11 Character Archetypes in Film Noir Movies

I’m a massive fan of the film noir genre. This past month, I was gobbling them up on the Criterion Channel, and I began to notice a pattern.

If you watch enough noirs, you start to see many of the same characters over and over again.

Today, I want to go over the film noir character archetypes with you all and look at how they can inspire your writing.

So, let’s dive in.

11 Character Archetypes in Film Noir

Some of my favorite noirs are Double Indemnity, The Maltese Falcon, The Third Man, and many, many more. I actually really like Sniper and The Killer Who Stalked New York, both of which I caught for the first time this week.

With all the movies I watched, I wanted to go through the characters I kept seeing over and over again.

1. The Hard-Boiled Detective:
   • In classics, it’s always a guy. But it would be a fun gender swap person. They’re a world-weary, cynical, and often solitary private investigator.
   • Think Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon or Philip Marlowe in The Big Sleep.
2. The Femme Fatale:
   • We’ve covered her a lot on this site. She’s an alluring and seductive woman who uses her beauty and charm to manipulate men for her own gain. I did my own riff on this on my Black List script, Himbo.
   • The classic examples include Brigid O’Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon and Sheila Benne in The Killer Who Stalked New York.
3. The Corrupt Cop:
   • There’s so many bad lawmen in these movies. It has to do with the underbelly of society. Lots of times we see a law enforcement officer who is compromised by greed, power, or corruption.
   • Captain Dudley Smith in L.A. Confidential is a perfect example.
4. The Victim:
   • Someone has to get murdered in these movies. Or at least get hurt. Many times it’s woman caught in a web of deceit and danger. But it could also be a husband or a witness to a crime.
   • Consider Vivian Rutledge in The Big Sleep.
5. The Wrongfully Accused:
   • Not just the main character in a Leslie Nielsen movie. Lots of people in these films are a lot of times falsely implicated in a crime, and then forced to go on the run to clear their name.
   • The prime example is Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.
6. The Informant:
   • You need info if you’re going to need someone to deliver it. This is a person who gives crucial information to the protagonist.
   • Teddy in Body Heat is my all time favorite. He shows you how to build a bomb and kill a man.
7. The Thug:
   • You need someone to crack skulls and take people out. This is usually a violent criminal, who’s the muscle that makes things happen.
   • Vince stone in The Big Heat a classic example.
8. The Wealthy Socialite:
   • These movies love to have rich characters who have their world’s threatened or who give access to money and fortune.
   • Think Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.
9. The Down-on-Their-Luck Everyman:
   • An ordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances, who is our window into the world. These are usually our protagonist characters.
   • Al Roberts in Detour works well here.
10. The Psychotic Killer:
    • There’s always one super bad baddie who is pretty much a nutjob and unpredictable.
    • Cody Jarrett in White Heat is a classic example.
11. The Crooked Lawyer:
    • The slippery lawyer is one of those characters that just fits into the criminal underworld. They are manipulative and morally flexible.
    • The best example, even thought it’s TV, is Saul from Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad.

These character archetypes are really fun and should help inspire you on your own noir journey. So, if you’re finishing a spec script, consider adding some of these characters to the mix.

Let me know what you think in the comments.