Clerks
1h 31m
Clerks is a 1994 American black-and-white comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith in his feature directorial debut. Starring Smith along with Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonauer, Jason Mewes, and Scott Mosier (with whom he also produced and edited the film), it presents a day in the lives of store clerks Dante Hicks (O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Anderson) as well as their acquaintances. It is the first of Smith's View Askewniverse films, and introduces several recurring characters, notably Jay and Silent Bob (played by Mewes and Smith respectively).
Shot for $27,575 in the convenience and video stores where Smith worked in real life, Clerks was well received by critics upon its theatrical release and grossed over $4 million in theaters, launching his career. In 2006, a sequel was released, followed by a third installment in 2022. Often regarded as a cult classic and a landmark in independent filmmaking, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2019 as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".