Fails the Bechdel test
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
1988. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman and Gary K. Wolf.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
'Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect. Groundbreaking interaction between the live and animated characters, and lots of references to classic animation.
- Released
- 22 Jun 1988
- Genres
- Animation, Adventure, Comedy
- Rated
- PG
- IMDb
- 7.7 / 10
- Metascore
- 83 / 100
- Awards
- Won 3 Oscars. 26 wins & 25 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Valiant 260 lines, man
- Roger Rabbit 109 lines, man
- Doom 71 lines, man
- Jessica Rabbit 48 lines, woman
- Dolores 45 lines, woman
- Maroon 44 lines, man
- Roadster 26 lines, man
- Baby Herman 16 lines, man
- Lt. Santino 14 lines, man
- Earl 6 lines, man
Full cast, 53 people
- Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant
- Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom
- Joanna Cassidy as Dolores
- Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit / Benny the Cab / Greasy / Psycho (voice)
- Stubby Kaye as Marvin Acme
- Alan Tilvern as R.K. Maroon
- Richard LeParmentier as Lt. Santino
- Lou Hirsch as Baby Herman (voice)
- Betsy Brantley as Jessica's Performance Model
- Joel Silver as Raoul
- Paul Springer as Augie
- Richard Ridings as Angelo
- Edwin Craig as Arthritic Cowboy
- Lindsay Holiday as Soldier
- Mike Edmonds as Stretch
- Morgan Deare as Editor / Gorilla (voice)
- Danny Capri as Kid #1
- Christopher Hollosy as Kid #2
- Jean-Paul Sipla as Kid #3
- Laura Frances as Blonde Starlet
- Joel Cutrara as Forensic #1
- Billy J. Mitchell as Forensic #2
- Eric B. Sindon as Mailman
- Ed Herlihy as Newscaster
- James O'Connell as Conductor
- Eugene Gutierrez as Teddy Valiant
- April Winchell as Mrs. Herman (voice)
- Mae Questel as Betty Boop (voice)
- Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck / Tweety / Bugs Bunny / Sylvester / Porky Pig (voice)
- Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck (voice)
- Mary T. Radford as Hippo (voice)
- Joe Alaskey as Yosemite Sam / Foghorn Leghorn (voice)
- Fred Newman as Stupid (voice)
- David L. Lander as Smart Ass (voice)
- June Foray as Wheezy / Lena Hyena (voice)
- Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse (voice)
- Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse / Birds (voice)
- Les Perkins as Mr. Toad (voice)
- Richard Williams as Droopy (voice)
- Pat Buttram as Bullet #1 (voice)
- Jim Cummings as Bullet #2 (voice)
- Jim Gallant as Bullet #3 (voice)
- Frank Sinatra as Singing Sword (voice) (archive sound)
- Tony Pope as Goofy / Big Bad Wolf (voice)
- Peter Westy as Pinocchio (voice)
- Cherry Davis as Woody Woodpecker (voice)
- Kathleen Turner as Jessica Rabbit (voice) (uncredited)
- Jack Angel as Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)
- Jeff Arbaugh as Mime (uncredited)
- Nancy Cartwright as Dipped Shoe (voice) (uncredited)
- Mickie McGowan as Mooing Cow / Flying Witch (voice) (uncredited)
- Amy Irving as Jessica Rabbit (singing voice) (uncredited)
- Frank Welker as Dumbo (voice) (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 68
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 | 0 | 48 |
| 3 to 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 to 6 | 11 | 21 |
| 7 to 8 | 2 | 5 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 23 |
| 11 to 12 | 2 | 21 |
| 13 to 14 | 13 | 58 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 30 |
| 17 to 18 | 0 | 5 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 4 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 3 |
| 23 to 24 | 0 | 1 |
| 25 to 26 | 5 | 7 |
| 27 to 28 | 6 | 45 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 6 |
| 33 to 34 | 2 | 27 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 2 |
| 39 to 40 | 1 | 12 |
| 41 to 42 | 24 | 24 |
| 43 to 44 | 1 | 22 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 26 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 3 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 6 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 9 |
| 53 to 54 | 0 | 5 |
| 55 to 56 | 4 | 45 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 15 |
| 61 to 62 | 12 | 35 |
| 63 to 64 | 2 | 23 |
| 65 to 66 | 1 | 8 |
| 67 to 68 | 9 | 70 |
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, 14 are women's.
100 lines from women, 622 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
11 women and 31 men in the cast. 3 women and 29 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 60 of 750.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 82 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 (978), men 86% (6,236).
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
3
Two men
74
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 14 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 8% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Robert Zemeckis (man)
- Written by
- Jeffrey Price (man), Peter S. Seaman (man)
- From the novel by
- Gary K. Wolf (man)
- Produced by
- Frank Marshall (man), Robert Watts (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Cundey (man)
- Edited by
- Arthur Schmidt (man)
- Music by
- Alan Silvestri (man)
- Production design by
- Roger Cain (man), Elliot Scott (man)
- Costumes by
- Joanna Johnston (woman)
- Cast by
- Reuben Cannon (man), Priscilla John (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Visual Effects
1 women, 23 men, 20 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 23 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Sound
1 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 47 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Betsy Brantley 32, Joanna Cassidy 42
Men
Lou Hirsch 33, Joel Silver 35, Charles Fleischer 37, Richard LeParmentier 41, Bob Hoskins 45, Christopher Lloyd 49, Stubby Kaye 69, Alan Tilvern 69
Exhibit G: the money
It made 6.9 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $50.6 million
- Box office
- $352 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 68 scenes and 750 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
