Passes the Bechdel test
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
2007. Directed by Jake Kasdan, written by Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
17 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 149. -
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.
The film
The up-and-down-and-up-again story of musician Dewey Cox, whose songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 36 kids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to - and then kicks - every drug known to man; but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman - longtime backup singer Darlene.
- Released
- 21 Dec 2007
- Genres
- Comedy, Music
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.9 / 10
- Metascore
- 63 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 6 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Dewey 388 lines, man
- Darlene 79 lines, woman
- Pa Cox 53 lines, man
- Edith 37 lines, woman
- Nate 35 lines, man
- Sam 24 lines, man
- Ma Cox 21 lines, woman
- L'Chai'M 14 lines, man
- Suzanne 12 lines
- Dewey Jr 9 lines, man
Full cast, 86 people
- John C. Reilly as Dewey Cox
- Jenna Fischer as Darlene Madison
- Raymond J. Barry as Pa Cox
- Kristen Wiig as Edith
- Tim Meadows as Sam
- Harold Ramis as L'Chaim
- Margo Martindale as Ma Cox
- Chris Parnell as Theo
- Matt Besser as Dave
- Nat Faxon as Awards Show Stage Manager
- Conner Rayburn as Dewey Age 8
- Chip Hormess as Nate
- Terrence Beasor as Country Doctor
- Honeyboy Edwards as Old Bluesman
- Gerry Black as Harmonica Player
- Aron Johnson as Teenage Band
- Jack Donovan Saperstein as Teenage Band
- Taylor Hubert as Teenage Band
- Christopher Hurt as Teenage Band
- Matt Price as MC (Teacher)
- John Maynard as Man at Talent Show
- E.J. Callahan as Second Man at Talent Show
- Rance Howard as Preacher
- Craig Robinson as Bobby Shad
- Paul Bates as Nightclub Manager
- Patrick Faucette as Bad Men Bass Player
- Phil Rosenthal as Mazeltov
- Martin Starr as Schmendrick
- Oscar Dillon as Audience Guy at Nightclub
- Jack McBrayer as DJ
- Molly C. Quinn as Teen with Pinups
- John Ennis as The Big Bopper
- Frankie Muniz as Buddy Holly
- Ed Helms as Stage Manager
- Jack White as Elvis Presley
- Angela Little as Beth Anne
- Odette Annable as Reefer Girl
- Tyler Nilson as Bert
- Deanna Brooks as Hotel Groupie with Dewey
- Ian Roberts as Drug Dealer
- Steve Bannos as Prison Guard
- Willow Geer as Rehab Nurse
- David Doty as Rehab Doctor
- Jack Kehler as Press Conference Reporter
- Gerry Bednob as The Maharishi
- David Krumholtz as Schwartzberg
- Tim Bagley as Engineer
- Jane Lynch as Gail the Television Reporter
- Skyler Gisondo as Dewdrop
- Kshitij Pendurkar as Dewey Rahim
- Simon Helberg as Dreidel L'Chaim
- Jacques Slade as Lil' Nutzzak
- Danica Rozelle as Music Video Girl
- Lurie Poston as Cox Kid
- Maggie Mannion as Cox Kid
- Jackson Browne as Jackson Browne
- Jewel as Jewel
- Lyle Lovett as Lyle Lovett
- Stacey Scowley as Pierced Eyebrow Girl
- Ajla Hodžić as Pierced Lip Girl
- Ghostface Killah as Ghostface Killah
- Otis Williams as The Temptations
- Ron Tyson as The Temptations
- Terry Weeks as The Temptations
- Joe Herndon as The Temptations
- Bruce Williamson as The Temptations
- Eddie Vedder as Eddie Vedder
- Jack Black as Paul McCartney (uncredited)
- Paul Rudd as John Lennon (uncredited)
- Justin Long as George Harrison (uncredited)
- Jason Schwartzman as Ringo Starr (uncredited)
- Patrick J. Adams as The Kid (uncredited)
- Clement Blake as Edith's Father (uncredited)
- Patrick Duffy as Patrick Duffy (uncredited)
- Morgan Fairchild as Morgan Fairchild (uncredited)
- Paul Feig as Different DJ (uncredited)
- Amber Hay as LSD Vision (uncredited)
- John Michael Higgins as Record Producer (uncredited)
- Jonah Hill as Older Nate (uncredited)
- Neil Ironfield as Dewey's Child (uncredited)
- Cheryl Ladd as Cheryl Ladd (uncredited)
- Cheryl Tiegs as Cheryl Tiegs (uncredited)
- Serria Tawan as 70's African American Woman (uncredited)
- Adam Herschman as Jerry Garcia (uncredited)
- John D. Crawford as Officer Clark
- Jayne Eastwood as 70's Girl (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% 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 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 29 |
| 9 to 12 | 8 | 24 |
| 13 to 16 | 13 | 24 |
| 17 to 20 | 5 | 12 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 25 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 3 |
| 29 to 32 | 3 | 4 |
| 33 to 36 | 7 | 30 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 20 |
| 41 to 44 | 1 | 2 |
| 45 to 48 | 0 | 4 |
| 49 to 52 | 6 | 15 |
| 53 to 56 | 3 | 20 |
| 57 to 60 | 36 | 33 |
| 61 to 64 | 6 | 9 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 1 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 6 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 8 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 7 |
| 81 to 84 | 4 | 29 |
| 85 to 88 | 3 | 6 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 2 |
| 93 to 96 | 1 | 4 |
| 97 to 100 | 8 | 24 |
| 101 to 104 | 4 | 13 |
| 105 to 108 | 11 | 33 |
| 109 to 112 | 1 | 26 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 21 |
| 117 to 120 | 0 | 19 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 45 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 2 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 16 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 1 |
| 137 to 140 | 13 | 18 |
| 141 to 144 | 9 | 38 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 32 |
| 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.
DARLENE: You're married??!! EDITH: Don't you "darlin'" me! You got a woman in your room!
EDITH: Don't you "baby" me ••• - DARLENE: You callin' me "baby"? When you got EDITH: Did she just say "you should be ashamed yourself"?! I'm your wife! I'm the one who should be,_ ,sayin' that you should be ashamed of yoursel…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 19 are women's.
146 lines from women, 611 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
17 women and 54 men in the cast. 5 women and 32 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 39 of 836.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 153 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 16% of the words (1,421), men 84% (7,350). Women have 19% 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
Two women
4
Two men
54
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jake Kasdan (man)
- Written by
- Jake Kasdan (man), Judd Apatow (man)
- Produced by
- Judd Apatow (man), Clayton Townsend (man), Jake Kasdan (man)
- Shot by
- Uta Briesewitz (woman)
- Edited by
- Steve Welch (man), Tara Timpone (woman)
- Music by
- Michael Andrews (man)
- Production design by
- Jefferson Sage (man)
- Costumes by
- Debra McGuire (woman)
- Cast by
- Amy McIntyre Britt (woman), Anya Colloff (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 19 men, 6 not listed
-
Other crew
5 women, 6 men, 11 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 4 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 10 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 5 men, 7 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 8 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
3 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 41 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Jenna Fischer 33, Kristen Wiig 34, Margo Martindale 56
Men
Nat Faxon 32, Chris Parnell 40, Matt Besser 40, John C. Reilly 42, Tim Meadows 46, Harold Ramis 63, Raymond J. Barry 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 52% of what it cost.
- Budget
- $35 million
- Box office
- $18.3 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 149 scenes and 836 lines of dialogue. How the test works
