The Bechdel Test was named for Allison Bechdel, whose comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For in 1985 measured female presence in movies by employing three criteria: Are there two or more women in it, with names? Do the women talk to each other? About something other than a man? Far too many mainstream movies [...]

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Pale Rider (1985)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Written by Michael Butler & Dennis Shryack
Produced by Clint Eastwood
115 minutes
Proving that the western was as durable as an old Lincoln convertible — though the genre had been largely relegated to the scrap heap since John Wayne’s career fadeout The Shootist in 1976 — Clint Eastwood got back on [...]

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Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Screenplay by Paul Haggis, based on stories from Rope Burns by F.X. Toole
Produced by Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy, Tom Rosenberg, Paul Haggis
132 minutes
This Academy Award winner for Best Picture of 2004 seemed to forge an unholy backlash of conservative pundits (claiming to be upset over the moral [...]

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SherryBaby (2006)
Written by Laurie Collyer
Directed by Laurie Collyer
Produced by Elevation Filmworks/ Big Beach Films
MPAA rating: “R for strong sexuality, nudity, language and drug content”
Running time: 96 minutes
Should I Care?
Maggie Gyllenhaal picked up a Golden Globe nomination (her second) for “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama” in SherryBaby and it’s [...]

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