Clockers (1995)

Based on the riveting bestseller by Richard Price, this 1995 crime drama was directed by Spike Lee with such authority and authenticity that it has the hyper-real quality of a stylized documentary. Fully capturing the thoroughly researched detail of Price's novel, the film focuses on Strike (newcomer Mekhi Phifer), a young, ambitious "clocker"--or drug dealer--who works the streets of his New York housing project, selling drugs for a local supplier named Rodney (played with ferocious charisma by Delroy Lindo). Just as Strike is struggling to get away from his dead-end life of crime, another dealer is murdered in a fast-food restaurant and local detectives (Harvey Keitel, John Turturro) consider Strike the primary suspect. In cowriting the script with novelist Price, Lee uses this murder mystery to explore the plague of guns and black-on-black crime in America's inner cities, in which drugs and death are familiar routines of daily life. The film doesn't pretend to offer solutions, nor does it dwell on the problem with numbing insistence. Rather, this taut, well-acted film takes the viewer into a world often hidden in plain sight--a world where options seem nonexistent for youth conditioned to have little or no expectation beyond a probable early death. Lee and Price are deadly serious in handling this volatile subject (which incorporates racism, powerless law enforcement, and political indifference), but Clockers is also blessed with humor, insight, and humanity. It's one of Lee's most confidently directed films, signaling a creative maturity that Lee continued to develop throughout the 1990s. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Good Crime Drama With a Twist!

Spike Lee is a classic African-American New York based film maker. This is one of the best movies he's made and quite gripping. A young drug dealer is having trouble after his good brother is arrested for a crime the drug dealer is believed to have committed. A cop who is concerned about an innocent man going to jail keeps up the pressure on the drug dealer to confess, but there is also pressure from his drug lord to keep what he knows to himself. It isn't clear if the drug dealing brother did commit the murder or it was someone else. What to do? April 16, 2008

Delroy Lindo and Harvey Keitel Shine

I like this movie. Delroy Lindo is one of the underrated talents in movies today. Harvey Keitel is really good in this too. I think this is a good story and worth a look. The only complaint is that it stinks of Spike Lee and his style. It is a little too long and has all of what has become his standard gimmicks. But still a good movie. January 18, 2008

fine, taut drama with social commentary

Clockers gave Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee the chance to collaborate on a project that became a brilliant motion picture. Clockers examines the gritty, brutal life on the streets that sometimes offers the only hope for millions of underprivileged African-American men and their families. Clockers paints an honest portrait of many black people in the New York City housing projects as they struggle to survive; some get involved in drugs and drug dealing with others desperately strive to avoid a life of crime and hold out real hope for a brighter future. Clockers accomplishes this with superlative acting, a wonderful script and excellent direction.

The action begins in a Brooklyn, New York housing project where many young black men are routinely drawn into the drug scene with its crime and money made from dealing drugs. Ronald 'Strike' Dunham (Mekhi Phifer) is a "clocker;" this means that he is there on the benches of the projects to deal crack 24 hours a day. His boss, Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo), becomes disgusted with Darryl Adams (Steve White) interfering with his "territory." Rodney tells Strike to kill Darryl so that Rodney has more control and power over the territory--not to mention much more money from his clockers who he has dealing crack for him. Although we don't actually see the crime, the film makes it clear that Strike does what Rodney told him to do. Victor, Strike's older brother, turns himself into the police and tries to take the blame for the crime. Trouble is, however, Detective Rocco Klein doesn't buy Victor's somewhat bungled story for a minute. Fellow Detective Larry Mazilli (John Turturro) reluctantly goes along with Rocco as Rocco persists at finding the real murderer.

Without giving out spoilers, the plot obviously snowballs into a cat and mouse game between Rocco Klein and Spike. Spike refuses to admit any knowledge of the crime; but when his boss Rodney lands in jail things become very hot for Spike. Spike is then caught in between police detectives he** bent on finding the real murderer and ruthless drug dealer Rodney.

Clockers keeps your attention with remarkable shots of the projects, excellent background music that rarely interferes with your ability to hear what's being spoken, and convincing acting that portrays the projects and the problem of drug crime exactly they way they exist in real life. Indeed, the film opens with actual photos of persons who were gunned down in drug wars along with murals on walls hoping that the departed rest in peace. Moreover, Clockers is not for children; nor is this film for the squeamish. There's a good deal of violence and blood; but the realism raises Clockers up to a five star high level of motion picture.

The DVD, after all this marvelous acting, disappoints with few extra features. You get brief biographies of the four or five major actors in the film; and you can choose subtitles if you wish. There's a theatrical trailer but that's about it.

At the end of the day, Clockers remains an excellent motion picture with great acting, a taut script and plot and a good pace that never leaves you bored or disinterested. I highly recommend this movie for people who want to see what life is really like in some housing projects where real opportunities for African-American men and other residents are very limited. Clockers also provides us with excellent social commentary about the remarkably harsh and brutal world of drug dealing.
August 25, 2007

Awesome movie...

Clockers is one the best movies I've seen covering life on the streets of Northeast America. Movies like Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society cover the streets of LA but people who kno the streets of the northeast (NYC, Trenton, Philly) do not relate to palm trees and spacious project homes. In the Northeast, people are tightly packed into high-rise projects or row homes. They co-exist with different ethnic groups, all struggling to make it out. Spike Lee does a great job collaborating with author Richard Price in coming up with a superb script. Growing up in an urban environment, I was instantly attracted to the film by its pure street dialogue. Mekhi Phifer makes the street dialogue seem as authentic as it can get. July 14, 2006

Average Spike Lee drama

Wow.. to start with I had to turn on English subtitles to watch this movie in English. Even then it was hard to puzzle out what was said in this film half the time. I'm not a big fan of Spike Lee films - they're too stereotypical and portray people in a negative light.
'Clockers' could have been a gripping detective story while also exposing the drugs and violence which black youths find it so hard to escape from. But that isn't enough for Lee who stuffs his film with so many half-developed ideas that it becomes tiresome to watch.
Lee seems at one point to be commenting on the influence of violent music videos and video games, but when he fails to develop this line of reasoning, it's clear these sidetracks are only a means to fill the film with his intrusive visual fireworks. Many scenes serve no dramatic purpose and the bloated film is a good deal longer than it needs to be.
The is just like the old gangster movies of yore, the endings just seem too unbelievable to what was shown before. And just like that you get a mediocre movie. April 9, 2006

More reviews at Amazon.com ...