CLOCKERS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.8
United States, 1995 U.S. Availability: 9/13/95 (wide) Running Length: 2:08 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Mekhi Phifer, Delroy Lindo, John Turturro, Pee Wee Love, Isaiah Washington, Keith David Director: Spike Lee Producers: Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and John Kilik Screenplay: Richard Price and Spike Lee based on the novel by Richard Price Cinematography: Malik Hassan Sayeed Music: Terence Blanchard U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures
In 1992, Harvey Keitel took the title role in Abel Ferrara's BAD LIEUTENANT. In CLOCKERS, three years later and once again again on the streets of New York City (Brooklyn, to be specific), he gets a chance to "redeem" himself. This time, however, he's a good cop--not an icon of moral uprightness, but a man who sees the potential buried beneath all that is sordid, and who uses his position as an upholder of the law to dispense justice.
Yet, despite his top billing, this is not primarily Keitel's story. Instead, the bulk of CLOCKERS focuses on young Ronald "Strike" Dunham, played with impressive intensity by newcomer Mekhi Phifer. Uneducated- but-streetwise, Strike is a low-level drug-dealer (a "clocker") and possibly a murderer. His life revolves around a few simple truths: his friendship with his father-figure mentor, Rodney (Delroy Lindo), the support he offers to his own young protege (Pee Wee Love), and his prized model train collection. Strike follows Rodney's code: don't snitch on your friends, pay off the cops to keep them happy, and never sample the drugs you deal.
The walls of Strike's life begin to crumble when Rodney asks him to eliminate a "problem." Hours later, the night manager of Ahab's fast food is dead, shot four times, and Strike's brother Victor (Isaiah Washington) has confessed to the murder, even though he can't give a coherent account of what happened and no one on the streets thinks he did it. It's up to Detective Rocco Klein (Keitel) and his partner (John Turturro) to uncover the truth, and the deeper they dig, the more they become convinced that Strike, not his brother, is guilty.
The script, written by Richard Price and Spike Lee (and based upon Price's novel, which was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award), is less cliched than the average New York-based crime story. All of the characters--drug dealers and men in uniform--are given enough depth to circumvent stereotypes. CLOCKERS is about people trapped by circumstances, and with all the ambivalent personalities, there are no "good guys" or "bad guys" in the traditional sense.
That's not to say CLOCKERS isn't without problems. The first hour is oddly paced and frequently confusing. It takes half the movie for the characters to become familiar and for all the elements of the plot to fall into place. Some of this may be the result of condensing the book while trying to retain as many characters and subplots as possible. Ultimately, CLOCKERS probably attempts too much, and ends up seeming overcrowded as a result.
The effectiveness of the unusual style of cinematography is open to debate. All sorts of photographic tricks are employed, from the use of hand-held cameras to slightly overexposing the film. There's a fair balance between when these methods work and when they become distracting. Certainly, however, CLOCKERS has a unique visual flair. In that, this is pure Spike Lee.
Although racism is only a subtle part of CLOCKERS, the movie nevertheless has a strong anti-racist theme. This is most eloquently expressed when Rocco offers no verbal response to a key question: Why would a white cop care about justice in a case of a black-on-black murder? While some of CLOCKERS' characters may not understand this, the viewer does, and that's why Keitel's role, although tangential to the primary story, is crucial to the film's success. Productions like BOYZ 'N THE HOOD and MENACE II SOCIETY deliver their final blow through bloodshed. While Lee doesn't shy away from violence, his methods are less straightforward. Like 1994's FRESH, 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.
- James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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