Clockers (film)

Clockers
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 then meets with Strike (Mekhi Phifer), one of his lead Clockers 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 him. Strike then meets 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 of a murder. The aftermath of Darryl's mortal wounds are shown: he was shot in his teeth, the back of his head, and two more places. Larry and Rocco then receive a phone call from another detective that say a man has confessed at a local church to killing Darryl Adams. They meet Strike's older brother Victor who has confessed to question him for the murder. In the interrogation room, Victor tells Rocco that he was the one that shot Darryl over self-defense. Rocco finds holes in his story and then after looking at Victor's background which includes working two jobs, a wife and two children, no criminal record, and an aspiration to move out of the projects suspects that he is covering for his younger brother. Complications with the murder case ensue as Rocco tries to piece together what had really happened by going to the projects. For Strike, he ponders about 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