National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2019
“A hilarious, in-your-face, bawdy-yet-provocative look at two sardonic young slackers (Dante and Randal). One toils as a New Jersey convenience store clerk while his alter-ego video store friend works when the mood strikes him.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Kevin Smith
Studio
Miramax · View Askew Productions · 92 min
Box office
$3.2M worldwide on a $28K budget
Honors
Sundance Filmmaker Trophy Dramatic — 1 winAll 1 wins · 0 nominations on record
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Clerks arrived in 1994 as a Miramax release built from Kevin Smith's black-and-white, shoestring production shot largely after hours at the actual Quick Stop convenience store in New Jersey. It became a landmark of independent American cinema, praised for its dialogue-driven comedy and unglamorous look at retail life. The film helped define the View Askewniverse and launched Smith's career, remaining a touchstone for low-budget filmmaking and a certain strain of 1990s slacker humor.
This cell centers on Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, the two clerks whose bickering, philosophizing, and mutual exasperation form the spine of the movie. Dante, the reluctant convenience store worker, and Randal, his video store counterpart and provocateur, are the film's core double act, prized by collectors for embodying its conversational rhythm and deadpan wit. A pairing of these two names points to the film's essential dynamic, the friction and loyalty between coworkers that carries its plot and its humor.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm black-and-white optical-track release print of Clerks (1994)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punching appears clean with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area
Edge print
KU 18 2449 5777+32 is legible along the edge; text reads reversed indicating emulsion-up orientation
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly warm; the black-and-white silver image shows no visible colour shift or fading
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible running through the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate
Picture
Positive black-and-white image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with the monochrome photography of Clerks (1994)
Era check
A variable-area optical track, Kodak-coded black-and-white stock with a neutral base, and the KU key-number series are all consistent with a mid-1990s 35mm theatrical release print
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063083
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
