Clerks (1994)
Not many moviemakers film in black and white these days. Woody Allen has kept the format alive through the years, from MANHATTAN through BROADWAY DANNY ROSE and most recently CELEBRITY. Martin Scorsese, perhaps the greatest director of our time, made one great black and white film (RAGING BULL) and has never gone back. Stephen Spielberg, our most successful director, filmed his greatest movie, SCHINDLER’S LIST, in black and white. But, for the most part, black and white is relegated to student films and low-budget independents.
Kevin Smith’s CLERKS (1994) is an outstanding example of the latter - an independent film made for the sum of $27,000. It has all the usual defects of any low-budget independent film, such as continuity errors and somewhat amateur acting. Yet it was a success on its own terms, bringing in money in the art houses and building a reputation by word of mouth. CLERKS may be less glamorous than the average Hollywood comedy, but it it feels like a film made by people who care, rather than a film that has just come off the usual Hollywood conveyor belt. It is now a classic of the genre and a staple of cable’s Independent Film Channel.
CLERKS is a “buddy” film, the story of Dante, a young man who works at a convenience store in New Jersey, and his friend Randal, who works nearby in a video store. Dante is called in to work on his day off and soon finds that the boss will not be in and he will have to take care of the store alone all day. The film follows Dante for the whole day, from opening to closing.
Befitting his name, Dante is in his own private hell. His day has hardly begun when a chewing gum salesman shows up and begins an anti-smoking rant. Somehow, Dante winds up being the object of most of the salesman’s anger, and some customers get so riled up they almost physically attack Dante. The rest of his day does not get any better. He has a fight with his girlfriend, and has to deal with very strange customers such as the Egg Man, who has gone nuts and sits on the floor testing (and smashing) eggs. Later, another customer asks him for use of the bathroom, then comes back to inquire what kind of toilet paper the store uses, and returns once more to ask for a pornographic magazine to read while he’s in there. All the while, drug addicts and dealers such as Jay and Silent Bob hang around inside and outside the store throughout the day.
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