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Movies / On DVD / Clockers
Clockers

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Clockers (1995)

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Reviews Counted:45

Fresh:30

Rotten:15

Average Rating:6.4/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 9 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Director Spike Lee examines the violent world of urban drug dealing through the eyes of Strike (Mekhi Phifer), a 19-year-old "clocker," short for round-the-clock pusher. Strike agrees to kill a... Director Spike Lee examines the violent world of urban drug dealing through the eyes of Strike (Mekhi Phifer), a 19-year-old "clocker," short for round-the-clock pusher. Strike agrees to kill a fellow employee of his boss Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo), an influential, popular drug lord. But when the hit goes down, it is Strike's moral, law-abiding brother Victor (Isaiah Washington) who confesses, shocking everyone. The detective assigned to the case, Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel), doesn't believe Victor--the more that Klein, along with others in Strike's life, start putting the heat on, the more the clocker finds himself up against the wall. The question is: Who is the real killer? A gritty, realistic adaptation of Richard Price's best-selling novel, Lee's film is also one of his most highly invigorating. Shooting with a gritty, washed-out film stock, with startling moments of saturated primary color, CLOCKERS feels like a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the daily lives of a group of New York City drug dealers, featuring a star-making performance by Phifer. [More]

Starring: Mekhi Phifer, Harvey Keitel, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro

Starring: Mekhi Phifer, Harvey Keitel, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro, Isaiah Washington, Keith David, Pee Wee Love, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Regina Taylor, Brendan Kelly

Director: Spike Lee

Director: Spike Lee

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jan 5, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Clockers

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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Strong performances are reason enough for the audience to endure 129 minutes of Clockers.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/31/03
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Clockers uses unexpected narrative turns to accentuate the themes of lost innocence and uncultivated potential, and affirms that tragic melodrama is not a prerequisite for emotional impact.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Conveys the conflicting factions in ghetto areas where black-on-black violence makes death a member of the family.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
08/28/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Lee captures the despair, self-delusion, occasional terror and frequent humor of a praised and popular novel, aided by the potent acting his direction virtually guarantees.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fascinating and engrossing character study.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
01/08/05
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

Although Clockers is, as I suggested, a murder mystery, in solving its murder, it doesn't even begin to find a solution to the system that led to the murder. That is the point.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Average Lee, but still enjoyable overall.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/22/08
Angie Errigo
Angie Errigo
Empire Magazine

Lee's movie feels like a two-hour public service announcemnt on the evils of drugs, bad cops and black-on-black violence.

Full Review Source: Film Scouts | comment Comment
04/17/02
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Film Scouts

Clockers is messy and didactic, but it's complex in a way that a tidy film can't be.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/30/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Has the strengths of Spike Lee's best work without the preachiness and gimmicky camera moves of his weakest.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/18/02
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mercifully, the audacious Lee keeps his goofy stylistic technique a bit more in check than in some of his other films, but a little goes a long way and still tends to undermine the storytelling ability of his work.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

What we get mostly in the film is a sense of Lee flailing, struggling to get a handle on his material.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Hal Hinson
Hal Hinson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Spike Lee gets a good perfromance from newcomer Phifer as the young crack dealer, but the movie is diffuse, paying too much attention to the urban environment and not enough to the personas and dilemmas of the central characters.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
02/18/08
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

...a powerful piece of entertaining filmmaking.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
10/30/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A study of the urban dope-dealing culture and its toll on everyone who comes in contact with it, the picture has an insider's feel that is constantly undercut by the filmmaker's impulse to editorialize.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/09/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A real, wicked thrill.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Kevin McManus
Kevin McManus
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The bottom line for this movie about drugs? Just say no.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Regardless of how decent this film is, it won't change a life.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Oz
Oz
eFilmCritic.com

How, exactly, was this film overlooked?

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix

The performances are strong, but the spectator often feels adrift in an overly busy intrigue.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
09/22/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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Latest News for Clockers

October 20, 2005: Trailer Bulletin: Freedomland
From director Joe Roth and screenwriter Richard Price comes "Freedomland," an apparently racially-charged kidnapping thriller that stars Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne... More...

June 23, 2005: Production Wraps on Roth's "Freedomland"
Revolution Studios issued a press release that ComingSoon.net was kind enough to publicize, and here's the scoop: The Joe Roth mystery thriller "Freedlomland," which... More...

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