Fails the Bechdel test

Three Men and a Baby

Name: Three Men and a Baby
Released: 1987

1987. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, written by Coline Serreau and James Orr and Jim Cruickshank.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
13 women characters. 2 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

Three bachelor friends, architect Peter, artist Michael, and actor Jack, are sharing an apartment in Manhattan. After Jack goes filming in Turkey, Peter and Michael find his baby daughter, Mary, who he doesn't know about - left out on their doorstep. They are left to look after her and realize how difficult this can be. How would she change the lifestyle of these confirmed bachelors?

Released: 25 Nov 1987
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Family
Rated: PG
IMDb: 6.2 / 10
Metascore: 61 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 2 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Peter 290 lines, man
Michael 233 lines, man
Jack 204 lines, man
Sylvia 41 lines, woman
Graton 30 lines, man
Punk #1 27 lines, man
Agent #1 23 lines, man
Paul 21 lines, man
Natalie 15 lines, woman
Carl 13 lines

Full cast, 40 people

Tom Selleck as Peter Mitchell
Steve Guttenberg as Michael Kellam
Ted Danson as Jack Holden
Margaret Colin as Rebecca
Celeste Holm as Jack's Mother
Nancy Travis as Sylvia Bennington
Philip Bosco as Det. Sgt. Melkowitz
Paul Guilfoyle as Vince
Cynthia Harris as Mrs. Hathaway
Alexandra Amini as Patty
Francine Beers as Woman at Gift Shop
Michelle Blair as Mary
Lisa Blair as Mary
Barbara Budd as Dramatic Actress
Michael Burgess as Handsome Man at Party
Claire Cellucci as Angelyne
Eugene Clark as Man at Party #1
Derek de Lint as Jan Clopatz
Michèle Duquet as Tawnya
David Ferry as Telephone Installer
Dave Foley as Grocery Store Clerk
Earl Hindman as Satch
Mario Joyner as Cab Driver
Gary Klar as Detective
Christine Kossak as One of Jack's Girls
Joe Lynn as Detective #2
Edward D. Murphy as Security Guard
Jacqueline Murphy as Gate Attendant
Colin Quinn as Gift Shop Clerk
Thomas Quinn as Mounted Policeman
Jackie Richardson as Edna
John Gould Rubin as Paul Milner
Camilla Scott as Cherise
Daniele Scott as Swimming Instructor
Sharolyn Sparrow as Vanessa
Stevie Vallance as Sally
Jonathan Whittaker as Adam
Peter Bontje as Party Guest (uncredited)
Billy Kay as Baby (uncredited)
Ruth Leon Weiman as Neighbor Crossing Street (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 137

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 3	1	42
4 to 6	5	68
7 to 9	0	2
10 to 12	0	41
13 to 15	0	13
16 to 18	5	23
19 to 21	3	26
22 to 24	0	29
25 to 27	0	0
28 to 30	0	0
31 to 33	0	4
34 to 36	0	1
37 to 39	0	1
40 to 42	0	6
43 to 45	0	2
46 to 48	0	1
49 to 51	0	2
52 to 54	0	8
55 to 57	0	53
58 to 60	0	57
61 to 63	0	30
64 to 66	0	34
67 to 69	0	8
70 to 72	0	9
73 to 75	0	12
76 to 78	0	12
79 to 81	1	24
82 to 84	0	16
85 to 87	0	3
88 to 90	0	17
91 to 93	0	17
94 to 96	6	26
97 to 99	5	28
100 to 102	2	2
103 to 105	0	13
106 to 108	0	18
109 to 111	9	39
112 to 114	9	53
115 to 117	21	39
118 to 120	0	0
121 to 123	0	5
124 to 126	1	1
127 to 129	2	0
130 to 132	0	38
133 to 135	0	40
136 to 137	19	35

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.

89 lines from women, 898 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

13 women and 20 men in the cast. 2 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 1,053. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 302 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 (1,240), men 90% (11,592). 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

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

1 of the 11 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Leonard Nimoy (man)
Written by: Jim Cruickshank (man), James Orr (man)
Produced by: Robert W. Cort (man), Ted Field (man)
Shot by: Adam Greenberg (man)
Edited by: Michael A. Stevenson (man)
Music by: Marvin Hamlisch (man)
Production design by: Peter S. Larkin (man)
Costumes by: Larry S. Wells (gender not listed)
Cast by: Dianne Crittenden (woman)

The crew, department by department

Other crew

0 women, 11 men, 1 not listed
Art

1 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
Costume & Make-Up

2 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
Production

1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
Sound

0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
Directing

1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
Camera

0 women, 4 men
Writing

1 women, 2 men

Women
Men
Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit F: how old the stars were

Women: 45 on average. Men: 41 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Nancy Travis 26, Margaret Colin 29, Cynthia Harris 53, Celeste Holm 70

Men

Steve Guttenberg 29, Paul Guilfoyle 38, Ted Danson 39, Tom Selleck 42, Philip Bosco 57

Exhibit G: the money

It made 22.1 times what it cost.

Budget: $11 million
Box office: $243 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 137 scenes and 1,053 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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