Clockers (1995)

Young drug pushers in the projects of Brooklyn live hard dangerous lives, trapped between their drug bosses and the detectives out to stop them.

Director:

Spike Lee

Writers:

Richard Price (book), Richard Price (screenplay),

Stars:

Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harvey Keitel	...	Det. Rocco Klein
John Turturro	...	Det. Larry Mazilli
Delroy Lindo	...	Rodney Little
Mekhi Phifer	...	Ronald 'Strike' Dunham
Isaiah Washington	...	Victor Dunham
Keith David	...	André the Giant
Peewee Love	...	Tyrone 'Shorty' Jeeter (as Pee Wee Love)
Regina Taylor	...	Iris Jeeter
Thomas Jefferson Byrd	...	Errol Barnes (as Tom Byrd)
Sticky Fingaz	...	Scientific
Fredro Starr	...	Go (as Fredro)
Elvis Nolasco	...	Horace (as E.O. Nolasco)
Lawrence B. Adisa	...	Stan
Hassan Johnson	...	Skills
Frances Foster	...	Gloria

Storyline

Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug-lord Rodney Little, who, when not playing with model trains or drinking Moo for his ulcer, just likes to chill with his brothers near the benches outside the project houses. When a night man at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike's older brother turns himself in as the killer. Det. Rocco Klein doesn't buy the story, however, and sets out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney.

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | drug lord | train | role model | new york city | 

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Taglines:

When there's murder on the streets, everyone is a suspect.

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Genres:

Drama | Crime | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence, strong language and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 September 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nepperek

Filming Locations:

88th Precinct - 298 Classon Avenue, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$13,040,603 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Spike Lee wanted John Turturro to play Rocco Klein, and Michael Imperioli to play Larry Mazilla. The studio balked at Lee's request, and Martin Scorsese suggested Harvey Keitel for the role of Rocco, with John Turturro sliding into the role of Mazilla.

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Goofs

When Errol is threatening the kid on the trunk of the car, the helmet falls off. When the shot widens, the helmet is back on the kid's head.

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Quotes

Ronald 'Strike' Dunham: [In Rodney's car; Rodney gives him crap about abandoning his post to be questioned by Klein] Aw, man. Fuck you, Rodney.
Rodney: [silently pulls over to the shoulder] Excuse me?
[punches Strike in the stomach]
Rodney: Who the *fuck* are you talking to like that? Are you out of your motherfucking mind?
[pulls Strike down on his lap]
Rodney: Huh? You think I'm one of these crew-niggas sitting on the project?
[punches him again]
Rodney: BENCH, motherfucker!
[grabs a gun from the backseat and sticks it in his mouth]
Rodney: Open yo mouth, nigga...
[...]

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Connections

References Ultraman: Towards the Future (1990)

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Soundtracks

"Sex Soldier"
Written by George Kahni & Mekael Henningham
Performed by Rebelz of Authority

User Reviews

Lee's most mature work

In 1995 I considered Spike Lee's gritty CLOCKERS one of the year's best films; recently I spotted its video in a clearance bin and picked it up. Upon re-viewing, I am struck again by its complexity. It is the first urban drama to depict inner-city race relations with the intricacy such a pervasive cultural issue demands. On the surface it resembles a whodunit, but its main concern is how drugs and violence contaminate entire communities, dramatized in the collapse of one African-American youth's life. (He chokes up blood the way some of us sweat.) This process is observed by a predominantly white police force that makes hollow attempts to keep order, and refuses to intervene with the community's gradual decline.

Instead of characters with overt prejudices and plain racial allegiances-characters that are sterile symbols of bigotry rather than credible humans guilty of it-Lee gives us characters of casual racism. Most representative of this is Harvey Keitel's Rocco Klein, a white detective who cannot understand the culture surrounding him, which is a culture of narcotics, violence, and black-on-black crime. On his beat, drugs are less a problem than a lifestyle, murder resolves the tiniest of disagreements, and young mothers valiantly but vainly battle the influence young dealers have on their sons. Klein views the inner-city with contempt, but deep down he knows all the whores and dealers are human beings, too.

Klein is introduced at the scene of a homicide, where the police handle the gruesome death with a clinical sense of detachment, cracking bad jokes and asking the bloodied corpse questions. Is it just a job, or is it racism? For Klein, it's both: he needs the gallows humor to psychologically deal with this culture of depravity. What's fascinating about CLOCKERS is Lee's willingness-and guts-to present Klein, despite his prejudice, as the film's hero. Lee understands that casual racism is simply endemic and inescapable in American culture. What he appreciates is Klein's ability to transcend his own prejudice and finally do the right thing.