steve Binder and David Acomba, written by Rod Warren and Bruce Vilanch and Pat Proft.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
It is Life Day, a holiday that is celebrated on Chewbacca's home planet of Kashyyyk. Chewie and Han Solo are trying to get to the planet where Chewie's family is waiting for him, but the Empire is out searching for the rebels, giving everyone a hard time. While we are waiting, we get a look at the everyday life of a Wookiee family. We meet all the familiar characters from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and we are introduced to Boba Fett during a short cartoon. We also pay a visit to the Cantina and meet all the monsters again.
- Released
- 17 Nov 1978
- Genres
- Adventure, Family, Musical
- Rated
- TV-PG
- IMDb
- 2.2 / 10
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Luke 43 lines, man
- Trader Dann 28 lines, man
- Ackmena 17 lines, woman
- Music 14 lines
- Krelman 13 lines, man
- Boba 12 lines, man
- Han 10 lines, man
- Gormaanda 9 lines, man
- Leia 9 lines, woman
- C3po 7 lines
Full cast, 28 people
- Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
- Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
- Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia Organa
- Harrison Ford as Han Solo
- Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
- James Earl Jones as Darth Vader (voice)
- Bea Arthur as Ackmena
- Art Carney as Saun Dann
- Paul Kantner as Holographic Band Member
- Diahann Carroll as Mermeia
- David Freiberg as Holographic Band Singer
- Marty Balin as Holographic Band Singer
- Craig Chaquico as Holographic Band Member
- John Barbata as Holographic Band Member
- Harvey Korman as Chef Gormaanda / Amorphian Instructor / Krelman
- Mickey Morton as Malla
- Paul Gale as Itchy
- Patty Maloney as Lumpy
- Jack Rader as Imperial Guard Officer
- Stephanie Stromer as The Great Zorbak (Holographic Gymnast)
- Michael Potter as Imperial Guard Officer
- Yûichi Sugiyama as Ringleader
- Claude Woolman as Imperial Officer (wallscreen)
- Lev Mailer as Imperial Guard #1
- David Prowse as Darth Vader
- Mary Ann Hay as Dancer (uncredited)
- Gabriel Dell as Boba Fett (voice) (uncredited)
- Alec Guinness as Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (archive footage) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 41% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 53
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 to 10 | 2 | 16 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 16 |
| 13 to 14 | 11 | 16 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 3 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 21 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 4 |
| 21 to 22 | 1 | 1 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 3 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 3 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 9 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 6 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 4 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 13 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 50 | 20 | 15 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 to 53 | 2 | 8 |
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, 19 are women's.
38 lines from women, 163 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 21 men in the cast. 5 women and 19 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 19 of 342.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 95 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 21% of the words (535), men 79% (2,007). Women have 19% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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
16
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 10% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Steve Binder (man)
- Written by
- Pat Proft (man), Leonard Ripps (man), Bruce Vilanch (man), Rod Warren (man), Mitzie Welch (woman)
- Produced by
- Joe Layton (man), Jeff Starsh (gender not listed), Ken Welch (gender not listed), Mitzie Welch (woman)
- Shot by
- John B. Field (gender not listed)
- Edited by
- Jerry Bixman (gender not listed), Vince Humphrey (man)
- Music by
- Ian Fraser (man)
- Costumes by
- Bob Mackie (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
1 women, 5 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 40 on average. Men: 39 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Carrie Fisher 22, Diahann Carroll 43, Bea Arthur 56
Men
Mark Hamill 27, Anthony Daniels 32, Peter Mayhew 34, Harrison Ford 36, Paul Kantner 37, James Earl Jones 47, Art Carney 60
Exhibit G: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- $1 million
- Box office
- Not listed
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 53 scenes and 342 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
