Clockers (film)

''Clockers'' is a 1995 American crime drama film directed by Spike Lee. It is an adaptation of the 1992 novel of the same name by Richard Price, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Lee. The film stars Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, and Mekhi Phifer in his debut film role. Set in New York City, ''Clockers'' tells the story of Strike (Phifer), a street-level drug dealer who becomes entangled in a murder investigation.

The film originally entered production with Martin Scorsese attached to direct; he had previously collaborated with Price on his 1986 film ''The Color of Money''. Scorsese eventually dropped out of production to focus on his passion project ''Casino'', at which point Lee stepped in to direct and rewrite the script, Scorsese remained a co-producer alongside Lee. ''Clockers'' received generally positive reviews from film critics, but was a box office failure, grossing only around $13 million on a $25 million budget.

Plot

In a Brooklyn housing project, a group of clockers — street-level drug dealers — sells drugs for Rodney Little, a local drug lord. Rodney tells Ronald "Strike" Dunham, one of his lead clockers, that another dealer, Darryl Adams, is stealing from him and that he wants Strike to kill him. Strike then meets with his brother, Victor, and asks if he knows someone who could kill Darryl.

Homicide detectives Rocco Klein and Larry Mazilli, riding to the scene of Adams' murder, receive a phone call from another detective who says a man has confessed at a local church to killing Adams. The police meet Strike's older brother Victor at the church and take him in for questioning. In the interrogation room, Victor tells Rocco that he shot Adams in self-defense. Rocco finds holes in this story and starts looking into Victor's background, which includes two jobs, a wife, two children, no criminal record, and aspirations to move out of the projects, and concludes that Victor is covering for his younger brother.

Rodney discusses Darryl's death with Strike. Later, Rodney tells Strike a story of a younger Rodney and Errol, where Errol threatened Rodney at gunpoint to kill a dealer, which he did. Back in the present, he tells Strike the reason Errol forced him at gunpoint to do so was so that Errol could hold something over him if he ever decided to tell on Errol, which was why he told Strike to kill Darryl Adams. Strike and Rodney have a falling-out after Rodney denies telling Strike to kill Darryl.

Rocco pressures Strike, but Victor sticks to his story, so Rocco convinces Rodney that Strike has confessed and informed on Rodney's drug ring. Rocco arrests Rodney and then implicates Strike in front of his crew. Strike tries to play it off and deny that he was involved in Rodney's arrest, but his crew begins to turn on Strike, leading to them labeling him a snitch. Rodney, calling Errol to notify him that he is in jail, puts a hit out on Strike. Strike then gets together some money and decides to leave town.

As Strike walks to his car, he sees Errol sitting on his car, deducing that Errol is there to kill him. Strike hides behind a fence, but a younger boy who admired Strike, Tyrone (Pee Wee Love), rides up to Errol on a bike and shoots him dead with Strike's gun. Later, Tyrone is taken into custody. With Rocco, Tyrone's mother (Regina Taylor

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