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Fails the Bechdel test

The Toy

1982. Directed by Richard Donner, written by Francis Veber and Carol Sobieski.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    3 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. No 2. Who talk to each other
    Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
  3. 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.

Poster for The Toy

The film

On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy," but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.

Released
10 Dec 1982
Genres
Comedy
Rated
PG
IMDb
5.8 / 10
Metascore
16 / 100
Awards
1 win total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Jack 340 lines, man
  2. Eric 227 lines, man
  3. Bates 154 lines, man
  4. Angela 49 lines, woman
  5. Morehouse 37 lines, man
  6. O'Brien 29 lines, man
  7. Fancy 22 lines, woman
  8. Mademoiselle 21 lines
  9. Barkley 20 lines, man
  10. Geffran 19 lines
Full cast, 16 people
  • Richard Pryor as Jack Brown
  • Jackie Gleason as Ulysses Simpson 'U.S.' Bates
  • Ned Beatty as Sydney Morehouse
  • Scott Schwartz as Eric Bates
  • Teresa Ganzel as Fancy Bates
  • Wilfrid Hyde-White as Barkley
  • Tony King as Clifford
  • Annazette Chase as Angela
  • Don Hood as O'Brien
  • Karen Leslie-Lyttle as Fraulein
  • Virginia Capers as Ruby Simpson
  • Steve Kahan as State Trooper
  • B.J. Hopper as Geffran
  • Ray Spruell as Senator Newcomb
  • Stocker Fontelieu as District Attorney Russell
  • Robert Adams as Store Executive

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 96

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 200
3 to 41213
5 to 6013
7 to 814
9 to 10030
11 to 12711
13 to 14025
15 to 1664
17 to 1800
19 to 2000
21 to 22058
23 to 24047
25 to 26037
27 to 2834
29 to 30043
31 to 32051
33 to 3432
35 to 3618
37 to 3804
39 to 4036
41 to 42420
43 to 44214
45 to 46518
47 to 4803
49 to 50025
51 to 52027
53 to 54041
55 to 56236
57 to 5807
59 to 60411
61 to 62039
63 to 6407
65 to 66010
67 to 6808
69 to 7002
71 to 7200
73 to 7403
75 to 7605
77 to 78034
79 to 80835
81 to 82614
83 to 84836
85 to 86021
87 to 8800
89 to 9075
91 to 92014
93 to 9401
95 to 96017

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, 9 are women's.

82 lines from women, 813 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

3 women and 11 men in the cast. 3 women and 7 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 967. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 151 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 10% of the words (917), men 90% (8,445). Women have 9% 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

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Richard Donner (man)
Written by
Carol Sobieski (woman)
Produced by
Phil Feldman (man), Ray Stark (man)
Shot by
László Kovács (man)
Edited by
Michael A. Stevenson (man), Richard A. Harris (man)
Music by
Patrick Williams (man)
Production design by
Charles Rosen (man)
Costumes by
Moss Mabry (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 4 men

  • Production

    1 women, 2 men

  • Art

    0 women, 2 men

  • Other crew

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Writing

    1 women, 1 men

  • Camera

    0 women, 1 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 33 on average. Men: 46 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Teresa Ganzel 25, Annazette Chase 40

Men

Scott Schwartz 14, Tony King 35, Richard Pryor 42, Don Hood 42, Ned Beatty 45, Jackie Gleason 66, Wilfrid Hyde-White 79

Exhibit G: the money

It made 1.7 times what it cost.

Budget
$28 million
Box office
$47.1 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 96 scenes and 967 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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