Fails the Bechdel test
The Wild Bunch
1969. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Walon Green and Sam Peckinpah and Roy N. Sickner.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 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
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 0 out of 3.
The film
It's 1913, and the "traditional" American West is dying. Amongst the inhabitants of this dying era are a gang known as "the wild bunch." After a failed railroad office robbery, the gang heads to Mexico to do one last job. Seeing their times and lives drifting away in the 20th century, the gang takes the job and ends up in a brutally violent last stand against their enemies deemed to be corrupt, in a small Mexican town ruled by a ruthless general.
- Released
- 19 Jun 1969
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 98 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 2 Oscars. 6 wins & 8 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Pike 182 lines, man
- Dutch 87 lines, man
- Thornton 65 lines, man
- Change 61 lines
- Angel 60 lines, man
- Lyle 46 lines, man
- Mapache 32 lines, man
- Coffer 31 lines, man
- Sykes 31 lines, man
- Tector 27 lines, man
Full cast, 58 people
- William Holden as Pike Bishop
- Ernest Borgnine as Dutch Engstrom
- Robert Ryan as Deke Thornton
- Jaime Sánchez as Angel
- Warren Oates as Lyle Gorch
- Edmond O'Brien as Freddie Sykes
- Ben Johnson as Tector Gorch
- Albert Dekker as Pat Harrigan
- Strother Martin as Coffer
- Emilio Fernández as Gen. Mapache
- Fernando Wagner as Mohr
- Alfonso Arau as Herrera
- Chano Urueta as Don Jose
- Jorge Russek as Major Zamorra
- L.Q. Jones as T.C
- Bo Hopkins as Clarence 'Crazy' Lee
- Dub Taylor as Reverend Wainscoat
- Paul Harper as Ross
- Bill Hart as Jess
- Rayford Barnes as Buck
- Stephen Ferry as Sergeant McHale
- Sonia Amelio as Teresa
- Chalo González as Gonzalez
- Elsa Cárdenas as Elsa
- Aurora Clavel as Aurora
- Enrique Lucero as Ignacio
- Elizabeth Dupeyrón as Rocio
- José Chávez as Juan Jose
- René Dupeyrón as Juan
- Pedro Galván as Benson
- Graciela Döring as Emma
- Ivan J. Rado as Ernst
- Margarito Luna as Luna
- Lilia Castillo as Lilia
- Yolanda Ponce as Yolis
- Major Perez as Perez
- Ivan Scott as Paymaster
- Señora Madero as Margaret
- Elizabeth Unda as Carmen
- Julio Corona as Julio
- Archie Butler as Jabalai (uncredited)
- Tap Canutt as Burt (uncredited)
- Gordon T. Dawson as Pinkerton Man (uncredited)
- Mickey Gilbert as Frank (uncredited)
- Robert "Buzz" Henry as Bounty Hunter (uncredited)
- Buck Holland as Thornton Posse Rider (uncredited)
- Walt La Rue as Abe (uncredited)
- Matthew Peckinpah as Boy Watching Robber Scoop Up Moneybag (uncredited)
- Jack Williams as Phil (uncredited)
- Joe Yrigoyen as Simkins (uncredited)
- Alyce Allen as Woman (uncredited)
- Dennis Falt as Townie (uncredited)
- Dennis Feldman as Townsperson (uncredited)
- 'Chico' Hernandez as Boy in Town (uncredited)
- Raul Madero as Old Teetotaler (uncredited)
- Erwin Neal as Fray (uncredited)
- Bill Shannon as Bounty Hunter (uncredited)
- Jim Sheppard as Bounty Hunter (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 16% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 75
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 | 16 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 33 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 32 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 5 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 14 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 48 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 22 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 27 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 36 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 33 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 5 |
| 25 to 26 | 5 | 62 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 46 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 24 |
| 31 to 32 | 1 | 5 |
| 33 to 34 | 1 | 4 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 1 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 7 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 33 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 16 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 26 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 33 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 53 |
| 55 to 56 | 0 | 22 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 7 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 14 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 9 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 25 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 6 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 7 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 5 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 2 |
| 75 to 75 | 0 | 7 |
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, 1 are women's.
7 lines from women, 690 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
6 women and 41 men in the cast. 3 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 340 of 827.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 347 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 1% of the words (165), men 99% (11,486).
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
99
Exhibit E: behind the camera
None of the 10 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 0% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sam Peckinpah (man)
- Written by
- Walon Green (man), Sam Peckinpah (man)
- Story by
- Roy N. Sickner (man), Walon Green (man)
- Produced by
- Phil Feldman (man)
- Shot by
- Lucien Ballard (man)
- Edited by
- Lou Lombardo (man)
- Music by
- Jerry Fielding (man)
- Costumes by
- James R. Silke (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 13 men, 33 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 25 men, 12 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 4 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Men: 52 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Men
Jaime Sánchez 30, Warren Oates 40, Strother Martin 50, William Holden 51, Ben Johnson 51, Ernest Borgnine 52, Edmond O'Brien 53, Robert Ryan 59, Albert Dekker 63, Emilio Fernández 66
Exhibit G: the money
It made 10% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $6.2 million
- Box office
- $638,641
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 75 scenes and 827 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
