History Film / Clerks

** Dante tells Randal a story about how Caitlin had sex with him in a darken room thinking he was someone else. Caitlin would later have sex in the darken bathroom with a dead man thinking it is Dante.

* BlackComedy: The whole film qualifies, but especially the ending, which features [[spoiler: Caitlin accidentally having sex with a dead guy and having a mental breakdown over it]].

*** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he thinks that he's bringing in [[YouMonster an asshole who sold a back of cigarettes to a littlegirl.]]

* DawsonCasting: Marilyn Ghigliotti was 33 when she played Veronica, a student in her early 20s.

* ExecutiveMeddling: One of the good examples. The original Downer Ending had Dante being murdered by a holdup man but it was never included in any versions of the film. The change was motivated by film guru John Pierson and Brian O'Halloran (who plays Dante), not any execs, though.

* [[GodwinsLaw Godwin's Law]]: The gum marketer compares shop-clerks who sell cigarettes to Nazis.

* [[MissingEpisode Missing Scenes]]: The scene during the wake, which was later adapted as a comic and an animated short but was never going to be in the movie at all. A better example would be a scene in Big Choice Video, where Randal interacts with a hypercompitent employee named Chet. The footage was burned on the editing machine and mangled beyond use. What little footage survived was used before Caitlin first appears. Some of the audio survived, and can be heard in ''Snowball Effect'', the Clerks making-of documentary on the tenth anniversary DVD set.

* NoBudget

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Entirely grunge soundtrack? Check. Doc Martens and acid wash? Check. Video store stocked wall-to-wall with VHS? Check. It's the early '90s alright!

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

* [[ChekhovsGunman Chekhov's Gunman]]: [[spoiler: The elderly, bathroom-using customer (see below) and a little girl to whom Randal (uncaringly) sells cigarettes.]]

** "Noinch, noinch, noinch, smokin' weed, smokin' weed..."

--->"Beautiful chicks with dicks that put minds to shame."

->''Noinch, noinch, noinch, smokin' weed, smokin' weed, doin' coke, drinkin' beers... Pack of wraps, my brotherman, time to kick back, drink some beers and SMOKE SOME WEED!''

* SuperSlaveMarket: A convenience store sized version but nonetheless, one of the best on screen examples of the miserable retail work.

Surprisingly for a film with profanity and vulgar references, it manages to stay quite intelligent and upon release, it was well received by critics such as Creator/RogerEbert and Leonard Maltin. The film's success helped jump start the modern independent film industry (which actually began with ''Sex Lies & Videotape'') and turned Miramax into a major distributor for said independent films, rivaled only by Polygram Filmed Entertainment and Fox Searchlight.

Later on, Dante closes up shop, because he had a game to play that day. They play on the roof, but after an annoyed customer comes up, joins the game, and loses the puck, they have to stop and get back to work. They also go to a funeral, meet up with Dante's ex-girlfriend, who goes through some trauma, and get in a fight. In the end, they stop arguing and close up for the day.

* ConceptVideo: The video for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CPo2v9ujug Soul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell"]] was directed by Kevin Smith, and includes all the characters from the film playing roof hockey with the band while Jay lip synchs the song by singing into a hockey stick.

* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Dante is melancholic, Randal is sanguine, Jay is choleric, and Silent Bob is phlegmatic/phlegmatic II.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: While Randal [[JerkassHasAPoint has a point]] that a lot of Dante's problems are his own fault, he doesn't exactly offer much in the way of help or support for Dante either.

-->''Noinch, noinch, noinch, smokin' weed, smokin' weed, doin' coke, drinkin' beers... Pack of wraps, my brotherman, time to kick back, drink some beers and SMOKE SOME WEED!''

--->"Chicks with dicks that put mine to shame."

-->''Noinch, noinch, noinch, smokin' weed, smokin' weed, doin' coke, drinkin' beers... Pack of wraps, my man, time to kick back, drink some beers and SMOKE SOME WEED!''

----

->''"This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers."''