Passes the Bechdel test
When Harry Met Sally...
1989. Directed by Rob Reiner, written by Nora Ephron.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 66. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Harry and Sally meet when she gives him a ride to New York after they both graduate from the University of Chicago. The film jumps through their lives as they both search for love, but fail, bumping into each other time and time again. Finally a close friendship blooms between them, and they both like having a friend of the opposite sex. But then they are confronted with the problem: "Can a man and a woman be friends, without sex getting in the way?"
- Released
- 21 Jul 1989
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 76 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 6 wins & 19 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Sally 373 lines, woman
- Harry 319 lines, man
- Marie 84 lines, woman
- Jess 78 lines, man
- Barry 59 lines
- Alice 21 lines, woman
- Woman 13 lines, woman
- Joe 11 lines, man
- Man 11 lines, man
- Mar.Ie 6 lines
Full cast, 43 people
- Billy Crystal as Harry Burns
- Meg Ryan as Sally Albright
- Carrie Fisher as Marie
- Bruno Kirby as Jess
- Steven Ford as Joe
- Lisa Jane Persky as Alice
- Michelle Nicastro as Amanda
- Gretchen Palmer as Stewardess
- Robert Alan Beuth as Man on Aisle
- David Burdick as 9 Year Old Boy
- Joe Viviani as Judge
- Harley Jane Kozak as Helen
- Joseph Hunt as Waiter at Wedding
- Kevin Rooney as Ira
- Franc Luz as Julian
- Tracy Reiner as Emily
- Kyle T. Heffner as Gary
- Kimberley LaMarque as Waitress
- Stacey Katzin as Hostess
- Estelle Reiner as Older Woman Customer
- John Arceri as Christmas Tree Salesman
- Peter Day as Joke Teller at Wedding
- Kuno Sponholz as Documentary Couple
- Connie Sawyer as Documentary Couple
- Charles Dugan as Documentary Couple
- Katherine Squire as Documentary Couple
- Al Christy as Documentary Couple
- Frances Chaney as Documentary Couple
- Bernie Hern as Documentary Couple
- Rose Wright as Documentary Couple
- Aldo Rossi as Documentary Couple
- Dona Hardy as Documentary Couple
- Peter Pan as Documentary Couple
- Jane Chung as Documentary Couple
- Bob Ader as Tap Dancer (uncredited)
- Nicholas Glaeser as Waiter (uncredited)
- Randy James as Diner Patron (uncredited)
- Stanley Moore as Truck Driver (uncredited)
- Larry Sherman as Dinner (uncredited)
- Marilyn Spanier as Tap Dancer (uncredited)
- John Speredakos as New Year's Partygoer (uncredited)
- Terry Vaughan as Giants Fan (uncredited)
- Anthony Welch as Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 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 66
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 | 7 | 6 |
| 3 to 4 | 6 | 4 |
| 5 to 6 | 48 | 38 |
| 7 to 8 | 20 | 13 |
| 9 to 10 | 32 | 34 |
| 11 to 12 | 55 | 10 |
| 13 to 14 | 30 | 29 |
| 15 to 16 | 13 | 15 |
| 17 to 18 | 10 | 11 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 1 |
| 21 to 22 | 18 | 19 |
| 23 to 24 | 43 | 43 |
| 25 to 26 | 22 | 5 |
| 27 to 28 | 15 | 12 |
| 29 to 30 | 19 | 12 |
| 31 to 32 | 24 | 29 |
| 33 to 34 | 19 | 30 |
| 35 to 36 | 2 | 1 |
| 37 to 38 | 2 | 2 |
| 39 to 40 | 3 | 6 |
| 41 to 42 | 18 | 12 |
| 43 to 44 | 3 | 2 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 7 | 7 |
| 49 to 50 | 33 | 31 |
| 51 to 52 | 4 | 2 |
| 53 to 54 | 1 | 1 |
| 55 to 56 | 36 | 27 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 5 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 2 |
| 61 to 62 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 5 | 6 |
| 65 to 66 | 21 | 13 |
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.
MARIE: Anybody for coffee? Ad lib •yes•s•. SALLY: I'll help you. Sally and Marie head towards the kitchen.
MARIE: She's young, but look at what she's done. SALLY: What has she done? She makes desserts.
MARIE: It's not just desserts. She makes 3,500 chocolate mousse pies a week. SALLY: Emily is Aunt Emily?
SALLY: I'm sorry to call so early MARIE: Are you all right? SALLY: I did something terrible.
SALLY: I just hope I get to say if first. MARIE: God.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 55 are women's.
518 lines from women, 428 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 17 men in the cast. 10 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 1,044.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 21 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 51% of the words (5,844), men 49% (5,624). Women have 55% 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
17
Two men
22
Exhibit F: behind the camera
5 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Rob Reiner (man)
- Written by
- Nora Ephron (woman)
- Produced by
- Andrew Scheinman (man), Rob Reiner (man)
- Shot by
- Barry Sonnenfeld (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Leighton (man)
- Music by
- Marc Shaiman (man)
- Production design by
- Jane Musky (woman)
- Costumes by
- Gloria Gresham (woman)
- Cast by
- Janet Hirshenson (woman), Jane Jenkins (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
7 women, 9 men, 16 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 19 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 5 men
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men, 5 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Meg Ryan 27, Gretchen Palmer 27, Michelle Nicastro 29, Carrie Fisher 32, Lisa Jane Persky 34
Men
Robert Alan Beuth 31, Steven Ford 33, Bruno Kirby 40, Billy Crystal 41
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $16 million
- Box office
- $92.8 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 66 scenes and 1,044 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
