Jump to content

Clockers (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 128.138.189.26 (talk) at 18:25, 21 January 2009 (fixed up the plot summary to reflect good english). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Clockers
File:Clockers DVD Cover.jpg
Clockers DVD cover
Directed bySpike Lee
Written byRichard Price (novel and screenplay)
Spike Lee (screenplay)
Produced byJon Kilik
Spike Lee
Martin Scorsese
StarringHarvey Keitel
John Turturro
Delroy Lindo
Mekhi Phifer
CinematographyMalik Hassan Sayeed
Edited bySamuel D. Pollard
Music byTerence Blanchard
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
September 13, 1995
Running time
128 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25,000,000 (est.)

Clockers is a 1995 film directed by Spike Lee. The screenplay, written by Lee and Richard Price, is based on Price's novel of the same name. The film stars Mekhi Phifer in his first role and was filmed In Gowanus Projects in Brooklyn, New York.

Plot summary

In a Brooklyn housing project, a group of Clockers - low level drug dealers - sell drugs for Rodney Little(Delroy Lindo), a local drug lord. Rodney meets with Strike (Mekhi Phifer), one of his lead Clockers and tells him that another Clocker, Darryl Adams (Steve White), is stealing from him. Rodney tells Strike that Darryl "got to be got", implying that he wants Strike to kill Darryl. Strike then meets with his brother, Victor Dunham (Isaiah Washington) asking him to kill Darryl Adams.

Soon after, Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) and Larry Mazilli (John Turturro), homicide detectives, ride to the scene Darryl Adams' murder. Larry and Rocco receive a phone call from another detective who says a man has confessed at a local church to killing Darryl. They meet Strike's older brother Victor, the man who confessed at the church, to question him for the murder. In the interrogation room, Victor tells Rocco that he shot Darryl in self-defense. Rocco finds holes in this story and starts looking into Victor's background which includes two jobs, a wife, two children, no criminal record, and aspirations to move out of the projects and suspects that Victor is covering for his younger brother. Complications with the murder case ensue as Rocco goes to the projects and tries to piece together what really happened. Meanwhile Strike ponders leaving the gang life but does not know how to escape from Rodney's clutches.

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. The movie (along with the novel) would foreshadow similar projects, such as The Wire, for which author/screenwriter Richard Price is also a writer and Fredro Starr and Hassan Johnson cast members.

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

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clockers_(film)&oldid=265528303"