Clerks

Clerks stylized as Clerks. is a 1994 American blackandwhite comedydrama film written and directed by Kevin Smith. Starring Brian OHalloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances. Shot entirely in black and white, Clerks is the first of Smiths View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob, the latter played by Smith himself. The structure of the movie contains nine scene breaks, signifying the nine rings of hell as in Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy, from which the main character, Dante, clearly derives his name.

Dante Hicks, a 22yearold retail clerk at the Quick Stop convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey, is called into work on his day off by his boss to cover a few hours for another employee who is sick. Arriving at the store, he finds that the locks to the security shutters are jammed closed with chewing gum, so he hangs a sheet over them with a message written in shoe polish I ASSURE YOU WERE OPEN.Dantes day is spent in the purgatory of serving a succession of customers while repeating the fact that he is not even supposed to be here today. Stressed with the demands of his job, Dante passes time in wideranging conversations with his best friend, Randal Graves. Randal works in the nextdoor video store, RST Video, although he spends almost the entire day at the Quick Stop. They converse about many things to pass time, such as whether or not the contractors working on the second Death Star when it was destroyed at the end of Return of the Jedi were innocent victims. Other events of the day include the discovery that Dantes high school girlfriend, Caitlin Bree, whom he has been having early morning phone conversations with, is engaged to be married. Dantes current girlfriend, Veronica Loughran, also stops in to bring him homemade lasagne. The two talk about Dantes stuckinarut lifestyle with no motivation to change before having an argument about her past sexual partners. ........

Source: Wikipedia