Kevin Smith’s Clerks is a 92-minute black-and-white comedy about two bored young men who spend a day working at a convenience store and a video store in Leonardo, New Jersey. Dante Hicks, played by Brian O’Halloran, works at Quick Stop Groceries. Randal Graves, played by Jeff Anderson, works at RST Video next door. The film follows them through their shifts, their jokes, their grievances, and their brief truce with a customer who thinks Dante has locked himself in.
It is a small film. It is also, in many ways, the template for everything Smith made afterward. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 1994, and opened in the United States on October 19. It earned a modest $4.4 million at the box office and launched Smith’s career. In 2019, the Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Trailer, via Miramax.
Dante’s Morning Shift
Dante opens the film on his day off. His boss tells him to cover another employee’s morning shift. Dante agrees, planning to finish at noon so he can play hockey with friends. He finds the locks on the security shutters jammed with gum, so he drapes a sheet over them and writes “I ASSURE YOU; WE’RE OPEN!” in shoe polish. He repeats, “I’m not even supposed to be here today,” throughout the day.
His first customer tries to sell him on Chewlies brand gum by displaying a bag containing what he claims is a diseased human lung corroded by tar. A hostile crowd gathers, blaming Dante for spreading cancer because he sells cigarettes. Veronica Loughran, played by Marilyn Ghigliotti, enters and calms the crowd with a fire extinguisher. She evicts the customer, who turns out to be a Chewlies representative.
Veronica speaks with Dante behind the counter about his mood. Then she meets Willam Black, a customer who is actually her old boyfriend. She admits to Dante that she slept with him and performed fellatio on 36 other guys before their relationship began. Dante reacts with jealousy, admitting to having slept with just twelve different women before her. She storms out.
Randal’s Own Day
Randal arrives late for his own shift at RST Video. He reveals that Dante’s unfaithful ex-girlfriend, Caitlin Bree, played by Lisa Spoonauer, is engaged. Randal spends his day dealing with customers who are angry, demanding, clueless, impolite, or unexpectedly wise. He handles them all with his usual wit.
At lunch, Dante and Veronica reconcile their sexual pasts. Dante learns that his boss is vacationing in Verm. The film moves between the two stores and between the two friends.
The Cast and Its History
Smith drew heavily on his family and friends for casting, partly because of budget constraints. The film was shot for $27,575 before Miramax Films purchased its rights. Another $230,000 went toward music licensing and editing. Smith sold off a large portion of his extensive comic book collection in 1993 to raise the money, then bought it back.
One of those friends, Walt Flanagan, wound up playing multiple roles. He appears as the Woolen Cap Smoker at the start, the famous “Egg Man,” the Offended Customer during the “jizz mopper” scene, and the Cat Admiring Bitter Customer. He also plays the final RST Video customer in a deleted scene. Smith never intended for Flanagan to play so many roles. Actors hired for those parts did not show up, so Flanagan filled in. Smith would joke that Flanagan was “the Lon Chaney of the ’90s.”
Brian O’Halloran found an audition notice for the film that Smith gave to his community theatre. O’Halloran answered the notice and auditioned without knowing he would be cast as Dante. During auditions, a friend of Smith’s told him that all the main characters were already cast. That friend was wrong. Smith originally wrote the part of Randal for himself, but found the workload too much. He constantly forgot his lines.
Consequently, he gave the role of Randal to Jeff Anderson, who takes on the more demanding part. Smith took on the less-demanding role of Silent Bob. Jason Mewes plays Jay, and Smith plays Silent Bob. Scott Mosier plays William the Idiot Manchild, the Angry Hockey-Playing Customer, and the Angry Mourner. Scott Schiaffo plays Chewlie’s Rep. Al Berkowitz plays the Old Man. Ed Hapstak plays Sanford, another Angry Mourner. Lee Bendick plays #812 Wynarski.
The View Askewniverse
Clerks is the first film in Smith’s View Askewniverse. It introduces Jay and Silent Bob. The film’s tagline, “Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you,” sums up the attitude. These are not heroes. They are clerks, doing a job they barely want, talking about sex, movies, sports, and each other’s failures.
The film is also a portrait of a specific moment in New Jersey. The stores are real. Smith worked there in real life. The jokes are specific to that place and that time. Some of them will not travel. Some of them will feel dated. But the core of boredom, resentment, and quiet desperation is universal.
The Humor and Its Limits
The humor depends on repetition and timing. Dante’s repeated line about not being there is a running gag. The customer who sells the diseased lung is a set piece. The reconciliation scene between Dante and Veronica is quieter.
The film is not subtle. It is not trying to be. It is a comedy about two guys who are stuck, and it leans into that stuckness. The jokes about sex and other subjects are delivered with a blunt honesty that feels deliberate. This is not a film about clever writing. It is a film about honest performance.
| Element | Clerks |
|---|---|
| Format | Black-and-white, 92 minutes |
| Setting | Convenience store and video store |
| Main characters | Dante and Randal |
| Tone | Boredom, resentment |
What Holds It Together
What holds Clerks together is the chemistry between O’Halloran and Anderson. Their banter is natural. They talk over each other, interrupt each other, and finish each other’s sentences. That ease is the film’s engine. Without it, the jokes fall flat. With it, the film feels alive.
The film also benefits from its small scale. There is no grand plot. There is no twist ending. There is no resolution. There is just a day, and two friends getting through it. That restraint is a strength. It lets the characters breathe.
The Sequels and the Legacy
A sequel, Clerks II, was released in 2006. A third installment, Clerks III, followed in 2022. The original remains the clearest statement of Smith’s intent. It is a film about working a job you hate, and it never pretends otherwise.
The film’s influence is visible in later independent comedies. Its low-budget aesthetic, its focus on character over spectacle, and its willingness to be vulgar have all been copied. But few have matched its specificity. Few have captured the exact feeling of being stuck in a job you dislike while your friends are moving on.
The Verdict
Clerks is a landmark in independent filmmaking. It is not a perfect film. Its jokes age unevenly. Its pacing can drag at times. But its honesty is rare. It is a film about two guys who are not special, and it treats them with dignity anyway.
The film earns its place in the National Film Registry. It deserves its reputation. It is not the best Smith film, but it is the one that started everything.
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