Passes the Bechdel test
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar
1995. Directed by Beeban Kidron, written by Douglas Carter Beane.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 12 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 4 scenes out of 149. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
After jointly winning a local Drag Queen pageant in New York City, Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) and Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) win the right and are given the round trip airfare to compete in the Drag Queen of America pageant in Hollywood, California. Noxeema sees herself as the next Dorothy Dandridge, who bucked the trend of most black American movie actresses of her time by never playing the slave house maid. Vida's style reflects her past of growing up in upper class suburban Pennsylvania. One of their fellow New York City contestants, Chi-Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo), is a straight-talking, but naive and inexperienced Drag Queen. Seeing that Chi-Chi needs some Drag Queen confidence (despite her bravada), Vida and a reluctant Noxeema decide to cash in their plane tickets and buy an older model Cadillac convertible and drive to Hollywood with Chi-Chi. Their drive takes them through much of the country where alternate lifestyles are less tolerated than they may be in New York City or Los Angeles. The three have an extended stay in small town Snydersville, where their car breaks down. If they ever make it out of Snydersville, they may be the better for their stay by learning more about themselves while dealing with the issues of town residents and spending more time together. Their stay is made even more precarious when they find out that Sheriff Dollard (Chris Penn), a homophobic, racist, and sexist highway Sheriff with whom they had an earlier encounter, is on their tail.
- Released
- 08 Sep 1995
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 60 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Vida 248 lines, man
- Noxeema 193 lines, man
- Chi Chi 113 lines, man
- Carol Ann 40 lines, woman
- Dollard 39 lines, man
- Bobby Ray 31 lines, man
- Bobby Lee 26 lines, woman
- Virgil 20 lines, man
- John 12 lines, man
- Beatrice 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 74 people
- Patrick Swayze as Vida Boheme
- Wesley Snipes as Noxeema Jackson
- John Leguizamo as Chi-Chi Rodriguez
- Stockard Channing as Carol Ann
- Blythe Danner as Beatrice
- Arliss Howard as Virgil
- Jason London as Bobby Ray
- Chris Penn as Sheriff Dollard
- Melinda Dillon as Merna
- Beth Grant as Loretta
- Alice Drummond as Clara
- Marceline Hugot as Katina
- Jennifer Milmore as Bobby Lee
- Jamie Harrold as Billy Budd
- Mike Hodge as Jimmy Joe
- Michael Vartan as Tommy
- RuPaul as Rachel Tensions
- Julie Newmar as Herself
- Joel Story as Little Earnest
- Abie Hope Hyatt as Donna Lee
- Jamie Leigh Wolbert as Sandra Lee
- Shea Degan as State Trooper
- Dean Houser as State Trooper
- Joe Grojean as State Trooper
- Keith Reddin as Motel Manager
- Naomi Campbell as Girl
- William P. Hopkins as Small Guy
- Dayton Callie as Crazy Elijah
- Ron Carley as Old Man
- Shea R. Bredenkamp as Rude Boy
- Michael Tushaus as Rude Boy
- Patrick Tuttle as Rude Boy
- Timothy A. Zimmerman as Rude Boy
- Tim Keller as Rude Boy
- Miss Understood as Miss Understood
- Joey Arias as Justine
- Allen Hidalgo as Chita Riviera
- Mishell Chandler as Miss Missy
- Catiria Reyes as Herself
- David Drumgold as Cappuccino Commotion
- Miss Coco Peru as Miss Coco Peru
- Lionel Tiburcio as Laritza Dumont
- Bernard A. Mosca as Olympia
- Daniel T. 'Sweetie' Boothe as Announcer
- Susanne Bartsch as NY Pageant Judge
- Quentin Crisp as NY Pageant Judge
- Flotilla DeBarge as NY Pageant Judge
- Matthew Kasten as NY Pageant Judge
- Widow Norton as NY Pageant Judge
- CoCo LaChine as CoCo LaChine
- Mike Fulk as Victoria Weston
- Niasse N. Mamadou as Lola
- Candis Cayne as Candis Cayne
- Shelton McDonald as Princess Diandra
- Richard Ogden as Kabuki
- James Palacio as Fiona James
- Steven Polito as Hedda Lettuce
- Philip Stoehr as Philomena
- Margaret H. Flynn as Vida's Mother
- Billie J. Diekman as Florist
- Shari Shell-True as Dance Teacher
- David Barton as Boy in Chains
- Jimmy Ashmore as Club Kid (uncredited)
- George Costacos as Patron (uncredited)
- Chauncey Duren as Contest Judge (uncredited)
- Marshall Factora as Waiter (uncredited)
- Alphonso King, Jr. as Extra (uncredited)
- Lady Bunny as Contestant (uncredited)
- Jesse Wells Martin as Contestant (uncredited)
- Chris Place as John (uncredited)
- Channing Roos as Flower Shop Assistant (uncredited)
- Johnathan Staci Kim as Waiter (uncredited)
- Robin Williams as John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt (uncredited)
- Lito Wilson as Viva Commotion (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 149
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 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 15 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 123 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 31 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 17 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 4 |
| 29 to 32 | 0 | 40 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 38 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 44 | 0 | 57 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 27 |
| 49 to 52 | 0 | 1 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 45 |
| 57 to 60 | 2 | 9 |
| 61 to 64 | 3 | 34 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 7 |
| 69 to 72 | 11 | 22 |
| 73 to 76 | 6 | 9 |
| 77 to 80 | 3 | 5 |
| 81 to 84 | 11 | 14 |
| 85 to 88 | 0 | 25 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 4 |
| 93 to 96 | 11 | 19 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 0 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 13 |
| 105 to 108 | 6 | 40 |
| 109 to 112 | 6 | 26 |
| 113 to 116 | 12 | 18 |
| 117 to 120 | 8 | 24 |
| 121 to 124 | 5 | 18 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 7 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 2 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 5 |
| 137 to 140 | 1 | 1 |
| 141 to 144 | 1 | 1 |
| 145 to 148 | 7 | 28 |
| 149 to 149 | 0 | 0 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
CLARA: You wanna try Lena Horne? _ NOXEEMA — Go girl. Lena Horne. CLARA: Feature debut? 1942. NOXEEMA & CLARA: Panama Hattie.
MERNA: A day with the girls! Ooooh. Just like in a Judith Krantz riovel! How do, I'm Merna. I run the local. beauty shop. KATHINA LYNN: What's a day with the -- MERNA: I always dreamed about having a day with the girls. Like in New York high society. KATHINA LYNN: What on earth -- . . MERNA . A day with the girls, Kathina Lynn. You do volunteer work, then you get your hair done, pick out a new outfit, …
LORETTA: Strawberries are red! KATHINA LYNN: ' Wild strawberries!
BEATRICE: All you ladies: look so nice -- how am I --.: you want to see red and wild, iT ll show you red and wild! LORETTA: Whump! There it is! - OTHER GIRLS Whump! There it is!
LORETTA: Next? ; MERNA: Let's talk in a cafe!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 13 are women's.
105 lines from women, 733 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 25 men in the cast. 12 women and 41 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
A woman speaks the first line.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 416 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 14% of the words (1,501), men 86% (9,531). Women have 13% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit E: 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
9
Two men
63
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 27% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Beeban Kidron (woman)
- Written by
- Douglas Carter Beane (man)
- Produced by
- G. Mac Brown (man)
- Shot by
- Steve Mason (man)
- Edited by
- Andrew Mondshein (man)
- Music by
- Rachel Portman (woman)
- Production design by
- Wynn Thomas (man)
- Costumes by
- Marlene Stewart (woman)
- Cast by
- Kerry Barden (man), Billy Hopkins (man), Suzanne Smith Crowley (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
1 women, 5 men, 4 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 1 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 51 on average. Men: 34 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Beth Grant 45, Stockard Channing 51, Blythe Danner 52, Melinda Dillon 55
Men
Jason London 22, Chris Penn 29, Wesley Snipes 33, John Leguizamo 35, Arliss Howard 40, Patrick Swayze 43
Exhibit H: the money
What it cost and made, where TMDB lists it.
- Budget
- Not listed
- Box office
- $47.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 149 scenes and 854 lines of dialogue. How the test works
