History Film / Clerks

* CruelTwistEnding: The original ending: After Dante goes through hell on Earth during what was supposed to be his day off, [[DiabolusExMachina a robber comes in and murders him]]. The end.
** Of course, your mileage may vary. According to the most common interpretation, it's fitting as an homage to ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. Dante chose it as his favorite movie specifically because [[DownerEnding 'it ended on such a down note']].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The Quick Stop is still open today. The RST Video next to it, however, is shuttered (however, 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.

'''Dante:''' Animal, mineral or vegetable.\\

* ArcNumber: 37 gets bandied around rather a lot. [[spoiler:It's the number of dicks Dante's girlfriend Veronica has sucked, including Dante (though not in a row)]].

* ArtisticLicenseFilmProduction: Randal comes into the convenience store telling Dante he just had a revelation watching ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', however none of the sound effects are from it.
* AsHimself: ZigZagged with Jay. Kevin Smith wrote the part for Jason Mewes because he wanted the rest of the world to see how naturally funny Mewes is. Everything Jay does is based on things Mewes would do to amuse himself, which is why Smith had to more or less teach Mewes how to do it in a way that'd be entertaining for other people.

-->'''Video store customer:''' Do you have that one with that guy who was in the movie that was out last year?...Oooo! ''Film/NavySeals''!
* AuthorAvatar: Kevin Smith specifically wrote the part of Randal for himself ([[WordOfGod "Which is why he has all the best lines!"]]) but found himself unable to handle such a big part in addition to directorial duties -- which is why Jeff Anderson was brought in.

* BettyAndVeronica: Dante is dating Veronica (Betty) when an old flame from high school comes back into his life, Caitlin Bree (Veronica). Veronica brings him lasagna at work and is trying to get Dante back in school. Caitlin is engaged (but calls off the wedding), and cheated on Dante in high school. He winds up trying to go for Caitlin, and losing them both. Veronica dumps him, and Caitlin goes catatonic after screwing a random dead guy in the Quick-E-Stop's restroom, thinking it was Dante.

* BlandNameProduct: Zigzagged. Some brands have been covered up, like "Dave's Fruit Pies" instead of Hostess. And sometimes real brands are used, like Gatorade. During the conversation about the egg guy, the female customer briefly mentions "Food City", presumably the in-universe equivalent to real NYC-area grocery co-op chain Foodtown (which had a lot more stores then compared to now -- an accounting scandal closed one franchise, and another franchise eventually became part of Stop and Shop). Perhaps coincidentally, there happens to be a real-life chain named Food City that operates in the Southeast.

** Jay's denial about dealing drugs in front of the store

* BrickJoke: Randal mentions that he once had a cousin who died attempting auto-fellatio. [[spoiler:(Which is later confirmed by the coroner attending Caitlin's situation.)]]
** Dante tells Randal a story about how Caitlin had sex with him in a darkened room thinking he was someone else. Caitlin would later [[spoiler:have sex in the darkened bathroom with a dead man thinking it is Dante, who was ''also'' a brick joke, having gone back there in the first half of the movie]].

** It's notable that while the movie is in black and white, the video is in color.

* CountryMatters: One of the porno movies Randal orders is ''Girls Who Crave Cunt''
* CoversAlwaysLie: By the look of the poster, you would think that Veronica, Caitlin and Silent Bob also are clerks.

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Dante has trouble choosing between his current girlfriend Veronica or his ex-girlfriend Caitlin. Ultimately he realizes that Veronica is the one he loves, but thanks to Randal's interference she believes he loves Caitlin and breaks up with him. Although the ending implies he'll try to clear things up with her, related material and future films have made it clear they never got back together (or ''if'' they did, it didn't last).
* DidntWantAnAdventure: Dante's day is spent in the purgatory of serving a succession of customers while bemoaning the fact that he is "not even supposed to be here today."

** BittersweetEnding: The cut ending is obviously less downbeat as no main characters die. Dante has pretty much completely fucked up his love life, that he's [[IgnoredEpiphany learned pretty much nothing from the day's events]] and that 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.

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: Dante is only in his early twenties and at least a bit of a loser being a pushover who works a dead-end job. In a discussion with his girlfriend, he revealed he has had ''twelve'' different sexual partners which is considerably more than the average man in a lifetime. Veronica reveals that she's performed certain... services for 37 men, though this is not treated as a normal amount.

* FailedASpotCheck: In the Quick Stop, a customer asks the camera how much something is. The camera then pulls back to show a display for what she's got, covered in signage advertising everything on that shelf was 99 cents. A similar joke was used moments before in RST, with the same customer asking where the new movies are.
* {{Fauxshadow}}: The film originally ended with [[spoiler:Dante getting shot by a robber and bleeding to death behind the counter]], and there are several {{orphaned reference}}s throughout the movie as a result.

** Even Randal's line referring to people putting gum in the locks, "Bunch of savages in this town" has an ironic ring in light of the ending.

* FirstWorldProblems: Discussed and deconstructed. Dante acts as though his problems are out of his control when really they're fairly normal obstacles that he could deal with if, as Randal puts it, he would just "shit or get off the pot."

* FreezeFrameBonus: For the most part, despite its vulgarity, the movie is relatively clean from a visual standpoint - that is, until Randal shows the offended customer the magazine he's reading. Viewers who look closely can easily see the full-page of a woman's privates being spread.

* GayBravado: In their introductory scene, staunchly heterosexual (later confirmed to be [[ArmoredClosetGay deeply-closeted bi]]) Jay randomly tells his HeterosexualLifePartner Silent Bob that he's "cute as hell" and wouldn't mind going down on him. He then [[GayMoment mimes this]], then realizes what he's doing, calls Bob a faggot and announced to no-one in particular [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday "I LOVE WOMEN!!"]]

** And immediately before, when Dante stated he would not close the store again.
* GonnaNeedMoreX: The misquote ("We're...") of the ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' example is used during the "salsa shark" bit
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday: Jay rambles about performing oral sex on Silent Bob (who remains completely deadpan throughout, suggesting he does this a lot), then leaps away, flexes menacingly, and shouts, "I hate guys! I LOVE WOMEN!"

* HypocriticalHumor: After the gum representative stirring up the angry mob against Dante for selling cigarettes (so he can actually sell the gum) has gone and the mob dispersed, one of the members of the mob sheepishly buys a pack of cigarettes from Dante afterward. Dante is less than impressed.
** Lampshaded that they point out that Randal hates people but loves social gatherings. Also he plans to rent a movie at a video store despite working at RST Video, justified that Randal claims "I work in a shitty video store!"
** Jay is asked if Silent Bob's Russian cousin Olaf only speaks Russian -- he responds "Naw, he speaks some English, but he cannot speak it good like we do."
* ILoveTheDead: [[spoiler:Caitlin unwittingly has sex with a dead man in the bathroom assuming it's Dante]].
* IdiotBall: Dante holds it by wanting to get back together with Caitlin even though Veronica really cares about him and she SHOWS it. Jay, Silent Bob, and Randal call him out on this dumb move. Jay says he's often seen Veronica do nice things for Dante like changing a flat for his car (earlier you see her bringing Dante lasagna to work just because and prevent him getting mauled by an angry mob) and says she's a keeper. Silent Bob tells Dante that "There's a million fine-looking women in the world. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.". Randal calls him out during an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Dante lets go of it a bit too late however and Veronica dumps him anyway.
* IfYouEverDoAnythingToHurtHer: The otherwise childish and adolescent Randal Graves seriously warns "Oh, hey Caitlin. Break his heart again this time, and I'll kill ya. Nothing personal."
* IgnorantMinion: Dante and Randal have a spirited debate about whether the contractors building the Death Star were Ignorant Minions whom the Rebel Alliance murders or knowing parts of the villainous Empire.
* 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.]]

* {{Jerkass}}: Randal, so much.
** Also, to some extent, Dante. At least when it comes to the women he dates and to blaming all his problems on other people.

** Wynarski, The disgruntled RST Video customer who says to Dante the reason he's working in the Quick Stop and not doing an honest day's work is because he (Dante) is a wise-ass, is also one. His keys were thrown away by Dante in retaliation.

** Dante and Randal's boss (who was never named in the final cut, but a trimmed portion of the phone call has him named as Mr. Schneider). Turns out, he isn't coming in later, he instead ran off to ''Vermont'' for 4 days.
** The Gum Representative incites the crowd of smokers to pelt Dante with cigarettes, so he can trick them to buy Gum.
** The lawyer near the end; you can tell he's hardly containing his glee when he issues out that summons.

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

* KarmaHoudini: Randal sells cigarettes to a little girl and Dante ends up getting saddled with the fine. And unlike everything else in the film, he doesn't even get properly [[WhatTheHellHero called out on it]]. Mostly because Dante was distracted by Caitlin's arrival.
** The robber in the alternate ending that shoots and kills Dante. Because Randal disabled the security cameras prior to the Hockey game on the roof, the cameras would never catch the robbery on film. Also after the credits of that ending Kevin Smith (as himself, not Silent Bob) steals some cigarettes and runs off after noticing Dante was murdered.
* KissingCousins: Jay mentions he'd be willing to knock boots with a girl who just happens to be his cousin.

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 ''Film/ClerksIII'' had been picked up by Creator/{{Lionsgate}}, with a release set for September 2022.

Later on, Dante closes up shop, because he had a hockey 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.

''Clerks'' was shot in the [[SarcasmMode scenic]] [=QuickStop=] convenience store where Smith worked at the time and featured a cast made up of Smith's friends (such as Jeff Anderson, [[Series/ComicBookMen Walt Flanagan,]] Creator/JasonMewes and Scott Mosier) and family (in various small roles), Smith himself, and a few local actors (such as Brian O'Halloran, who plays the lead role of Dante Hicks). When released, the film made its budget back several times over. Its success enabled Smith to make [[Film/{{TheViewAskewniverse}} several more films with some of the same characters and settings]].

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

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

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

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Leaning towards the cynical end due to the characters' interactions on aspects of their life being young twenty-somethings.

** Wynarski, The customer who says to Dante the reason he's working in the Quick Stop and not doing an honest day's work is because he's a wise-ass, is also one. His keys were thrown away by Dante in retaliation.

** Also, to some, Dante. At least when it comes to the women he dates and to blaming all his problems on other people.

** The jerk-off customer, whose keys were thrown away by Dante in retaliation.
--->'''Customer:''' Excuse me, have you seen my keys?\\

** The current customer overhears and just happens to be a contractor himself. He shares a story about how he turned down a job for a mafia boss despite the lucrative paycheck. His buddy took the job instead and ended up getting hit by a stray bullet and dying during a drive-by attack on the mobster's house. The moral being that even a ''punch-clock'' villain has to accept the risks and moral cost of the job and anyone who took a job on the Death Star has themselves to blame.

An AnimatedAdaptation of a scene cut from the script before shooting began for budget reasons, explaining why Dante and Randal are chased out of the funeral parlor when they attend Julie Dwyer's wake. Animated in the style of ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'', it features Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson reprising their roles and Creator/JoeyLaurenAdams in a cameo as her character Alyssa from ''Film/ChasingAmy''.

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

''Clerks'' was shot in the [[SarcasmMode scenic]] [=QuickStop=] convenience store where Smith worked at the time and featured a cast made up of Smith's friends (such as Jeff Anderson, [[Series/ComicBookMen Walt Flannigan,]] Creator/JasonMewes and Scott Mosier) and family (in various small roles), Smith himself, and a few local actors (such as Brian O'Halloran, who plays the lead role of Dante Hicks). When released, the film made its budget back several times over. Its success enabled Smith to make [[Film/{{TheViewAskewniverse}} several more films with some of the same characters and settings]].

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 ''Clerks III'' had been picked up by Creator/{{Lionsgate}}, with production to start in August.

* CriticalPsychoanalysisFailure: The man trying to find the perfect egg is revealed by a customer to be a guidance counselor, and his search for the perfect is him coping with his own ineptitude at counseling.

The film is about [[SliceOfLife a day in the life of a pair of friends]], Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, working at Quick Stop and RST Video, respectively. Another group of friends, Jay and Silent Bob, deal drugs and hang out around Quick Stop. Dante (as he will constantly remind you) isn't even supposed to be there that day - it's supposed to be his day off, but he was forced to cover a coworker's morning shift.

The film is about [[SliceOfLife a day in the life of a pair of friends]], Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, working at Quick Stop and RST Video, respectively. Another group of friends, Jay and Silent Bob, deal drugs and hang out around Quick Stop. Dante is forced to come to work, although he wasn't supposed to be there that day (as he will constantly remind you).

* ContemptibleCover: A Canadian-market DVD was dubbed the "Snowball Edition" and featured a [[SexSells bikini-clad woman]] on the cover. (Kevin Smith later indicated on his message board he had no clue this was even happening until a forum member told him; it was done by Alliance Atlantis, then the Canadian distributor of Miramax releases.)

* DumbassHasAPoint: Jay and Silent Bob makes a good point about Veronica being a good girlfriend.

* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: He makes a lot of questionable decisions throughout the movie and Randal's repeated [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "The Reason You Suck" Speeches]] seem to indicate we're supposed to feel Dante is responsible in some way for basically all the bad things that happen to him.

* ILoveTheDead: [[spoiler: An unintentional example.]]

''Clerks'' was shot in the [[SarcasmMode scenic]] [=QuickStop=] convenience store where Smith worked at the time and featured a cast made up of Smith's friends (such as Jeff Anderson, [[Series/ComicBookMen Walt Flannigan,]] Jason Mewes and Scott Mosier) and family (in various small roles), Smith himself, and a few local actors (such as Brian O'Halloran, who plays the lead role of Dante Hicks). When released, the film made its budget back several times over. Its success enabled Smith to make [[Film/{{TheViewAskewniverse}} several more films with some of the same characters and settings]].

** Doubles as SocietyMarchesOn: Iced coffee has become more popular since the film was released thanks to Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts.
** Although the customer's response was written to make him look ridiculous, this is a fairly common practice, as coffee is often stored at temperatures that make immediate drinking near impossible. So, adding a bit of ice will cool the coffee down to a more reasonable (but still hot) temperature.

** Dante pretends to be different, but [[NotSoDifferent nobody's fooled]] -- he's at work of his own free will, even if he pretends otherwise.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: Several actors perform multiple small roles because Smith didn't have the money to hire more actors.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfRoles: Several actors play multiple small roles. 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.

* FocusGroupEnding: The original cut shown to film festival audiences included a scene at the end in which Dante is shot and killed by a robber. Audiences, including a couple of Kevin Smith's personal mentors whose opinion he greatly respected, found it too depressing, so it was cut. Smith has since come around and agrees that the film is better without it, although the original cut is available on the "Clerks X" special-edition DVD so that audiences can judge for themselves.

** Basically, just about everyone is a {{Jerkass}} to one extent or another. A World of Jerkass, if you will.
*** Mostly towards Dante and Randal whom they think don't seem to be taking their assumingly simple jobs seriously.

** It's notable that while the movie is in Black and White the Video is in color.

* DownerEnding: In the original cut, an armed robber enters the store right after closing, shoots Dante dead, and empties the cash register. The protests of the film's agent John Pierson, as well as those of damn near everyone else involved (most prominently supporter Bob Hawk and star Brian O'Halloran), led to Smith cutting the ending short, and he professes to liking the final version better.

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.