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.

---

Plot Keywords:

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

---

Taglines:

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

---

Genres:

Drama | Crime | Mystery

---

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

Universal paid $1.9 million for the rights to the Richard Price novel.

---

Goofs

After speaking with Det. Rocco Klein outside the police station, the shadows of the buildings change size, and the position of Rodney's car is different in each of the three shots showing Ronald approaching the car and getting on.

---

Quotes

Rodney: [sigh] If God created anything better than crack cocaine he kept that shit for hisself.

---

Connections

References Mean Streets (1973)

---

Soundtracks

"Illa Killa"
Written by Rasheed Ali Brown (as Rasheed Brown)
Performed by Strictly Difficult

User Reviews

Another great film from Spike Lee.

I've just finished this film and I thought it was excellent. I've never read the book, and based on other people's comments it sounds like it might be a hard book to adapt for the screen, what with it (apparently) dealing with a lot of abstract issues. However, looking at this film from the standpoint of having never read the book I thought the story was brilliant, it engrossed me to the end. Mekhi Phifer was great, he played the part well, personally I thought he conveyed a wide range of emotions and all of them very well. There was some great character development, especially on the part of Delroy Lindo (another great performance).

Lee did a good job in his portrayal of the drug culture in the projects, as well as taking a look into the police's side of the story. The story interested me from the beginning and I didn't feel my interest waver once, in fact is grew steadily throughout the film. The images of dead bodies shown at the beginning made a strong starting point, and served as an immediate reminder that the themes dealt with in the film are occurring all the time.

On a side note, I thought the resemblance of Shorty's game 'Gansta' to today's GTA: San Andreas was pretty funny.