Clockers is a 1995 film directed by Spike Lee, based on the novel by Richard Price. The film stars Mekhi Phifer in his first
role.
Plot
The movie begins with a disturbing look of dead citizens on the ground, while the credits are rolling. When the credits are over,
we see a young man walk up to sit on a step, drinking chocolate milk. This is Strike (Mekhi
Phifer), who is a low-level drug dealer, which is a clocker. We then also see Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel), and Larry Mazilli (John Turturro), police homicide
detectives, riding around eyeing the neighborhood. Just then we are back to the clockers, who talk about what rappers are the
hardest. Just then, when detectives see that there may possibly be drugs being sold at the moment, they run up to the clockers,
and check them everywhere. Just then, Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo) drives up, and just
looks at all of them. Rodney Little is Strike's drug boss, as the clockers work for him. After the detectives are gone, Strike's
stomach starts hurting, as we see he has a stomach ulcer problem. Later that night, Rodney and Strike are riding in a car
together, as they pull up to a burger joint named AHAB'S, and Rodney tells Strike that the cleaner who works there, Darryl Adams,
is stealing from him. Rodney tells Strike that Darryl "got to be got", not really being clear if he wants Strike to kill him or
not.
Strike then gets out of the car, and holds a gun, while he hides it in a newspaper, and hesitates around the AHAB'S shop,
thinking whether he should kill Darryl or not. Instead, he goes into a bar, where he meets his brother, Victor Dunham
(Isaiah Washington). Strike lies and tells Victor that Darryl is a girl-beater, and
that Darryl beat an innocent little child of an angry mother. Victor thinks he is playing, but when Strike becomes more serious,
and tells Victor "the mother wants revenge", Victor becomes weirdly uncomfortable, and tells Strike that "My Man" will get him.
Victor doesn't tell Strike who "My Man" is, but just that he will do it. In the next scene, Strike walks up to the AHAB'S burger
joint, and knocks on the door, as Darryl answers. Darryl teases Strike with remarks about Strike's weak stomach, as Strike just
stands there, glaring at Darryl.
Soon after, Rocco and Larry, the homicide detectives, are riding to the scene of a murder, as they go in front of the burger
joint, and see that Darryl is dead. Strike is even in the audience, who watches the body bag in awe. When the detectives open the
body bag, they notice it is Darryl, and they recognize him. The aftermath of Darryl's mortal wounds are shown, as he was shot in
his teeth, the back of his head, and two more places, while the white detectives are actually taking his death for a joke. The
detectives make racial remarks about him, saying that Darryl is "one less nubian to worry about". In the next scene, when Strike
is leaving the AHAB'S shop he runs into Errol Barnes (Thomas Jefferson Byrd), a
violent, erratic, sociopathic gangster who works with Rodney. Errol just tells Strike about drugs, as if Strike doesn't know
about it already.
The next day, Strike is on the benches with his friends, clocking, as we are introduced to Andre (Keith David). Andre is a muscular, no-nonsense cop. Andre hastily checks Strike for drugs, as he tells
everyone to leave the gang life alone. After that he goes to a little boy named Tyrone Pee Wee
Love, and tells him to stop hanging around the clockers. The next day, Strike tells Tyrone to come to him, as he takes him
to get his hair cut, telling him his hair is "some nappy shit". Over the next one or two scenes, we see that Strike is taking
Tyrone under his wing, as he is playing a video game in Strike's car, hanging out. The next day, Tyrone's mother
(Regina Taylor), menacingly goes to the clockers, and asks them who cut Tyrone's hair.
When no one answers, she threatens them, and then walks away.
In the next scene, we see Larry and Rocco picking up Victor at church, to question him for the murder. When they go into the
questioning room, Victor tells Rocco that he was the one that shot Darryl over self-defense. Rocco doesn't believe it, as he
keeps on asking him to tell the story over and over again. Victor then gets irritated, as he yells at Rocco that he did it.
Sometime during the day, Tyrone is sitting on a bench near where the clockers hang out, and is drinking the same chocolate
milk Strike drinks every second. When Andre comes over to him, he sees this, and goes to Strike. He tells Strike that he was
always looking out for him Strike was a kid, and also tells him that not to look in the direction of taking Tyrone under his
wing, or else he will severely beat him. Strike says "yeah", as Andre walks away.
Soon After, Rocco Klein starts to ask people all over the projects about the murder, as he thinks Strike did it. He asks
people at the bar Strike was at, and other places. Rocco then repeatedly keeps on coming to question Strike about the murder, as
Strike gets more and more irritated. Also, Detective Jo-Jo (Michael Imperioli), goes
undercover for Rocco, as he tries to bribe Strike, but Strike knows better. When Rocco goes to the 1st place Victor ever worked,
which was a Chinese store, he asks the lady about Victor. She reports that Victor was a good man, as a flashback is shown, where
Victor tried to help a low-life gangster, who wants to buy something from the store. When Victor misunderstands what the man is
saying, the gangster gets mad and threatens as him. Victor, very kind and polite, just doesn't say anything, as he just goes back
into the store when the gangster walks away, like nothing ever happened.
In the next scene, we see that Strike goes overboard, and takes Tyrone in his house, to show him his train set (Strike has an
unusual hobby of collecting train sets), and to show him some cocaine, telling him selling is the only way to get money. He also
shows Tyrone his gun, telling him that he keeps it for protection. He also tells Tyrone that he should look out for Errol Barnes,
and that if Errol comes near him, that Tyrone should kill him. The same day, Strike goes into Rodney's hideout, as Rodney tells
Strike about the first time he killed somebody, since Errol Barnes made him do it. A flashback with Errol and Rodney is then
shown, as we ultimately experience Errol's sociopathic and villainous deeds. Errol kills two guys, since they and another guy
sold them some bad dope. The third guy is waiting to get killed, as Errol has a gun to his head, and psychotically talks to the
man, saying that he should've never sold him bad dope. Errol then tells Rodney that Rodney is going to kill the third man, or
else Errol will kill Rodney. Rodney tries to back out, as Errol puts a gun in Rodney's mouth, threatening him to kill the third
man. Rodney then falls to Errols demands, as he shoots the third man two times in his head. Errol laughs psychotically. As the
flashback ends, Rodney tells Strike that the reason Eroll wanted him to shoot the third man was because Errol wanted a shade
hanging over his head too, or else Rodney might give him up someday.
Over the next few days Rocco asks around, including a fast food restaurant (which was Victor's second job), about how Victor
was. It is then revealed in a flashback that Victor was an extremely kind and gentle man, who knew how to control his temper,
especially when clockers started trying to set up their clocking space in the fast-food restaurant.
Over the next few days, things start to get complicated, as Strike is mildly attacked by Tyrone's mother, as she tells Strike
to stop trying to be Tyrone's "daddy". Rocco then gives him a ride to talk, soon after that, as Rocco confronts Strike with
anger, telling him that he was the killer. Strike then gets angry also, telling Rocco he doesn't know anything, as Rodney comes
in his car. Strike jumps in. Strike and Rodney have an argument as to whether Rodney was telling Strike to kill Darryl or not, as
when Strike tells Rodney "fuck you", Rodney gets angry. He pulls the car over, and punches Strike in his stomach, pulls his head
over to his lap, and put a gun to his mouth, and tells him if he ever sees him talking to Rocco again, he'll blow his brain to
pieces with the gun. Rodney then takes the gun out of his mouth, and tells him to get out of the car. Nearby, Strike sees that
Errol is menacing Tyrone. Rodney tells Errol to lay off of Tyrone, as Strike walks away. When he sees Tyrone, he tells him that
they are not friends anymore, and that he's just a kid, when really, Tyrone is trying to give him something important. Later that
day, Rocco and Larry arrest Rodney, while Rodney thinks Strike ratted him out. That night, Rocco confronts Strike in front of his
drug-dealing friends, and tells him Rodney is in jail, and that he thinks Strike ratted him out. Rocco, knowing that Rodney will
kill Strike when he gets out of jail, tells Strike he is on his own, unless he tells him the truth about Darryl's murder. Strike
refuses, and Rocco rides away in his car. When one of Strike's drug-dealing friends is convinced Strike ratted Rodney out, he
pushes Strike, as Strike punches him in the face. In jail, Rodney calls Errol Barnes, giving him an errand: to kill Strike.
The next day, Strike starts to look over his life, as he notices drugs are not worth it. He then starts to pack his bags, as
he is ready to move. When he goes outside, he sees his same friend that pushed him. His friend tells him Errol is looking for
him. Strike is then confused, as he sees Tyrone trying to give him something again, as Strike once again rejects him. Errol from
afar gets out of his car. Strike then finally figures out Errol is trying to kill him on the behalf of Rodney, as he hides behind
bushes. Errol's evil look on his face is put together by his junkie behavior, as Tyrone is riding down Errol's direction. When
Tyrone confronts Errol, Errol says two words, and then Tyrone shoots Errol with a gun, which was hidden inside a bag. The gun was
what Tyrone was trying to give to Strike, which is what is revealed when Rocco questions him. When Andre asks Rocco to lie on
Tyrone's statement, so that Tyrone won't go to juvenile hall, Rocco does. When Tyrone reveals he got the gun from Strike, Andre
gets angry, and goes to the place where he hangs out, as he beats Strike to a pulp. He tells Strike that he is banned from the
projects, also New York, and that if he ever sees him again, he will kill him, and tell the authorities that he was trying to
retaliate for the beatdown Andre's giving him now. Strike then goes in his car, and drives away. He goes to Rocco for
questioning, as Strike tells Rocco different stories. When Rocco gets irritated, he grabs Strike, and pushes him to a wall, just
as Strike's mother comes in, with Larry. Strike's mother then reveals that it was true that Victor killed Darryl, as Victor came
home the night of the shooting, crying and telling his mother he killed somebody. Rocco, feeling stupid, lets Strike, go, and
drives him to his car, as he finds out Rodney wrecked his car. Rocco then drives Strike to Penn Station, as he thanks Rocco. He gets out of the car.
It is revealed that Victor got out of jail after all, Tyrone never went to juvenile, and that another murder occurred in the
place Strike used to hang out. The last scene of the movie shows Strike on a real train, looking out the window.
Reception
The movie was critically acclaimed by many film critics. Roger Ebert gave the movie a
three-and-a-half stars, and it earned a 76% "fresh" rating from Rotten Tomatoes. Despite
significant praise, the film received no major award nominations and is generally regarded as underrated. However, the movie
(along with the novel) would foreshadow similar projects, such as The Wire,
for which author/screenwriter Richard Price is also a writer.
Film poster
Critics and film buffs were quick to notice that the poster, designed by Art Sims, was
extremely similar to Saul Bass' art for Otto
Preminger's 1959 film Anatomy of a Murder. Sims claimed that it was a
homage, but Bass nonetheless regarded that as a rip-off. [1]
Cast
External links
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