Passes the Bechdel test
Working Girl
1988. Directed by Mike Nichols, written by Kevin Wade.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
23 women characters. 11 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 12 scenes out of 128. -
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
Tess McGill is a frustrated secretary, struggling to forge ahead in the world of big business in New York. She gets her chance when her boss breaks her leg on a skiing holiday. McGill takes advantage of her absence to push ahead with her career. She teams up with investment broker Jack Trainer to work on a big deal. The situation is complicated after the return of her boss.
- Released
- 21 Dec 1988
- Genres
- Comedy, Drama, Romance
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 73 / 100
- Awards
- Won 1 Oscar. 9 wins & 19 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Tess 379 lines, woman
- Jack 125 lines, man
- Katherine 125 lines, woman
- Dugan 60 lines, man
- Cyn 46 lines, woman
- Trask 27 lines
- Bob 13 lines, man
- Draper 10 lines, man
- Ben 9 lines
- Ginny 9 lines, woman
Full cast, 62 people
- Melanie Griffith as Tess McGill
- Harrison Ford as Jack Trainer
- Sigourney Weaver as Katharine Parker
- Alec Baldwin as Mick Dugan
- Joan Cusack as Cyn
- Philip Bosco as Oren Trask
- Nora Dunn as Ginny
- Oliver Platt as Lutz
- James Lally as Turkel
- Kevin Spacey as Bob Speck
- Robert Easton as Armbriester
- Olympia Dukakis as Personnel Director
- Amy Aquino as Alice Baxter
- Jeffrey Nordling as Tim Rourke
- Elizabeth Whitcraft as Doreen DiMucci
- Maggie Wagner as Tess's Birthday Party Friend
- Lou DiMaggio as Tess's Birthday Party Friend
- David Duchovny as Tess's Birthday Party Friend
- Georgienne Millen as Tess's Birthday Party Friend
- Caroline Aaron as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Nancy Giles as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Judy Milstein as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Nicole Chevance as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Kathleen Gray as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Jane B. Harris as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Sondra Hollander as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Samantha Shane as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Julia Silverman as Petty Marsh Secretary
- Jim Babchak as Junior Executive
- Zach Grenier as Jim
- Ralph Byers as Dewey Stone Reception Guest
- Leslie Ayvazian as Dewey Stone Reception Guest
- Steve Cody as Cab Driver
- Paige Matthews as Dewey Stone Receptionist
- Lee Dalton as John Romano
- Barbara Garrick as Phyllis Trask
- Madolin B. Archer as Barbara Trask
- Etain O'Malley as Hostess at Wedding
- Ricki Lake as Bridesmaid
- Marceline Hugot as Bitsy
- Tom Rooney as Bridegroom
- Peter Duchin as Trask Wedding Orchestra
- Maeve McGuire as Trask Secretary
- Timothy Carhart as Tim Draper
- Lloyd Lindsay Young as TV Weatherman
- F.X. Vitolo as Bartender
- Lily Froehlich as Clerk at Dry Cleaner's
- Michael Haley as Heliport Attendant
- Mario T. DeFelice Jr. as Helicopter Pilot
- Anthony Mancini Jr. as Helicopter Pilot
- Suzanne Shepherd as Trask Receptionist
- Trish Cook as Staten Island Secretary (uncredited)
- Priscilla Cory as Pretty Brunette Office Girl (uncredited)
- Marilyn Dobrin as Cyn's Aunt (uncredited)
- Kevin Fennessy as Trask Executive (uncredited)
- Anita Finlay as Receptionist (uncredited)
- Tom Sean Foley as Office Worker (uncredited)
- George Gerard as Staten Island Ferry Commutor (uncredited)
- Daniel Henning as Young Businessman (uncredited)
- Eric Kramer as Office Party-Goer (uncredited)
- Alison Wachtler as Petty Marshall Secretary (uncredited)
- Matthew Bennett as Rhumba Guy (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 128
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 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 7 to 9 | 17 | 6 |
| 10 to 12 | 17 | 20 |
| 13 to 15 | 2 | 2 |
| 16 to 18 | 9 | 12 |
| 19 to 21 | 28 | 1 |
| 22 to 24 | 28 | 0 |
| 25 to 27 | 28 | 0 |
| 28 to 30 | 45 | 1 |
| 31 to 33 | 2 | 0 |
| 34 to 36 | 4 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 1 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 8 | 9 |
| 43 to 45 | 1 | 0 |
| 46 to 48 | 20 | 0 |
| 49 to 51 | 25 | 22 |
| 52 to 54 | 0 | 0 |
| 55 to 57 | 3 | 0 |
| 58 to 60 | 55 | 22 |
| 61 to 63 | 22 | 31 |
| 64 to 66 | 24 | 1 |
| 67 to 69 | 4 | 0 |
| 70 to 72 | 11 | 12 |
| 73 to 75 | 5 | 4 |
| 76 to 78 | 25 | 6 |
| 79 to 81 | 6 | 4 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 2 |
| 85 to 87 | 17 | 25 |
| 88 to 90 | 13 | 12 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 0 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 6 | 3 |
| 100 to 102 | 10 | 1 |
| 103 to 105 | 20 | 0 |
| 106 to 108 | 6 | 5 |
| 109 to 111 | 15 | 9 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 23 | 9 |
| 118 to 120 | 25 | 5 |
| 121 to 123 | 24 | 1 |
| 124 to 126 | 15 | 6 |
| 127 to 128 | 8 | 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.
KATHERINE: How do I put this? I don't like flowers in the workplace. We're not running a boutique. TESS: I don't usually, um ... my birthday, a few days ago. KATHERINE: Well, no kidding. Mine's next Tuesday. How old? TESS: Twenty-eight.
KATHERINE: A few ground rules. The way I look at it, you're my link with the outside world. People's impression of me starts with yOu. You're tough whe… TESS: Right. KATHERINE: I take my coffee black, my lunches at $ne, and you might want to keep a pack of Larks in your desk. I'm never on another line, I'm in a meet… TESS: How do I look?
KATHERINE: Tess, I'm having a little cocktail thing to introduce myself to the department, and Ginny here's got some great ideas. Jot them down? GINNY: The caterer's called Acme Eats, you'll get the number from information, they do the usual hors d'ouevres and such ... GINNY: ... The Raging Bull has a bartender service, and the liquor store on Broadway and Liberty delivers ... Got that, Bess? TESS: Tess. Yes. If that's the way you want to go ...
TESS: Also serve! Yes! Serve! KATHERINE: Five minutes and counting! TESS: They won't serve! KATHERINE: They're cooks. Can't stay. Somebody got the deal botched up.
TESS: Didn't go well. KATHERINE: Boone's gonna eat West Air for breakfast. Need a white knight and there's no one in sight. I'm really, truly fucked. TESS: I ordered your couch, sent your sister the Filofax calendar, ahd your gynecologist can take you Tuesday at eleven. KATHERINE: No good. See if you can move it up to twelve.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.
581 lines from women, 235 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
23 women and 20 men in the cast. 11 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 2 of 865.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 13 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 70% of the words (7,248), men 30% (3,047). Women have 71% 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
30
Two men
3
Exhibit F: behind the camera
4 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 19% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Mike Nichols (man)
- Written by
- Kevin Wade (man)
- Produced by
- Douglas Wick (man)
- Shot by
- Michael Ballhaus (man)
- Edited by
- Sam O'Steen (man)
- Music by
- Carly Simon (woman)
- Production design by
- Patrizia von Brandenstein (woman)
- Costumes by
- Ann Roth (woman)
- Cast by
- Juliet Taylor (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
3 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 7 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Art
2 women, 4 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 5 men
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 33 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Joan Cusack 26, Melanie Griffith 31, Nora Dunn 36, Sigourney Weaver 39
Men
Oliver Platt 28, Kevin Spacey 29, Alec Baldwin 30, James Lally 32, Harrison Ford 46, Philip Bosco 58
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $28 million
- Box office
- $103 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 128 scenes and 865 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
