Bechdel Test Movie List

Ok Karen does discuss Florida with Rosie (Illena Douglas) in one scene but it is a brief scene!

The Hostess Party? They talked about a bunch of topics that wasn't just men

At the hostess party, Karen talks briefly with Rosie (Ileana Douglas) about where they were each from.

Below is my transcription of the hostess party scene. Karen, Mickey, Angie, and Belle are definitely all identified by first name in the movie. I believe Susan and Rosie are named only in the credits, not the movie itself.

My verdict? Probably a pass.

********************
Karen Hill [Lorraine Bracco, voiceover]: Well we weren’t married to nine to five guys. But the first time I realized how different was when Mickey had a hostess party.

Rosie [Illeana Douglas]: Karen, where are you from?

Karen: Lawrence.

Rosie. Oh yeah, Lawrence, out on the Island. It’s nice. I’m from Miami. You ever been there?

Karen: No.

Rosie: It’s okay, but it’s like you died and woke up in Jew heaven.

Woman [I think this is Belle, but it might be Mrs. Cicero]: Angie, stop picking at that thing.

Angie [Melissa Prophet]: . . .the one with the hands. I’d like to smack his face.

Susan [Susan Varon]: The red-haired guy, looks like a farmer?

Angie: . . .telling you, I can’t get through the gate without this guy’s hands all over me. So I told him--I said, “Keep your f. . .ing hands off me, you son of a bitch, or I’ll cut them off.”

[laughter]

Rosie: She means it.

Angie: I mean he don’t know how lucky he is. I just mention this to Vinnie. . .know about it.

Susan: That’s the problem. How can you mention it? Vinnie’d kill him. Please.

Angie: . . .don’t, he’ll kill the miserable bastard. Then Vinnie’ll be there for life.

Mickey Conway [Julie Garfield]: You think you’ve got problems? What about Jeanie’s kid?

Angie: What happened?

Mickey: He was in an argument, a lousy ten dollar card game. He pulls out a gun. The gun goes off. Some kid gets killed. When the grandmother hears it, finds out he’s in jail, she has a heart attack, drops dead right on the spot. Now Jeanie has a husband and a son in jail and a mother in the funeral parlor.

Rosie: Oh, come on.

[Voice off camera, probably Belle(?)]: You know, Jeanie drinks.

[Voice off camera, probably Mickey]: Well, maybe she’s depressed.

Belle(?): Depressed? Give me a break. She’s drunk.

Mrs. Carbone [no first name, Marie Michaels]: Come on, as soon as something happens, you automatically make them out to be saints.

Karen [voiceover]: They had bad skin and wore too much makeup. I mean they didn’t look very good.

Belle(?): It’s those kids. . .brutal.

Karen [voiceover]: The stuff they wore was thrown-together and cheap. A lot of pantsuits and double-knits.

Mickey: . . .She doesn’t wake up in the morning. She spends her life in a nightgown.

Mrs. Carbone: That woman is no angel, believe me.

I’ve now gone through the whole film, and there are at least three additional scenes that, though brief, pretty clearly pass the test.

One takes place when Janice Rossi [Gina Mastrogiacomo] shows her girlfriends the apartment where Henry has set her up. She does most of the talking, but Sandy [Debi Mazar] comments twice about the furnishings. At this point, we only know Janice’s name, but Sandy is named later in the movie after Henry starts seeing her.

The second occurs as Karen Hill [Loraine Bracco] shows Belle Kessler [Margo Winkler] the new house after Henry has been released from prison. Morrie (“Morrie’s wigs don’t come off!”) is shown with Belle at the very beginning of the scene, but Belle steps away from him, and he never says anything. The women talk about the sofa, a rock wall that opens to reveal a television, and the dining room table. Karen does most of the talking but Belle responds at least twice. Belle is identified by first name in this scene and several other times during the movie.

In the third, Karen and Lois Byrd [Welker White] talk about the baby Lois has taken with her on the plane while smuggling coke for Henry. It’s part of a slightly longer scene in which Henry is present and speaks, but he ignores them as they talk to each other about the baby. Henry identifies Lois by full name in a voiceover as the scene begins. And if it really matters, the baby wears pink and is referred to by Karen as “she.”

I've updated the rating from 2/3 to 3/3.

barely passes the Bechdel test. Its a well made film but mostly male-centric. Yes its about gangsters who are predominantly male, but it just barely touches on the women in their lives and how a life of crime effects them.
The Sopranos is so much better in terms of character development, especially with females.

Lorraine Bracco’s character states in voiceover that the purpose of the cocktail party scene is to contrast life with their husbands to life with 9-5 husbands.