David Thomson's Suspects
Characters from Private
Eye and Noir Flicks included in David Thomson's Suspects
In his 1985 novel, film critic David Thomson assembles brief bios of over eighty famous movie characters, from classic films like The Big Sleep, Citizen Kane, Sunset Boulevard, etc. and imagines links between them, covering everyone from JAKE GITTES (Chinatown) to TRAVIS BICKLE (Taxi Driver).
Did you know that George, from It's a Wonderful Life, had a son, HARRY MOSEBY, from Night Moves. Definitely a weird, wonderful book for movie fans.
| Jake Gittes, Noah Cross, Evelyn Cross Mulwray | Chinatown (1974) |
| Ilsa Lund, Victor Lazlo, Rick Blaine | Casablanca (1942) |
| Eileen Wade | The Long Goodbye (1973) |
| Laura, Waldo Lydecker, Mark McPherson | Laura (1944) |
| Walter Neff, Phyllis Diedrichson, Wilson Keyes | Double Indemnity (1944) |
| Vivian Sternwood | The Big Sleep (1946) |
| Brigid Shaughnessy, Casper Gutman, | The Maltese Falcon (1941) |
| Jeff Bailey | Out of the Past (1947) |
| John Klute, Bree Daniels | Klute (1971) |
| Harry Moseby, Paula Iverson | Night Moves (1975) |
An added bonus is the filmography at the end, as fine a suggested viewing list as you'd want.