| Clerks | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Kevin Smith |
| Written by | Kevin Smith |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | David Klein |
| Edited by |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release dates |
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Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $27,575 |
| Box office | $4.4 million[1] |
Clerks is a 1994 Americanblack-and-whitecomedy film written and directed byKevin Smith.[2] The film starsBrian O'Halloran,Jeff Anderson,Marilyn Ghigliotti,Jason Mewes, andLisa Spoonauer, it presents a day in the lives of store clerksDante Hicks (O'Halloran) andRandal Graves (Anderson) as well as their acquaintances. It is the first of Smith'sView Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notablyJay and Silent Bob (played by Mewes and Smith respectively).
The film was initially shot for $27,575 before its film rights were purchased byMiramax Films and $230,000 was spent on music licensing and editing. It was shot in the convenience and video stores where Smith worked in real life.[2]
Clerks had its premiere at theSundance Film Festival on January 22, 1994, and was released in the United States on October 19. The film received positive reviews and grossed $4.4 million, launching Smith's career. Often regarded as a landmark in independent filmmaking, the film was selected for preservation in the United StatesNational Film Registry by theLibrary of Congress in 2019 as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3] In 2006, asequel was released, followed by athird installment in 2022.
On his day off, Dante Hicks, a retail clerk at the Quick Stop Groceries convenience store inLeonardo, New Jersey, is instructed by his boss via phone call to cover another employee's morning shift. Dante asks to end early at noon to play a hockey game with friends later that day, with the boss coming in himself. Arriving to find the locks to the security shutters jammed closed with gum, he drapes a sheet over the shutters with "I ASSURE YOU; WE'RE OPEN!" in shoe polish; he repeatedly laments, "I'm not even supposed to be here today."
The first customer of the day is a man who attempts to convince cigarette-buying customers that they should buy Chewlies brand gum instead of cigarettes, displaying a bag containing what he claims is a diseased human lung corroded by tar. A crowd soon gathers around Dante, hostilely blaming him for the ills of cancer because he sells cigarettes at the man's impassioned urging. Dante's girlfriend Veronica Loughran enters, quickly calms the crowd down with a fire extinguisher, and confronts the man, who is revealed to be a Chewlies representative wishing to sell more gum. She then orders him out along with the crowd, chiding them for wasting their lives. Shortly after, Dante and Veronica converse behind the counter regarding Dante's current disposition. She then encounters an old boyfriend of hers, a customer named Willam Black, and admits to Dante that she engaged insnowballing with Black and performedfellatio on 36 other guys before their current relationship. Dante jealously considers her past acts as more severe than his own, which include having sex with twelve different women before her. She then storms out, furious with Dante's insensitivity.
Dante's best friend, wisecracking slacker Randal Graves, soon arrives late for his own workday at the RST Video rental store next door, although he mostly keeps Dante company at the Quick Stop. Dante finds out from him that his unfaithful ex-girlfriend Caitlin Bree, with whom he still secretly communicates, is engaged. Some customers they encounter are angry and demanding, others are clueless and impolite, and still others prove unexpectedly wise. During lunch, Dante and Veronica reconcile their respective sexual pasts. Dante is notified that his boss is vacationing inVermont, leaving him to run the store. Dante convinces his friends to have their hockey game on the roof, and temporarily closes it down. Twelve minutes in, an irate customer arrives, demanding that Dante open the store and criticizing his playing, and ultimately sabotages the game. After Dante discovers that an ex-girlfriend of his, Julie Dwyer, has died, he and Randal temporarily depart for the memorial service. The visit is disastrous, and the two flee the funeral home; their conversation when they return to the store reveals that Randal accidentally toppled Julie's casket.
Two of Dante's former high school classmates, Rick Derris and Heather Jones, inform him that everyone in their graduating class, except for him, knew of Caitlin's infidelity and that Rick even had sexual intercourse with Caitlin. A health department representative interrupts the conversation and questions Dante about his earlier whereabouts, then fines him $500 for selling cigarettes to a four-year-old, even though Randal actually sold them. Afterwards, Caitlin visits Dante, having ended her engagement. Torn between her and Veronica, he finally pursues a date with Caitlin, returning to his house to prepare. However, an incident in the store bathroom renders her catatonic; in the darkness, she had sex with who she thought was Dante but was really an elderly customer who suffered a fatalheart attack whilemasturbating to a pornographic magazine Dante provided him earlier. She is carted away in an ambulance along with the corpse.
Drug dealersJay and Silent Bob enter the Quick Stop to shoplift and unsuccessfully invite Dante to party with them after hours. Aware of Dante's problems, Silent Bob tersely reasons that he truly loves Veronica. However, Randal reveals he has already confessed the previous events to her, and she furiously and dramatically dumps Dante. Upset and furious, Dante brawls with Randal, trashing the Quick Stop in the process.
After a brief crucial moment of clarity between them, Dante rants at Randal, blaming him for the day's events before repeating his relent of "I'm not even supposed to be here today!". Randal furiously blows up at Dante, reminding him that he abandoned his post to slack off several times of his own accord, but arrived at work nevertheless and could've left at any point but didn't, and furthermore neither of them are as "advanced" as they think they are, otherwise they wouldn't be stuck with such lowly jobs. The two reconcile and clean up, with Dante planning to take the next day off to visit Caitlin in the hospital and attempt reconciliation with Veronica. Before departing, Randal tosses Dante's shoe-polish sign in his face and declares, "You're closed!"[4]
When writing the script, writer and directorKevin Smith based the character of Dante Hicks on himself, Randal Graves on his friendBryan Johnson,[5] who appeared in Smith's subsequent films as Steve-Dave Pulski, and Jay onJason Mewes, who ended up playing him in the movie.[2]
Many of Smith's family and friends played roles due to budget constraints. One of them,Walt Flanagan, in addition to creating the character of Silent Bob's Russian metal-head cousin Olaf, plays four roles in this film: The "Woolen Cap Smoker" in the beginning, the famous "Egg Man" (both of which he reprises inClerks III), the "Offended Customer" during the "jizz mopper" scene, and the "Cat Admiring Bitter Customer", as well as the final RST Video customer in a deleted scene. Smith never intended for Flanagan to play so many roles, but had to as the actors he hired for the roles did not show up, and would often, in jest, refer to Flanagan as "theLon Chaney of the '90s". Flanagan would also appear in Smith's subsequent films as Walt "The Fanboy" Grover opposite Johnson's Steve-Dave.
Brian O'Halloran, a stage actor local to Kevin Smith, discovered an audition notice for the film that Smith gave to his community theatre. O'Halloran answered the notice and auditioned, unaware that he would be cast as the film's main character Dante; during auditioning, O'Halloran was informed by a friend of Smith's that all of the main characters were already cast.[6]
Smith originally wrote the part of Randal for himself,[2] dryly admitting in the DVD audio commentary to be the reason why he gave Randal his most-liked lines. However, Smith found that writing, directing, working at the store and playing a lead role all simultaneously was too difficult, and he constantly forgot his lines in the process. Consequently, he gave the role of Randal to his friend,Jeff Anderson, while Smith took on the less-demanding role of Silent Bob.
To acquire the funds for the film, Smith sold off a large portion of his extensive comic book collection in 1993, which he later bought back; borrowed $3,000 from his parents; maxed out eight to ten credit cards with $2,000 limits; and spent a portion of funds he got back from his college education, paychecks from working at Quick Stop and RST, and insurance money awarded for property of his lost and/or damaged in a storm-flood, thus adding up the total budget to $27,575.[7]
Clerks was shot on anArriflex SR-2 camera, utilizingblack-and-white 16mmKodak Plus X film stock, and roughly edited due to its small budget.[8][9] The film was shot in 21 days (with two "pick-up" days).[10][2]
The Quick Stop convenience store, located at 58 Leonard Avenue inLeonardo, New Jersey, where Smith worked, was the primary setting for the film.[2] He was only allowed to film in the store at night while it was closed (from 10:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.), hence the plot point of theshutters being closed due to a vandal having jammed gum in the padlocks. Because Smith was working at Quick Stop during the day and shooting the film at night, he frequently slept no more than an hour a day. By the end of the 21-day shoot, Smith was unable to stay awake while Dante and Randal's fight was shot.[11]
Jason Mewes, who playsJay, is not in any of the photoshoots forClerks.Miramax Films, who bought the film's distribution rights following its run at theSundance Film Festival, believed Jay had no commercial appeal, and would scare audiences rather than entice them.[12]
TheMPAA originally gave the film anNC-17 rating based purely on the film's explicit dialogue. Despite the rating, the movie contains no violence aside from Dante and Randal's fight near the end, no sex and no clearly depicted nudity. This had serious financial implications, as very few cinemas in the United States screened NC-17 films. Miramax Films hired civil liberties lawyerAlan Dershowitz to appeal the decision. However, the case was ultimately argued by a Miramax Films lawyer.[13] The MPAA relented and re-rated the film with the more commercially viable "R" rating, without any alterations.[7]
The events of Julie Dwyer's wake were written by Smith but were not filmed due to the prohibitive cost of producing the scene.[14] In 2004, the scene was produced in colored animation using the same style ofClerks: The Animated Series, featured O'Halloran and Anderson reprising their roles andJoey Lauren Adams in a cameo as her characterAlyssa Jones, who'd later appear in furtherView Askewniverse films, for the tenth anniversary DVD release. The "lost scene" was also presented in comic-book form of theClerkscomic book series, with the title of "The Lost Scene".[15]
The original ending for the film was meant to continue from when Randal throws the "I Assure You We're Open" sign to Dante. After Randal leaves, Dante proceeds to count out the register and does not notice another person entering the store. Dante at first thinks it's Randal but looks up and informs the person that the store is no longer open. The man then pulls out a gun and shoots Dante, killing him, before proceeding to rob the cash register and leave the store. The sequence ends with Dante's dead face looking off past the camera; after the credits roll – the soundtrack over it being a cash register making noises – a customer (played by Smith with his beard shaved off) wearing glasses and in a ponytail and a baseball jersey comes into the store, sees no one around (as Dante is lying dead behind the counter), steals a pack of cigarettes, and runs off.[16]
The depressing ending was criticized by Bob Hawk andJohn Pierson after its first screening at the Independent Feature Film Market, and under Pierson's advice, Smith cut the ending short, ending with Randal's departure and deleting Dante's death.[2] Fans have since analyzed the death of Dante as an homage to the ending ofThe Empire Strikes Back (1980), which is discussed earlier in the film as Dante's favoriteStar Wars movie because "it ended on such a down note". The film's extended cut also implied that, because Randal disconnected the security camera earlier in the day during the roof hockey scene, the killer would never be caught.
Smith has since claimed he concludedClerks this way for three reasons. The primary reason was irony, with the ending serving as payoff for Dante's repeated claims of "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" throughout the film. Smith also stated that the ending was an homage to one of his favorite films,Spike Lee'sDo the Right Thing (1989), a comedic film with a dark ending. Lee's name can also be seen in the "special thanks" portion of the credits. Smith also stated that he endedClerks with Dante's death because he "didn't know how to end a film".[16][17] Both versions are available inClerks X, the tenth-anniversary special edition; the lost ending itself was among the extras on the 1995 LaserDisc and the 1999 DVD release; Smith states in the audio commentary on the 1999 DVD that had he kept the original ending, likely no further View Askewniverse films would have been made. The culprit in question was played by Smith's cousin John Willyung, who went on to appear in Smith's later films (most notably as Cohee Lunden inChasing Amy andClerks III and as himself inJay and Silent Bob Reboot). On theirmovie review show,Gene Siskel andRoger Ebert (both of whom had given thumbs-up reviews to the film in 1994) had a special segment on a November 1995 episode that presented and discussed this original ending. Siskel said that having the alternate ending could have worked but it would have to be longer with more build-up to suggest that something like this could happen, while Ebert said he understood Smith's desire to do something memorable/shocking to end the film but concluded "ultimately, I'm glad Smith decided to spare Dante."
Originally playing to an empty theater on the closing day of the 1993 Independent Feature Film Market (IFFM) in New York,Clerks was discovered and rescued by legendary producer/consultant Bob Hawk, who helped to shepherd the film to its 1994Sundance Film Festival premiere.[18] At Sundance, it was picked up byMiramax Films and released in theaters.[2] It also became a surprise hit, grossing over $3 million in the United States despite never playing on more than 100 theater screens in the United States at the same time.[19] It grossed $1.3 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $4.4 million.[1]
Clerks was well received by critics and developed acult following.[20] OnRotten Tomatoes, it currently has an approval rating of 90% based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "With its quirky characters and clever, quotable dialogue,Clerks is the ultimate clarion call for slackers everywhere to unite, and, uh, do something, we guess?"[21] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[22]
Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of a possible four, praising it for interestingly depicting a full day of "utterly authentic" middle-class life, adding: "Within the limitations of his bare-bones production, Smith shows great invention, a natural feel for human comedy, and a knack for writing weird, sometimes brilliant, dialogue."[23]Peter Travers gave the film four out of four stars, calling attention to Anderson's "deadpan comic brilliance" and writing that "Smith nails the obsessive verbal wrangling of smart, stalled twentysomethings who can't figure out how to get their ideas into motion."[24]
When released, the film was noted for itsrealism and memorable characters.Clerks won the "Award of the Youth" and the "Mercedes-Benz Award" at the1994 Cannes Film Festival, tied withFresh for the "Filmmakers Trophy" at theSundance Film Festival[34] and was nominated for threeIndependent Spirit Awards (Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay andJeff Anderson for Best Debut Performance).[35] In 2000, readers ofTotal Film votedClerks the 16th-greatest comedy film of all time and in 2006,Empire listedClerks as the fourth greatest independent film. The film is also No. 33 onBravo's 100 Funniest Movies. In 2008,Entertainment Weekly ranked it 13th on "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83"[36] and 21st on "The Comedy 25: The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years".[37] Also in 2008,Empire named it one of their "500 Greatest Movies of All-Time", placing it 361st on the list.[38] The film was also one of the 500 films nominated for a spot onAFI's 100 Years…100 Laughs but failed to make the top 100. The film was also included in the book1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.
In 2019,Clerks was among 25 films chosen to be added to the Library of Congress'National Film Registry.[39]
Clerks was re-released on October 18 and 19, 2024 in selectCineplex theaters for its 30th anniversary.[40]
Clerks was first released onVHS on May 23, 1995. This was followed by aLaserDisc version on August 30, 1995, and a DVD on June 29, 1999. The laserdisc and DVD versions feature the original letterboxed version of the film,audio commentary by Smith and various cast and crew members, sevendeleted scenes from the film, atheatrical trailer, and amusic video forSoul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell" directed by Smith which features him, Mewes, Anderson and O'Halloran reprising their roles from the film.
The film was released on UMD (playable onPlayStation Portable) on November 15, 2005. Special features include "Clerks: The Lost Scene", "The Flying Car", and original cast auditions. In the fall of 2006, a new edition of theClerks DVD appeared in Canada, dubbed theClerks: Snowball Edition. This release is the 1999 DVD with a new slipcover with a photo of a bikini-clad model,[41] made to resemble one of the porn videos[42] Randal mentions in the film. Smith was not involved in, nor was aware of this release.[43]
Outside the United States, Clerks was distributed in the United Kingdom byArtificial Eye withFox Video through Fox Guild Home Entertainment handling rental sales, and in Canada byAlliance Atlantis. Since 2020, DVD and Blu-Ray distribution has been handled byParamount Home Entertainment followingParamount Global's acquisition of 49% of Miramax.[44]
On September 7, 2004,Clerks X was released to celebrate the film's tenth anniversary. This three-disc set includes, among other things, the features from the initial 1999 DVD, the aforementionedLost Scene, an unrestoredFirst Cut featuring the deleted scenes and original ending intact, original cast auditions, a new making-of documentary entitledThe Snowball Effect, aTonight Show short film starring Dante and Randal entitledThe Flying Car, Smith and Mosier's student filmMae Day, eightMTV spots with Jay and Silent Bob, deleted scenes fromThe Snowball Effect, still galleries, a 10 year anniversary Q&A with Smith, Mosier, Mewes, O'Halloran, Anderson,Marilyn Ghigliotti, and cinematographerDavid Klein, and eight articles and reviews. Many of these features feature new video introductions from Smith and Mosier. All these features were carried over to the 15th AnniversaryBlu-ray on November 17, 2009, along with a new documentary,Oh, What a Lovely Tea Party—originally made for Smith's 2001 filmJay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Unlike the initial 1999 DVD,Clerks X is currentlyout of print.
The soundtrack was released on October 11, 1994 byColumbia Records under their Chaos imprint. It was composed of various new and previously released songs byalternative rock,grunge andpunk rock artists such asBad Religion,Love Among Freaks,Alice in Chains andSoul Asylum. The soundtrack also featured various sound clips from the film. It has been noted thatClerks is one of the very few films in which the cost of obtaining the rights to the music used was a great portion of the production costs for the entire film.[45]
The Soul Asylum song "Can't Even Tell", which was played over the film's end credits and featured on the soundtrack, peaked at number 16 on theBillboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart in 1994. The music video for the song was directed by Smith and was filmed in the same locations as the film.[46] The video featured Smith, Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran reprising their roles fromClerks.
Another song which appeared on the soundtrack was "Got Me Wrong" by Alice in Chains, which had previously been released on the band's extended playSap (1992). The song was issued as a single in late 1994, due to renewed radio interest from the song's appearance inClerks. The song peaked at #7 on theBillboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and #22 on theBillboard Modern Rock Tracks in early 1995.
Although not direct sequels in terms of addressing the original film's storyline, characters from the originalClerks – primarily Jay and Silent Bob – appeared in the filmsMallrats (1995),Chasing Amy (1997),Dogma (1999),Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) andJay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019), all of which take place in the same continuity asClerks. Dante and Randal also reprised their roles inJay and Silent Bob Strike Back, which was originally promoted as the finale to the series, but an official sequel toClerks was announced a few years later.
The live-action, feature filmsequel toClerks was released on July 21, 2006. The working title wasThe Passion of the Clerks, though the film was released under the titleClerks II. The credits forDogma stated: "Jay and Silent Bob will return inClerks 2: Hardly Clerkin'"; however, that project "evolved" intoJay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The sequel features O'Halloran, Anderson, Mewes and Smith (in addition to returning as writer, director and editor) reprising their roles as Dante, Randal, Jay and Silent Bob. The former two now work at aMooby's restaurant after Randal accidentally destroys the Quick Stop and RST Video while the latter two, having sobered up after six months in rehab, continue their drug selling antics in the parking lot of the restaurant.
Smith first discussed the idea of doing a third movie during Clerks II promotions, saying it might be something he'd revisit in his 40s or 50s. After various delays—including funding issues, cast hesitations, and shifting plans—Smith confirmed the project in 2019. Filming took place in August 2021 in New Jersey, with the film premiering on September 4, 2022. Clerks III, released on September 13, 2022, is the final entry in Kevin Smith’s Clerks trilogy, featuring the return of Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, and Smith as Dante, Randal, Jay, and Silent Bob. Now co-owners of the Quick Stop, Dante and Randal are inspired to make a movie about their lives behind the counter.
FollowingClerks, Smith set several more films in the same "world", which he calls theView Askewniverse of overlapping characters and stories. Of all of Smith's films, however,Clerks is the one with the most direct spin-off products.
A pilot for alive-action television series was produced in 1995.[47] It was produced byTouchstone Television and was to be developed byRichard Day. The pilot only referenced the character names and starred none of the cast from the original film, contained no foul language (except words suitable enough for aTV-PG rating which began in 1997) and did not feature Silent Bob. The character of Jay was featured, prompting Smith to point out that he owned the character rights to both Jay and Silent Bob (for the purposes of featuring them in separate films). The producers' solution was to change the character's name to Ray. Smith was unaware of the production of the series until casting was underway. Smith, as well as Mosier and Mewes, had been knee-deep with the production ofMallrats at the time and attempted to become involved in the series, but became disheartened quickly as an episode he had written for the series was shot down to be used as a potential B-plot. He would later use the script for an episode ofClerks: The Animated Series.[48]
O'Halloran and Anderson both auditioned to reprise their roles of Dante and Randal from the film but were replaced byAndrew Lowery and futureSaturday Night Live performerJim Breuer. After seeing the result, Smith, Mosier, Mewes, O'Halloran and Anderson all said that it was terrible, with O'Halloran and Anderson further stating they were both glad they weren't involved.[48]
Touchstone Television (withMiramax Films) also producedClerks: The Animated Series a short-lived six-episodeanimated television series featuring the same characters and cast of the original film. Two episodes aired onABC in late May/early June 2000 before being pulled from the lineup. The full six episodes were released on DVD in 2001 before being run onComedy Central in 2004 andAdult Swim from 2008 to 2010. In a trailer for (but not in)Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Randal, referencing the series, says to Dante: "If you were funnier than that, ABC would've never cancelled us."
Clerks. is a series ofcomics written by Smith featuring characters from the film. In the series areClerks: The Comic Book,Clerks: Holiday Special, andClerks: The Lost Scene. Smith has discussed plans forClerks 1.5, a comic that would bridge the gap between the original film and itssequel, to be included in a reprint of theClerks. trade paperback.[49] The story ultimately was printed in the 2006Tales from the Clerks collection, which also included the otherClerks comics with additional View Askewniverse material. Smith received theHarvey Award for Best New Talent in 1999.
Shooting Clerks is a 2021 biographical comedy-drama film about the making ofClerks. The film stars many of the original film's stars, including O'Halloran, Ghigliotti, Mewes and Smith himself.[50] The film had a special fine cut screening atSan Diego Comic-Con on July 20, 2019, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the original film's release.[51]
