I think what the test is good for is demonstrating that most movies are about men, even movies with a lot of female characters. It's a starting point for a longer conversation about gender on film.

And Jessica nails it on the head. It's not the only thing about movies that matters and often not even the most important thing, but I find myself consciously looking for it in every media I consume. I find I have a lot less patience with TV series that fails the test episode-after-episode than I do with movies. (If you have 22 hours over a year to tell your story instead of just two hours, you better have some women in your show other than as passing love-interests.)

You know I don't think Justified passes. At the very least most episodes don't pass. Because while women do talk about stuff other than men, women almost never talk to each other about anything, and the one extended woman to woman conversation we have seen was between an ex-wife and current girlfriend about the ex-husband current boyfriend. I have not seen the latest ep though ...

Over the weekend, SyFy was showing Aliens, which I still maintain is one of the best feminist movies made in the post-Gloria-Steinam era. It totally fulfills that test, because of all of the various women in it (not just Ripley, but Vasquez, Ferro, Dietrich) as well as Newt and the Alien Queen, and the fact that there is no overt romance in it at all.

We've been watching a lot of westerns lately and so far they all fail.

I would probably go see Punching Stuff Until It Blows Up 1 and 2

They need to be on a triple bill with this: [link]

I watched Heat again the other night, which fails the test, even though it features a number of strong female characters whose stories are pivotal in the film. They just don't get any scenes with each other. When Pacino's wife does have dialog with another female character, it's with her daughter about her no good biodad.

I saw The Unforgiven over the weekend, and it might be a Western that passess the Bechdel test. Although it's easier if "Ma" counts as a name. Rachel and Ma spend quite a bit of time (just the two of them as well as with men joining in the conversation) talking about who Rachel's birth parents are.

I've also started watching Red River. About halfway through, a second woman has yet to show up. And the first woman appears to have died (offscreen) after barely two minutes onscreen.

iCarly passes! Okay, it is not a movie. Other kiddie shows I have seen too much of: Dinosaur Train mostly fails (is "Mrs Pteranodon" a name?); Electric Company passes; Caillou fails (male POV character; grandma and mom (no names) mostly discuss Caillou); Clifford passes (Emily Elizabeth and Jutta discuss school stuff); Sid the Science Kid passes (teacher Suzy talks to Isabella and Mei about science); Sesame Street - dunno, are there any female puppets besides Abby Cadaby, and does she talk to Maria or anyone ever?; Thomas the Tank Engine fails (one girl train); Avatar passes (Toph and Kitara discuss things besides Aang, I think); Arthur passes (lots of good female characters doing stuff).

What I find depressing about children's TV is that almost all of it has a male main character. Every show I mention above does except iCarly, which is specifically aimed at tween girls.

Rachel and Ma spend quite a bit of time (just the two of them as well as with men joining in the conversation) talking about who Rachel's birth parents are.

Isn't one of her birth parents male?

Bechdel Test movie list with user contributions.