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The Best Movies That Pass the Bechdel Test

Updated April 15, 2020 9.3k votes 660 voters 15.8k views116 items

List RulesFilms must pass all three criteria of the Bechdel Test: 1) Contains two female characters with names 2) who talk to each other 3) about something other than a man.

Few movie cliches are more common than the female best friend. What's she like? What are her interests and life goals? Who knows? Who cares! Many times female characters in film aren't given especially interesting parts, and then, if by chance they happen to meet another woman in the script, they usually gab about boys. Ladies, right?!!? But, there are over 5,000 films that pass the Bechdel Test, meaning the film has at least two named female characters, who talk to each other, about something other than a man. Doesn't that sound fun?

Which films pass the Bechdel Test? You might be surprised that dude-tastic films like Die Hard, The Godfather Part II, and even The Terminator make the cut. Of course, there are other female and women-focused films that pass the Bechdel Test as well. Classics like A League of Their Own and newer films like Obvious Child and Wild are examples. Even some of the greatest films of all time like Gone with the Wind, Rear Window, and The Wizard of Oz, feature female roles and meet the Bechdel criteria. Even animated films like Frozen and Toy Story 3 pass the Bechdel Test! Thanks, Disney!

The origin of the test is credited to cartoonist Alison Bechdel, who had a character voice the idea in her comic strip called Dykes to Watch Out For. Bechdel has also attributed the idea for the test to her friend, Liz Wallace. Swedish cinema even incorporates the test into some of their ratings.

Does your favorite film pass the Bechdel Test? Vote for the best Bechdel Test-passing films below and if the movies you love aren't listed here, check the full Bechdel Test database and if they meet all three criteria, add them below!

Want more? Check out this list of 2019 Bechdel Test movies.

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Network
Sidney Lumet
Actors: Robert Duvall, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Ned Beatty, Lance Henriksen
Released: 1976
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Alien
Ridley Scott
Actors: Sigourney Weaver, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton
Released: 1979
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Alita: Battle Angel
Robert Rodriguez
Actors: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali, Ed Skrein
Released: 2019
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Interstellar
Christopher Nolan
Actors: Anne Hathaway, Matthew McConaughey, Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine
Released: 2014
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The Wedding Ringer
Jeremy Garelick
Actors: Kaley Cuoco, Kevin Hart, Cloris Leachman, Mimi Rogers, Olivia Thirlby
Released: 2015
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The Terminator
James Cameron
Actors: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Paxton, Linda Hamilton, David Hyde Pierce, Michael Biehn
Released: 1984
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9 to 5
Colin Higgins
Actors: Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Dabney Coleman, Sterling Hayden
Released: 1980
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Shazam!
David F. Sandberg
Actors: Zachary Levi, Mark Strong, Jack Dylan Grazer, Asher Angel, Grace Fulton
Released: 2019
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Beauty and the Beast
Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Actors: Angela Lansbury, Frank Welker, Jerry Orbach, Robby Benson, David Ogden Stiers
Released: 1991
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Halloween
John Carpenter
Actors: Jamie Lee Curtis, Kyle Richards, Donald Pleasence, Sandy Johnson, Charles Cyphers
Released: 1978
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Boys on the Side
Herbert Ross
Actors: Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey, Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Niecy Nash
Released: 1995
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Some Like It Hot
Billy Wilder
Actors: Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Grace Lee Whitney, George Raft
Released: 1959
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Gone with the Wind
Sam Wood, George Cukor
Actors: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Hattie McDaniel, George Reeves
Released: 1939
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The Sixth Sense
M. Night Shyamalan
Actors: Bruce Willis, Mischa Barton, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, M. Night Shyamalan
Released: 1999
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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Gore Verbinski
Actors: Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush
Released: 2003
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Singin' in the Rain
Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly
Actors: Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Rita Moreno, Cyd Charisse, Donald O'Connor
Released: 1952
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Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller
Actors: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Nicholas Hoult, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Released: 2015
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Obvious Child
Gillian Robespierre
Actors: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, Gabe Liedman
Released: 2014
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All About Eve
Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Actors: Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Thelma Ritter
Released: 1950
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Kill Bill Volume 1
Quentin Tarantino
Actors: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Quentin Tarantino, Daryl Hannah, Vivica A. Fox
Released: 2003
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A League of Their Own
Penny Marshall
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Released: 1992
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The Help
Tate Taylor
Actors: Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis, Sissy Spacek
Released: 2011
The Help is a 2011 American period drama film directed and written by Tate Taylor, and adapted... more
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17 Again
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Actors: Zac Efron, Michelle Trachtenberg, Matthew Perry, Kat Graham, Leslie Mann
Released: 2009
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Ghost World
Terry Zwigoff
Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Teri Garr, David Cross, Thora Birch
Released: 2001
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The Silence of the Lambs
Jonathan Demme
Actors: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Chris Isaak, George A. Romero, Roger Corman
Released: 1991
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