Clerks is a 1994 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith in his feature directorial debut. Starring Smith along with Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer, Jason Mewes, and Scott Mosier (with whom he also produced and edited the film), it presents a day in the lives of store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) as well as their acquaintances. It is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob (played by Mewes and Smith respectively).

Plot

On his day off, Dante Hicks, a retail clerk at the Quick Stop Groceries convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, is instructed by his boss via phone call to cover another employee's morning shift. Dante asks to end early at noon to play a hockey game with friends later that day, with the boss coming in himself. Arriving to find the locks to the security shutters jammed closed with gum, he drapes a sheet over the shutters with "I ASSURE YOU; WE'RE OPEN!" in shoe polish; he repeatedly laments, "I'm not even supposed to be here today."

Awards