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Passes the Bechdel test

Touch of Evil

1958. Directed by Orson Welles, written by Orson Welles and Bob Wade and H. William Miller.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    8 women characters. 4 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 1 scene out of 42.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.

Poster for Touch of Evil

The film

Mexican Narcotics officer Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas has to interrupt his honeymoon on the Mexican-US border when an American building contractor is killed after someone places a bomb in his car. He's killed on the US side of the border but it's clear that the bomb was planted on the Mexican side. As a result, Vargas delays his return to Mexico City where he has been mounting a case against the Grandi family crime and narcotics syndicate. Police Captain Hank Quinlan is in charge on the US side and he soon has a suspect, a Mexican named Manolo Sanchez. Vargas is soon onto Quinlan and his Sergeant, Pete Menzies, when he catches them planting evidence to convict Sanchez. With his new American wife, Susie, safely tucked away in a hotel on the US side of the border - or so he thinks - he starts to review Quinlan's earlier cases. While concentrating on the corrupt policeman however, the Grandis have their own plans for Vargas and they start with his wife Susie.

Released
09 May 1958
Genres
Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
Rated
PG-13
IMDb
7.9 / 10
Metascore
99 / 100
Awards
7 wins & 1 nomination total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Quinlan 155 lines, man
  2. Mike 152 lines, man
  3. Susan 73 lines, woman
  4. Menzies 70 lines, man
  5. Grandi 60 lines, man
  6. Schwartz 36 lines, man
  7. Adair 25 lines, man
  8. Gould 23 lines, man
  9. Sanchez 20 lines, man
  10. Old Man 15 lines, man
Full cast, 39 people
  • Charlton Heston as Ramon Miguel Vargas
  • Janet Leigh as Susan 'Susie' Vargas
  • Orson Welles as Police Captain Hank Quinlan
  • Joseph Calleia as Police Sergeant Pete Menzies
  • Akim Tamiroff as 'Uncle' Joe Grandi
  • Joanna Moore as Marcia Linnekar
  • Ray Collins as District Attorney Adair
  • Dennis Weaver as Mirador Motel Night Manager
  • Valentin de Vargas as Pancho
  • Mort Mills as Al Schwartz - District Attorney's Assistant
  • Victor Millan as Manelo Sanchez
  • Lalo Rios as Risto - Grandi's Nephew
  • Michael Sargent as Pretty Boy
  • Phil Harvey as Blaine
  • Joi Lansing as Zita
  • Harry Shannon as Chief Gould
  • Marlene Dietrich as Tana
  • Joseph Cotten as Coroner (uncredited)
  • Zsa Zsa Gabor as Strip-Club Owner
  • Joe Basulto as Young Delinquent (uncredited)
  • Yolanda Bojorquez as Bobbie (uncredited)
  • Domenick Delgarde as Lackey (uncredited)
  • Jennie Dias as Jackie (uncredited)
  • John Dierkes as Policeman (uncredited)
  • Eleanor Dorado as Lia (uncredited)
  • Eva Gabor as Stripper Sitting at Bar (uncredited)
  • Jeffrey Green as Rudy Linnekar (uncredited)
  • Billy House as Construction Site Foreman (uncredited)
  • Mercedes McCambridge as Gang Leader (uncredited)
  • Arlene McQuade as Ginnie (uncredited)
  • Ken Miller as Gang Member (uncredited)
  • Ralph Moratz as Man in Uniform Running Down Street (uncredited)
  • Ramón Rodríguez as Gang Member (uncredited)
  • Gus Schilling as Eddie Farnham (uncredited)
  • William Tannen as Marcia Linnekar's Attorney (uncredited)
  • Wayne Taylor as Gang Member (uncredited)
  • Rusty Wescoatt as Detective Casey (uncredited)
  • Dan White as Customs Officer (uncredited)
  • Keenan Wynn as Bartender (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 1 scene, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 10% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 42

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 11460
2 to 215
3 to 31936
4 to 414
5 to 5035
6 to 655
7 to 7106
8 to 812
9 to 900
10 to 10013
11 to 11614
12 to 12366
13 to 13011
14 to 1402
15 to 15015
16 to 1644
17 to 1701
18 to 18035
19 to 19038
20 to 2000
21 to 2100
22 to 2200
23 to 23010
24 to 24056
25 to 2506
26 to 2600
27 to 27230
28 to 2800
29 to 29118
30 to 3008
31 to 31022
32 to 3200
33 to 33220
34 to 3401
35 to 3525
36 to 3600
37 to 37121
38 to 38225
39 to 3903
40 to 40014
41 to 4109
42 to 42126

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scene

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
SUSAN: Hello! -- Hello! SUSAN -: What is it? SUSAN: Is there somebody out there? SUSAN: The door's locked. Go away...

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 14 are women's.

96 lines from women, 596 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

8 women and 23 men in the cast. 4 women and 25 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 6 of 769. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 161 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 11% of the words (1,062), men 89% (8,794). Women have 14% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

None of the 9 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 7% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Orson Welles (man)
Written by
Orson Welles (man)
From the novel by
Whit Masterson (gender not listed)
Produced by
Albert Zugsmith (man)
Shot by
Russell Metty (man)
Edited by
Aaron Stell (man), Virgil W. Vogel (man)
Music by
Henry Mancini (man)
Costumes by
Bill Thomas (man)

The crew, department by department

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 4 men, 3 not listed

  • Art

    0 women, 5 men

  • Directing

    1 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Other crew

    0 women, 4 men

  • Editing

    0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 4 men

  • Writing

    0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 27 on average. Men: 45 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Joanna Moore 23, Janet Leigh 30

Men

Valentin de Vargas 22, Dennis Weaver 33, Charlton Heston 34, Mort Mills 39, Orson Welles 42, Akim Tamiroff 58, Joseph Calleia 60, Ray Collins 68

Exhibit H: the money

It made 2.7 times what it cost.

Budget
$829,000
Box office
$2.2 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 42 scenes and 769 lines of dialogue. How the test works

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