Fails the Bechdel test
The Stunt Man
1980. Directed by Richard Rush, written by Lawrence B. Marcus and Richard Rush and Paul Brodeur.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 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
While on the run from the police, Steve Railsback hides in a group of moviemakers where he pretends to be a stunt man. Both aided and endangered by the director (Peter O'Toole) he avoids both the police and sudden death as a stuntman. The mixture of real danger and fantasy of the movie is an interesting twist for the viewer as the two blend in individual scenes.
- Released
- 27 Jun 1980
- Genres
- Action, Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 75 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 4 wins & 11 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Cameron 239 lines, man
- Eli 201 lines, man
- Nina 120 lines, woman
- Chuck 66 lines, man
- Sam 44 lines, man
- Jake 25 lines, man
- Denise 18 lines, woman
- Henry 12 lines, man
- Raymond 12 lines, man
- Gabe 11 lines, man
Full cast, 31 people
- Peter O'Toole as Eli Cross
- Steve Railsback as Cameron
- Barbara Hershey as Nina Franklin
- Allen Garfield as Sam
- Alex Rocco as Jake
- Sharon Farrell as Denise
- Adam Roarke as Raymond Bailey
- Philip Bruns as Ace
- Charles Bail as Chuck Barton
- John Garwood as Gabe / Eli's Cameraman
- Jim Hess as Henry / Eli's Camera Assistant
- John Pearce as Garage Guard
- Michael Railsback as Burt
- George D. Wallace as Father
- Dee Carroll as Mother
- Leslie Winograde as Sister
- Don Kennedy as Lineman
- Whitey Hughes as Eli's A.D.
- Walter Robles as Eli's A.D.
- A.J. Bakunas as Eli's Script Clerk
- Roberto Caruso as 1st Cop
- Frank Avila as 2nd Cop
- Stafford Morgan as Thompson F.B.I.
- John Alderman as Caribinerri
- Jack Palinkas as Technician
- James Garrett as 2nd Technician
- Garrett McPherson as Tourist
- Nelson Tyler as Eli's Crane Cameraman
- Louis Gartner as 1st Brothel Man
- James Avery as Diner Patron (uncredited)
- Patricia McPherson as Pretty Woman (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 65
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 | 1 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 12 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 2 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 7 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 to 16 | 19 | 67 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 41 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 18 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 14 |
| 23 to 24 | 1 | 48 |
| 25 to 26 | 13 | 11 |
| 27 to 28 | 1 | 3 |
| 29 to 30 | 5 | 46 |
| 31 to 32 | 3 | 25 |
| 33 to 34 | 4 | 25 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 5 |
| 37 to 38 | 12 | 32 |
| 39 to 40 | 18 | 22 |
| 41 to 42 | 9 | 31 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 17 |
| 45 to 46 | 18 | 17 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 18 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 29 |
| 51 to 52 | 13 | 31 |
| 53 to 54 | 2 | 11 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 3 |
| 57 to 58 | 22 | 43 |
| 59 to 60 | 8 | 40 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 13 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 1 |
| 65 to 65 | 5 | 34 |
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.
156 lines from women, 671 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 26 men in the cast. 3 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 38 of 854.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 121 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 18% of the words (2,019), men 82% (9,459). Women have 19% 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
44
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Richard Rush (man)
- Written by
- Lawrence B. Marcus (man)
- From the novel by
- Paul Brodeur (man)
- Produced by
- Richard Rush (man)
- Shot by
- Mario Tosi (man)
- Edited by
- Caroline Biggerstaff (woman), Jack Hofstra (man)
- Music by
- Dominic Frontiere (man)
- Costumes by
- Rosanna Norton (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
0 women, 22 men, 5 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 36 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Barbara Hershey 32, Sharon Farrell 39
Men
Steve Railsback 34, Allen Garfield 40, Adam Roarke 43, Alex Rocco 44, Charles Bail 45, Peter O'Toole 48, Philip Bruns 49, John Garwood 53
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 65 scenes and 854 lines of dialogue. How the test works
