# Anyone else have a soft place in their hearts for movies that (practically) have no women in them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429 "2014-08-25T04:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/41 "2014-08-25T19:48:07Z")
Except for the hooker and the sniper, _Full Metal Jacket_ didn’t have any women in it and only the hooker spoke. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/42 "2014-08-25T19:48:41Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > [Withnail & I](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withnail_and_I) has only a few lines from women in very minor roles, and it’s **widely regarded as a modern classic**. Though possibly not by women. > [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t understand why anyone would have a soft spot for this. The concept puzzles me; it seems to imply that people would naturally be sentimental or warm-and-fuzzy about all-male movies. Or something. I don’t pretend to be able to read the OP’s mind–_was_ that the idea, Dale Sams?) ---
**Author:** ![Lydia\_Phalfav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@Lydia\_Phalfav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lydia_Phalfav)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/43 "2014-08-25T19:56:57Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I hate ANY love plot! Get on with the **action** , f’rchrissakes! 🆒 I feel this way about most movies that don’t have romantic plots. Hero angst also fills this role. Stop with the whining & false sympathy, get on with the action! 🆒 I feel the same way about T&A. I -really- want to see a hot guy’s crotch grinding up against the camera just to squick out the guys as much as my friends & I get bored/squicked out whenever some skanky whore parades across the screen or is shoe-horned into an otherwise awesome or decent movie. In fact, make it happen to every 3rd or 4th movie to make “the sexiness” equal. Stop ruining movies you shitty, horny directors! 😛 (This is why I hardly watch movies anymore & cut out a LOT of TV over the years.) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/44 "2014-08-25T20:10:56Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Though possibly not by women. > > The concept puzzles me; it seems to imply that people would naturally be sentimental or warm-and-fuzzy about all-male movies. Or something. I don’t pretend to be able to read the OP’s mind–_was_ that the idea, Dale Sams?) I just wanted to throw something at the wall and see what people thought. There are a few movies I like that are considered ok-good, that I think are great…and personally I’ve noticed they feature no women. Like “The Edge” (Though a woman is the driving force behind part of it) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/45 "2014-08-25T20:35:30Z")
The list of movies with no (or effectively no) female roles is huge. The list of movies with no (or effectively no) male roles: another story. The only one I can think of is THE WOMEN. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/46 "2014-08-25T20:46:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t understand why anyone would have a soft spot for this. Do you like movies about gladiators? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/47 "2014-08-25T21:33:17Z")
I’m not saying it’s in bad taste. Bad Taste is the title of the only film I really love with no women. I consider that lack it’s one failing. Without spoiling- Aliens land in New Zealand. They are here to kill, process, and eat us. Lines include “The bastards have landed!” “I’m a Derek. And Derek’s don’t run.” “What a lucky boy I am. I got a chunky bit!” “I’m born again!” If memory serves, Peter Jackson wrote and directed. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/48 "2014-08-25T21:43:27Z")
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/49 "2014-08-25T21:57:24Z")
I’d rather see a chest-thumping, manly men doing manly things action movie putter along (hopefully with a little ho-yay) with An All! Male! Cast! than the same with a token woman or two just obviously stuck in there. Holding up the action to give the hero a warm place to put it in between explosions and fireballs, or the token wife waving bye’ bye’ - “be careful!”. I hate that. I hate the older movies that used to insert romantic sub-plots that only got in the way, because frail, romantic, delicate girls were more apt to sit through a war movie if there was some fragrant rose of a heroine for them to moon over. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/50 "2014-08-25T22:13:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > It depends on context. If the setting of the movie is such that there would naturally be no women present–say a men’s prison, a World War II submarine, a quest to destroy a piece of tacky gold jewelry set in a pseudo-medieval, pre-Abrahamic world–I’m fine with their being few or no women in the cast. Otherwise it bugs me. Yeah, the all male production of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was just all wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/51 "2014-08-25T22:57:20Z")
IIRC, the only female character in [Reservoir Dogs](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/?ref_=nv_sr_2) is the woman who (with no dialogue) shoots Mister Orange. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/52 "2014-08-26T00:59:37Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > If memory serves, Peter Jackson wrote and directed. And starred. Twice. > [@Loach](#): > > Even if in a setting in which women would normally not be around? Like some of the above mentioned historical war movies. Historical accuracy matters, so I won’t accuse them of misogyny or anything, but I do prefer a good mix of people in a cast if possible. There aren’t many all-male movies I watch anyway, just by coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/53 "2014-08-26T11:23:48Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > IIRC, the only female character in [Reservoir Dogs](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/?ref_=nv_sr_2) is the woman who (with no dialogue) shoots Mister Orange. Two women in that film, actually. There’s also the one that Mr. Pink pulls from her car to get away from the cops. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/54 "2014-08-26T13:29:36Z")
I’m just going off memory here, but I’d be surprised if _The Bridge on the River Kwai_ had any substantial female roles, given its setting. IMDB shows a ‘Nurse’, as well as four ‘Siamese Girls’, but something tells me they weren’t central to the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/55 "2014-08-26T13:42:23Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Though possibly not by women. Well, it was a woman that introduced the film to me, and she and her sister can (and regularly do) quote whole swathes of dialogue from the film, so clearly the lack of important female characters isn’t putting them off. In fact I don’t think I know of anyone female who’s seen it and didn’t love it. Some stories only really work with one gender. That doesn’t necessarily make them bad stories, and no one seems to be complaining about films where most or all of the leads are female. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/56 "2014-08-26T13:45:55Z")
I’m a 180 from this, I prefer movies with almost no males in them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/57 "2014-08-26T13:58:26Z")
> [@](#): > > …and no one seems to be complaining about films where most or all of the leads are female. That’s because nobody can think of any. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/58 "2014-08-26T14:04:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That’s because nobody can think of any. …except for several that have been mentioned in the thread so far. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/59 "2014-08-26T14:44:25Z")
Also… Steel Magnolias Thelma & Louise The First Wives Club Bridget Jones’ Diary Waiting to Exhale The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants Sex and the City Sex and the City 2 The Devil Wears Prada Fried Green Tomatoes …it’s not _that_ hard to think of films where most or all of the leads are female. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429/60 "2014-08-26T14:49:55Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Also… > > Steel Magnolias > Thelma & Louise > The First Wives Club > Bridget Jones’ Diary > Waiting to Exhale > The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants > Sex and the City > Sex and the City 2 > The Devil Wears Prada > Fried Green Tomatoes > > …it’s not _that_ hard to think of films where most or all of the leads are female. So, strongly female movies are either about women who act like men, women who want to have sex with men, or women who gossip about men. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-have-a-soft-place-in-their-hearts-for-movies-that-practically-have-no-women-in-them/696429.md?page=4)