Clockers (film)
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Clockers | |
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File:Clockers DVD Cover.jpg Clockers DVD cover | |
Directed by | Spike Lee |
Written by | Richard Price (novel and screenplay) Spike Lee (screenplay) |
Produced by | Jon Kilik Spike Lee Martin Scorsese |
Starring | Harvey Keitel John Turturro Delroy Lindo Mekhi Phifer |
Cinematography | Malik Hassan Sayeed |
Edited by | Samuel D. Pollard |
Music by | Terence Blanchard |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates | September 13, 1995 |
Running time | 128 min. |
Language | English |
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
- Harvey Keitel – Det. Rocco Klein
- John Turturro – Det. Larry Mazilli
- Delroy Lindo – Rodney Little
- Sticky Fingaz – Scientific
- Mekhi Phifer – Ronald 'Strike' Dunham
- Isaiah Washington – Victor Dunham
- Keith David – André the Giant
- Pee Wee Love – Tyrone 'Shorty' Jeter
- Regina Taylor – Iris Jeeter
- Fredro Starr – Go
- Elvis Nolasco – Horace
- Thomas Jefferson Byrd – Errol Barnes
- Lawrence B. Adisa – Stan
- Hassan Johnson – Skills
- Frances Foster – Gloria
- Michael Imperioli – Detective Jo-Jo
- Mike Starr – Thumper
- Lisa Arrindell Anderson - Sharon
- Brandon Jay McLaren – Johnny
External links
- Clockers at IMDb
- Clockers at Rotten Tomatoes
- Articles needing cleanup from November 2006
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from November 2006
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from November 2006
- 1990s crime films
- 1990s drama films
- 1990s films
- 1995 films
- African American films
- American films
- Coming-of-age films
- Crime drama films
- Crime films
- Drama films
- Drug-related films
- English-language films
- Films directed by Spike Lee
- Films set in New York City
- Films shot in New York City
- Films shot in New Mexico
- Hip hop films
- Hood films
- Universal Pictures films