History Film / Clerks

* AnythingThatMoves: Jay.
** Also Dante's discussion with Veronica about their respective past relationships wherein he admits to sleeping with 12 women. Veronica berates him for sleeping with anybody who pays him any attention. Dante doesn't deny it.
--->'''Veronica:''' You men make me feel sick. You'll sleep with anything that says yes.\\
'''Dante:''' Animal, mineral, or vegetable.\\
'''Veronica:''' Vegetable, meaning paraplegic.\\
'''Dante:''' They put up the least amount of struggle.

* HypocriteHasAPoint: Dante may not have nearly as much integrity and responsibility as he likes to think he does, and is every bit as irresponsible at his workplace as Randal, but he is correct that Randal should conduct himself better and take his obligations more seriously. Randal isn't just irresponsible at his workplace; he's downright ''malicious''. He's openly rude to customers for no reason, he lists off a bunch of porn titles in front of a mother and child just to be a jerk, he spits in a customer's face because he doesn't want to listen to his small talk to Dante, curses and talks about inappropriate things in front of customers, flashes porn in one's face when he expresses his outrage, and has the gall to [[NeverMyFault believe that it's everyone else]] [[EntitledBastard who's the problem]]. Dante, for all his issues, at least tries to conduct himself in a professional manner. It doesn't help that Randal's antics risk reflecting poorly on Dante and he often ends up being the one paying for them.

The first part of Film/TheViewAskewniverse (though ''Mallrats'', which came out later, [[{{Prequel}} depicts the events of the day before]] the events of ''Clerks''). With the obvious exception of Jay and Silent Bob, Dante and Randal are the most frequently recurring characters in the verse, having starred in an AnimatedAdaptation, ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', several comics, and in 2006, a true sequel in ''Film/ClerksII''. A third film has been in the works since at least 2017; in 2021, it was announced that ''Film/ClerksIII'' had been picked up by Creator/{{Lionsgate}}, with a release set for September 2022.

!!This movie provides examples of:

->''"Creator/QuentinTarantino has become famous as a video store clerk who watched all the movies in his store, and then went out and directed Film/ReservoirDogs and Film/PulpFiction. Creator/KevinSmith has done him one better, by working behind the counter and then making a movie about the store itself."''

-->'''Video store customer:''' Do you have that one with that guy who was in the movie that was out last year? ...Oooo! ''Film/NavySeals''!

* ElderlyAilmentRamvling: An elderly man convinces Dante to let him use the "Employees Only" restroom by stating that at his age, he didn't always make it in time. He convinced him to let him take a roll of high-end toilet paper by stating that the cheap stuff would really "knock his hemorrhoids around". And the porno mag was just because the drawings "made him laugh" (at which point Dante was pretty much just trying to get rid of the guy).

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: Several actors play multiple small roles because Smith didn't have the money to hire more actors. Given the late hours and low pay, many of those that were cast simply failed to show up, so Smith would have anyone who happened to be around step in. David Klein (the cinematographer) and Walter Flanagan get hit the hardest with this, with five and four roles respectively.

** Jay and Silent Bob's introduction has the two posting up outside of the store, Jay doing a goofy dance and then going on a profane tangent about sex, by turns offering to suck Silent Bob's dick and then [[ArmoredClosetGay immediately switching to a homophobic screed about how much he loves women]]. Meanwhile, [[TheStoic Silent Bob just smokes his cigarette and takes his friend's fooling in stride.]]

* StupidStatementDanceMix: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K_nBEwZBg4 You'd be hard-pressed to dance to it though.]]

* ADateWithRosiePalms: An elderly customer asks Dante for a restroom, some soft toilet paper, and a girlie magazine. It doesn't end well.

->''"That guy's an asshole. Everybody that comes in here is way too uptight. This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers."''
-->-- '''Randal Graves'''

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The Quick Stop is still open today. The RST Video next to it is shuttered, but all the tapes and other signage can be seen inside the abandoned shop, collecting dust. Fans of Creator/KevinSmith see it almost as a pilgrimage to visit it.

* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} ended up orphaned. However, it's quite likely that the entirety of ''Film/Film/TheViewAskewniverse'', including direct sequels such as ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', would have been nullified by this original ending.

* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} ended up orphaned. However, it's quite likely that the entirety of ''Film/TheViewAskenverse'', including direct sequels such as ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', would have been nullified by this original ending.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leaning towards the cynical and bleak side due to the characters' interactions on aspects of their depressing life as young twenty-somethings. The sequels however are more optimistic and heartfelt.

* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} ended up orphaned. However, it's quite likely that the entirety of ''Franchise/TheViewAskenverse'', including direct sequels such as ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', would have been nullified by this original ending.

* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} ended up orphaned. However, it's quite likely that the entire ''Franchise/ViewAskenverse'', including direct sequels such as ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', would have been nullified by this original ending.

* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} ended up orphaned. However, it's quite likely that the entire ''Franchise/ViewAskenverse'', especially ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', would have been nullified by this original ending.

* RevisedEnding: The original DownerEnding was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of Foreshadowing went to waste. However, ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'' would have been nullified by this original ending.

* MoodWhiplash: {{Averted}}. The film is a straight comedy that was originally going to end with Dante suddenly getting gunned down in a robbery. Kevin Smith was apparently brought to his senses.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Randal. He may show his heart of gold more in ''Film/ClerksII'' and ''Film/Clerks III'', but even in this film, he shows that he does still care deeply about his best friend, Dante.

* IgnoredEpiphany: Despite Silent Bob's words of wisdom leading Dante to realize that he loves Veronica instead of Caitlin, and Randal's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech berating him for "pining for one and fuck[ing] the other," Dante ends the film planning to both attempt to patch things up with Veronica and visit Caitlin in the hospital. [[DownerEnding The implication is that he hasn't really changed.]]

** BittersweetEnding: The cut ending is obviously less downbeat as no main characters die. Dante has pretty much completely fucked up his love life, he's [[IgnoredEpiphany learned pretty much nothing from the day's events]], and both he and Randal look like they'll be stuck doing their respective jobs until the day they die, but at least they've patched up their friendship.