Fails the Bechdel test
Young Guns
1988. Directed by Christopher Cain, written by John Fusco.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
1 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
No
2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.
The film
1878 in New Mexico: John Tunstall picks up young gun men from the road to have them work on his ranch, but also to teach them reading and to civilize them. However he's a thorn in the side of the rich rancher Murphy, as he's a competitor in selling cattle. One day he's shot by Murphy's men. Judge Wilson can't do anything, since Sheriff Brady is one of Murphy's men. But attorney Alex persuades him to constitute Tunstall's young friends to Deputies and give them warrants of arrest for the murderers. Instead of arresting them, William Bonney just shoots them down. Soon the 5 guys become famous and William gets the name "Billy the Kid" - but they're also chased by dozens of Murphy's men and the army. The people however honor him as fighter for justice.
- Released
- 12 Aug 1988
- Genres
- Action, Drama, Western
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.8 / 10
- Metascore
- 50 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Billy 158 lines, man
- Doc 109 lines, man
- Charley 79 lines, man
- Brewer 43 lines, man
- Tunstall 43 lines, man
- Mcsween 30 lines, man
- Diriysteve 26 lines, man
- Chavez 22 lines, man
- Garret 18 lines, man
- Pierce 16 lines, man
Full cast, 38 people
- Emilio Estevez as William H. Bonney
- Kiefer Sutherland as Doc Scurlock
- Lou Diamond Phillips as Chavez y Chavez
- Charlie Sheen as Dick Brewer
- Dermot Mulroney as Dirty Steve Stephens
- Casey Siemaszko as Charley Bowdre
- Terence Stamp as John Tunstall
- Jack Palance as L. G. Murphy
- Terry O'Quinn as Alex McSween
- Sharon Thomas Cain as Susan McSween
- Geoffrey Blake as J. McCloskey
- Alice Carter as Yen Sun
- Brian Keith as Buckshot Roberts
- Thomas Callaway as Texas Joe Grant
- Patrick Wayne as Pat Garrett
- Lisa Banes as Mallory
- Sam Gauny as Morton
- Cody Palance as Baker
- Gadeek as Henry Hill
- Victor Izay as Justice Wilson
- Allen Keller as John Kinney
- Craig Erickson as Peppin
- Jeremy Lepard as Dolan
- Danny Kamin as Sheriff Brady
- Richela Renkun as Bar Girl
- Pat Finn-Lee as Janey
- Gary Kanin as Colonel Dudley
- Forrest Broadley as Rynerson
- Alan Tobin as Bartender
- Joey Hamlin as Hindman
- Loyd Lee Brown as Soldier
- Elena Parres as Manuela's Mother
- Tom Cruise as Henchman Shot off of Roof (uncredited)
- Randy Travis as Gatling Gun Operator (uncredited)
- Tomas Moore as Town person (uncredited)
- John Pattison as Minor Role (uncredited)
- W. Thomas Snyder as Charlie Crawford (uncredited)
- Lee Sollenberger as Regulator at Dance (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 88
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 | 40 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 30 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 14 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 4 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 16 |
| 13 to 14 | 7 | 54 |
| 15 to 16 | 0 | 11 |
| 17 to 18 | 2 | 11 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 10 |
| 23 to 24 | 3 | 12 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 44 |
| 27 to 28 | 0 | 30 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 32 | 0 | 10 |
| 33 to 34 | 0 | 5 |
| 35 to 36 | 0 | 17 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 10 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 21 |
| 41 to 42 | 7 | 30 |
| 43 to 44 | 0 | 8 |
| 45 to 46 | 3 | 28 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 2 |
| 49 to 50 | 0 | 7 |
| 51 to 52 | 0 | 11 |
| 53 to 54 | 3 | 3 |
| 55 to 56 | 3 | 10 |
| 57 to 58 | 4 | 16 |
| 59 to 60 | 0 | 38 |
| 61 to 62 | 1 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 44 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 5 |
| 67 to 68 | 0 | 28 |
| 69 to 70 | 0 | 8 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 8 |
| 73 to 74 | 2 | 3 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 12 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 16 |
| 79 to 80 | 2 | 3 |
| 81 to 82 | 0 | 0 |
| 83 to 84 | 0 | 5 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 2 |
| 87 to 88 | 0 | 5 |
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, 5 are women's.
37 lines from women, 638 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
4 women and 24 men in the cast. 4 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 142 of 727.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 171 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 5% of the words (459), men 95% (8,503).
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
0
Two men
76
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 16% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Christopher Cain (man)
- Written by
- John Fusco (man)
- Produced by
- Christopher Cain (man), Joe Roth (man)
- Shot by
- Dean Semler (man)
- Edited by
- Jack Hofstra (man)
- Music by
- Brian Banks (man), Anthony Marinelli (man)
- Production design by
- Jane Musky (woman)
- Costumes by
- Richard Hornung (man)
- Cast by
- Penny Perry (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
6 women, 26 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 21 men, 15 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 7 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 42 on average. Men: 33 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sharon Thomas Cain 42
Men
Kiefer Sutherland 21, Charlie Sheen 22, Dermot Mulroney 24, Emilio Estevez 26, Lou Diamond Phillips 26, Casey Siemaszko 27, Terry O'Quinn 36, Terence Stamp 50, Jack Palance 69
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.4 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $13 million
- Box office
- $44.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 88 scenes and 727 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
