# Clerks (film)

Clerks is a 1994 film about two clerks: one who works in a convenience store and the other in a video rental store. They have an unusual day at work when dealing with girlfriends, ex-girlfriends, protesters, drug dealers, and worst of all, the customers.
    Written and directed by Kevin Smith

## Dante Hicks

* I'm not even supposed to be here today.
* Hey, try not to suck any dick on your way through the parking lot!
* Yeah, I mean aside from the cheating, we were a great couple. I mean, that's what high school was about: algebra, bad lunch, and infidelity.

## Randal Graves

* I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially since I rule.
* Everybody who comes in here is way too uptight. This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers.
* Shit, my mom's been fucking a dead guy for 30 years. I call him Dad.
* Bunch of savages in this town.

## Others

* Jay: I feel good today, Silent Bob. We're gonna make some money, then you know what we're going to do? We're gonna go to that party, we're gonna get some pussy, and I'm gonna fuck this bitch, I'll fuck this bitch, I'll fuck anything that moves! [to a man passing by on a bicycle] Yo, what the fuck you lookin' at? I'll kick your fuckin' ass! Shit yeah. [to Silent Bob] Doesn't that motherfucker owe me 10 bucks? You know, fuckin' tonight, we're gonna rip off this fucker's head, and tear out his fuckin' soul. Remind me if he tries to buy something, I'm gonna shit in the motherfucker's bag. [to two women in a passing car] Hey, what's up babes? What's up, sluts?
    Silent Bob: You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.
* Female Customer: It's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination.
    Customer: Do you have that one with that guy who was in that movie that was out last year?

## Dialogue

    Veronica: You men make me feel sick. You'll sleep with anything that says yes.
    Dante: Animal, mineral or vegetable.
    Veronica: Vegetable, meaning paraplegic.
    Dante: They put up the least amount of struggle.
    Veronica: [after talking to William] That was Snowball.
    Dante: Why do you call him that?
    Veronica: Sylvan made it up. It's a blowjob thing.
    Dante: What do you mean?
    Veronica: After he gets a blowjob, he likes to have it spit back into his mouth while kissing. It's called snowballing.
    Dante: He requests this?
    Veronica: He gets off on it.
    Dante: Sylvan can be talked into anything.
    Veronica: Why do you say that?
    Dante: Like you said, she snowballed him.
    Veronica: Sylvan? No, I snowballed him.
    Dante: Yeah, right.
    Veronica: I'm serious.
    Dante: You sucked that guy's dick?!
    Veronica: Yeah, how do you think I knew that he...
    Dante: Wait, but you said you only had sex with three different guys! You never mentioned him.
    Veronica: Because I never had sex with him.
    Dante: You sucked his dick!
    Veronica: We went out a few times. We never had sex, but we fooled around.
    Dante: Oh my God! Why did you tell me you only had sex with three different guys?!
    Veronica: Because I did only have sex with three different guys! That doesn't mean I didn't just go with people.
    Dante: Oh my God, I feel so nauseous.
    Veronica: Sorry, Dante. I thought you understood.
    Dante: I did understand! I understood that you had sex with three different guys and that's all you said!
    Veronica: Please calm down.
    Dante: How many?
    Veronica: Dante!
    Dante: How many dicks have you sucked?
    Veronica: Let it go!
    Dante: How many?
    Veronica: All right! Shut up a second and I'll tell you! Jesus! I didn't freak out like this when you told me how many girls you fucked!
    Dante: This is different! This is important! How many? [A customer comes up to the counter and Dante helps her while Veronica does some math] Well?
    Veronica: Um... something like 36.
    Dante: WHAT? SOMETHING LIKE 36!?
    Veronica: Lower your voice.
    Dante: Wait, what is that anyway, something like 36? Does that include me?
    Veronica: Um... 37.
    Dante: I'M 37!?
    Veronica: I'm going to class.
    Dante: Oh my God. [the customer walks up to pay] 37! My girlfriend sucked 37 dicks!
    Customer: In a row?
    Caitlin: Can I use your bathroom?
    Randal: Sure. But there's no lights back there.
    Caitlin: Why aren't there any lights?
    Randal: Well, there are, but for some reason they stop working at 5:14 every night.
    Caitlin: You're kidding. Why?
    Randal: Nobody can figure it out. The boss doesn't wanna pay the electrician to fix it, 'cause the electrician owes money to the video store.
    Caitlin: Such a sordid state of affairs.
    Randal: And I'm caught in the middle. Torn between my loyalty for the boss and my desire to piss with the lights on.
    Caitlin: Well, I'll try to manage.
    Randal: Oh, hey Caitlin, break his heart again this time and I'll kill ya. Nothing personal.
    Caitlin: You are very protective of him, Randal. You always have been.
    Randal: Territoriality. He was mine first.
    Caitlin: Oh, that was so cute.
    Chewlies Gum Rep: You're spending what? 20, maybe 30 dollars a week on your cigarettes?
    Angry Smoking Crowd: Yeah.
    Woolen Cap Smoker: 40.
    Smoker #1: Something like that.
    Smoker #2: 53.
    Chewlies Gum Rep: 53 dollars a week on cigarettes?! Come on! Would you give somebody that much money each week to kill you? 'Cause that's what you're doing now by paying for this so-called privilege to smoke.
    Angry Smoking Crowd: Hey man, we gotta croak sometime.
    Chewlies Gum Rep: It's that kinda mentality that allows the cancer-producing industry to thrive. Course we're all gonna die some day. But do we have to pay for it? Do we have to actually throw hard-earned dollars down on the counter and say, "Please, Mr. Merchant of Death, please, sell me something that'll stink up my breath and my clothes and fry my lungs."
    Dante: Now wait a second!
    Chewlies Gum Rep: Yeah. Yeah, now here comes the speech about how he's just doing his job by following orders. Friends, let me tell you about another group of hatemongers that were just following orders.
    Angry Smoking Crowd: Who's that?
    Chewlies Gum Rep: They were called Nazis!
    Woolen Cap Smoker: Nazis, that's right.
    Angry Smoking Crowd: Fuckin' Nazi!
    Chewlies Gum Rep: Yeah, and they practically wiped an entire nation of people off the Earth, just like your cigarettes are doing now.
    Mother: Excuse me, do you sell videos?
    Randal: Yeah. What're you looking for?
    Mother: Happy Scrappy: Hero Pup.
    Randal: Uh, one second. I'm on the phone with the distribution house now. Let me make sure they got it. What's it called again?
    Mother: Happy Scrappy: Hero Pup.
    Child: Happy Scrappy.
    Mother: She loves it.
    Randal: Obviously. [to the distributor] Uh, yeah, hi, this is RST Video calling. Customer number 4352. I'd like to place an order. Okay, I need one each of the following tapes: Whispers in the Wind, To Each His Own, Put It Where It Doesn't Belong, My Pipes Need Cleaning, All Tit-Fucking, Volume 8, I Need Your Cock, Ass-Worshipping Rim-Jobbers, My Cunt Needs Shafts, Cum Clean, Cum-Gargling Naked Sluts, Cum Buns 3, Cumming in Socks, Cum On Eileen, Huge Black Cocks with Pearly White Cum, Girls Who Crave Cock, Girls Who Crave Cunt, Men Alone 2: The KY Connection, Pink Pussy Lips, oh yeah, and, uh, All Holes Filled with Hard Cock. Yep. Oh, wait a minute. [to the mother] Uh, what was that called again?
    Dante: You know, that article's accurate. Caitlin's really getting married!
    Randal: You know what I just watched?
    Dante: Me pulling a can off some moron's fist?
    Randal: Return of the Jedi.
    Dante: Didn't you hear me? Caitlin is really getting married!
    Randal: Which did you like better? Jedi or The Empire Strikes Back?
    Dante: Empire.
    Randal: Blasphemy.
    Dante: Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, uh, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets.
    Randal: There was something else going on in Jedi. I ever noticed it 'til today. They built another Death Star, right?
    Dante: Yeah.
    Randal: Now, the first one was completed and fully operational before the Rebels destroyed it.
    Dante: Luke blew it up. Give credit where credit is due.
    Randal: And the second one was still being built when they blew it up.
    Dante: Compliments of Lando Calrissian.
    Randal: Something just never sat right with me that second time around. I could never put my figure on it, but something just wasn't right.
    Dante: And you figured it out?
    Randal: The first Death Star was manned by the Imperial Army. The only people onboard were stormtroopers, dignitaries. Imperials.
    Dante: Basically.
    Randal: So when they blew it up, no problem. Evil's punished.
    Dante: And the second time around?
    Randal: The second time around, it wasn't even done being built yet. It was still under construction.
    Dante: So?
    Randal: So a construction job of that magnitude would require a helluva lot more manpower than the Imperial army had to offer. I'll bet there were independent contractors working on that thing: plumbers, aluminum siders, roofers...
    Dante: And not just Imperials. Is that what you're getting at?
    Randal: Exactly. In order to get it built quickly and quietly, they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average stormtrooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms.
    Dante: All right, so they bring in independent contractors. Why are you so upset with its destruction?
    Randal: All those innocent contractors hired to do the job were killed! Casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. All right, look, you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way. You got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia. This is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
    Roofer: Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but what are you two talking about?
    Randal: The ending of Return of the Jedi.
    Dante: My friend here is trying to convince me that any independent contractors who were working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when it was destroyed by the Rebels.
    Roofer: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer—Dunn and Ready Home Improvements—and speaking as a roofer, I can tell you a roofer's personal politics comes into play heavily when choosing jobs.
    Randal: Oh yeah, like when?
    Roofer: Three weeks ago, I was offered a job up in the hills. Beautiful house, tons of property. A simple reshingling job! They told me if I could finish it in one day, I would double my price. Then I realized whose house it was.
    Randal: Whose house was it?
    Roofer: Dominic Bambino's.
    Randal: "Baby-Face" Bambino the gangster?
    Roofer: The same! The money was right, but the risk was too high. I knew who he was, and based on that, I turned the job over to a friend of mine.
    Dante: [to Randal] Based on his personal politics.
    Roofer: Right! And the next week the Floressi family puts out a hit on Baby-Face's house! My friend was shot and killed. Didn't even finish reshingling!
    Randal: No way.
    Roofer: I'm alive because I knew the risk involved with that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. Any contractor working on that Death Star knew the risk involved. If they got killed, it's their own fault. A roofer listens to this [pointing to his heart], not his wallet.
    Video Store Customer: [holding two videos] They say so much, but they never tell you if they're any good. Are either one of these any good? Sir?
    Randal: What?
    Video Store Customer: Are either one of these any good?
    Randal: I don't watch movies.
    Video Store Customer: Well, have you heard anything about either one of them?
    Randal: I find it's best to stay out of other people's affairs.
    Video Store Customer: You mean you haven't heard anybody say anything about either one of these?
    Randal: Nope.
    [The customer turns around and then holds up the same two movies.]
    Video Store Customer: Well, what about these two?
    Randal: Oh, they suck.
    Video Store Customer: These are the same two movies! You weren't paying any attention!
    Randal: No, I wasn't.
    Video Store Customer: I don't think your manager would appreciate—
    Randal: I don't appreciate your ruse, ma'am.
    Video Store Customer: I beg your pardon?
    Randal: Your ruse. Your cunning attempt to trick me.
    Video Store Customer: I was only pointing out that you weren't paying any attention to what I was saying!
    Randal: And I hope it feels good.
    Video Store Customer: You hope what feels good?
    Randal: I hope it feels so good to be right. There's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?
    Video Store Customer: Well, this is the last time I rent here!
    Randal: You'll be missed.
    Video Store Customer: Screw you! [leaves]
    Randal: [runs to door] Hey! You're not allowed to rent here anymore!
    Jay: [standing outside] Yeeaahhh!
    Randal: Screw me?
    Dante: Did you ever notice how all the prices end in nine? Damn, that's eerie.
    Randal: [looking at a pornographic magazine] You know how much wage the average jizz-mopper make per hour?
    Dante: What's a jizz-mopper?
    Randal: He's the guy that cleans up the nudie-booths after each guy that jerks off.
    Dante: Nudie booth?
    Randal: Yeah, nudie booth. You've never been to a nudie booth?
    Dante I guess not.
    Randal: Oh man, it's great. You go into this booth and there's this glass between you and these chicks, and they put on a show for you for like ten bucks.
    Dante: What kind of show?
    Randal: Think of the weirdest, craziest shit you'd like to see chicks do. These chicks do it all. They insert things into any opening on their body. Any opening!
    Dante: Can we not talk about this now?
    Randal: The jizz-mopper's job is to clean it up after each guy shoots a load. Practically everybody does it right on the window, and I don't know if you noticed or not, but cum leaves streaks if you don't clean it right away.
    Highly-Offended Customer: I will never come to this place again.
    Dante: Excuse me?
    Highly-Offended Customer: Using filthy language in front of the customers. You both should be fired!
    Dante: I'm sorry. I guess we kinda got carried away.
    Highly-Offended Customer: Well, I don't know if "sorry" can make up for it. You've highly offended me.
    Randal: Well, you think that's offensive, check this out! [shows customer the magazine's centerfold; the customer runs out screaming] I think you can see her kidneys!
    [Dante has just found out his ex-girlfriend died]
    Dante: You gotta watch the store. I gotta go to this.
    Randal: Wait, wait, wait. Has it ever occurred to you that I might be bereaved as well?
    Dante: You hardly knew her!
    Randal: True, but do you know how many people are gonna be there? All of our old classmates, to say the least.
    Dante: Stop. This is beneath even you.
    Randal: I'm not gonna miss what is probably gonna be the social event of the season.
    Dante: You hate people!
    Randal: But I love gatherings. Isn't it ironic?
    [while driving to Julie's wake]
    Dante: Thanks for puttin' me in such a tough spot. You're a good friend.
    Randal: She was pretty young, huh?
    Dante: Twenty-two. Just like us.
    Randal: An embolism in a pool.
    Dante: What an embarrassing way to die.
    Randal: That's nothing compared to how my cousin Walter died.
    Dante: How'd he die?
    Randal: He broke his neck.
    Dante: That's embarrassing?
    Randal: He broke his neck trying to suck his own dick.
    Dante: Shut the hell up.
    Randal: I swear.
    Dante: Stop it.
    Randal: Bible truth.
    Dante: Oh my God.
    Randal: Come on. Haven't you ever tried to suck your own dick?
    Dante: No!
    Randal: Yeah, right. You're so repressed.
    Dante: Because I never tried to suck my own dick?
    Randal: No, because you won't admit to it. As if a guy's a fuckin' pervert because he tries to go down on himself. You're as curious as the rest of us, pal. You've tried it.
    Dante: Who found him?
    Randal: My cousin? My aunt found him. It was a mess. He was on his bed, with his legs doubled over himself. My aunt freaked out.
    Dante: Man, he had his dick in his mouth?
    Randal: Yeah. Balls restin' on his lips.
    Dante: Wow! He really made it.
    Randal: Yeah, but at what a price?
    Dante: I could never reach.
    Randal: Reach what?
    Dante: Y'know.
    Randal: What, your dick?
    Dante: Yeah, like you said. I guess everyone gets curious and tries it sometime.
    Randal: I never tried it. Fuckin' pervert.
    [Dante and Randal have just returned from Julie’s wake]
    Dante: I can't fuckin' believe you!
    Randal: I'm tellin' you, it wasn't my fault!
    Dante: You knocked the casket over, for Christ's sake!
    Randal: I was just leanin' on it! It was an accident!
    Dante: Like someone knocks a casket over on purpose!
    Randal: So the casket fell over, big deal!
    Dante: Her fuckin' body fell out!
    Randal: Just put it back in. It's not like it matters if she breaks somethin'!
    Dante: Just go. Just go open the video store!
    Jay : [offscreen] Yeah, open the video store!
    Randal: Shut the fuck up, junkie!
    [Jay comes over and lifts his leg to fart on Randal. Dante stops Randal and tells him to open RST.]
    Dante: Just go. Just go open the video store.
    Jay: Yeah, cock-smoking clerk!
    Dante: And how many times have I told you not to be dealing in front of the store?
    Jay: I'm not dealin', man. What you talkin' 'bout?
    Customer: Yo, you got anything, man?
    Jay: Yeah, man. What you want, man?
    Dante: You get me slapped with a fine, you argue with the customers and I have to patch everything up. You get us thrown out of a funeral by violating a corpse, and then to top it all off, you ruin my relationship. I mean, what's your encore? Do you, like, anally rape my mother while pouring sugar in my gas tank? You know what the real tragedy about all this is? I'm not even supposed to be here today!
    Randal: Oh, fuck you! Fuck you, pal! Jesus, there you go. Trying to pass the buck. I'm the source of all your misery. Who closed the store to play hockey? Who closed the store to go to a wake? Who tried to win back his ex-girlfriend without even discussing how he felt with his present one? You want to blame somebody? Blame yourself! [mimicking] "I'm not even supposed to be here today." You sound like an asshole! Jesus, nobody twisted your arm to be here. You're here of your own volition. You like to think the weight of the world rests on your shoulders, like this place would fall apart if Dante wasn't here. Jesus, you overcompensate for havin' what's basically a monkey's job. You push fuckin' buttons! Anybody could waltz in here and do our jobs. You, you're so obsessed with making it seem so much more epic, so much more important than it really is. Christ, you work in a convenience store, Dante, and badly, I might add. I work in a shitty video store, badly as well. You know, that guy Jay's got it right, man, he has no delusions about what he does, what he is. Us? We like to make ourselves seem so much more important than the people that come in here to buy a paper or God forbid, cigarettes. We look down on them as if we're so advanced. Well, if we're so fuckin' advanced, what are we doin' working here?

## Taglines

* Just because they serve you doesn't mean they like you.
* A very funny look at the over-the-counter culture.
* This Job Sucks
* It Delivers.

## Cast

* Brian O'Halloran — Dante Hicks
* Jeff Anderson — Randal Graves
* Marilyn Ghigliotti — Veronica Loughran
* Lisa Spoonhauer — Caitlin Bree
* Jason Mewes — Jay
* Kevin Smith — Silent Bob

## External links

* Clerks quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Clerks at Rotten Tomatoes
* The Official Clerks Site