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 black-and-white calling card for independent film, shot on a shoestring budget by Kevin Smith inside the very convenience store he worked at in Leonardo, New Jersey. Picked up by Miramax after a stir at Sundance, it became a touchstone for a generation of filmmakers who saw that a sharp script and a cheap camera could outmuscle studio polish. Its snapping dialogue and mundane setting reshaped what counted as cinematic ambition in American independent film, launching Smith's career and the View Askewniverse alongside it.
This cell carries the name Randal Graves, the video store clerk whose apathy and biting commentary make him the film's most quoted and most argued-over figure. Collectors seek him out because he represents the id of Clerks, the friend who says what everyone else only thinks, and any reel bearing his name is prized as a piece of that voice. Whether drawn from dialogue, a credits pass, or a trailer assembly, a Randal cell stands as a fragment of the character study that gave the film its restless, talkative heart.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm black-and-white optical release print of Clerks (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the picture area, appearing as a two-line waveform pattern consistent with a stereo optical track.
Edge print
Top edge reads (mirrored): KU 18 2449 5805+32, with additional bar-code style marks and a dot visible at the left.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight cyan-green tint typical of estar or acetate safety stock; the dye image is rendered in black-and-white silver, neutral in tone with no visible colour shift or fading.
Projection history
Light horizontal abrasion lines are visible across 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 a release print of a black-and-white film matching Clerks (1994).
Era check
The Kodak KU edge code, variable-area optical stereo soundtrack, and black-and-white silver dye image on safety base are all consistent with a mid-1990s 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 000063085
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
