Clerks Movie Ending

"That's all life is, a series of down endings." -- Dante (ClerksMovie)

When Kevin Smith's "Clerks" was released to theaters, it ended rather anticlimactically. The protagonists' character flaws have caught up with them, they are forced to confront their own responsibility for the sorry states of their own lives. And in the final scene, they've settled down. Dante says a sentence or two on the subject of reconciling with Veronica in the morning. They close down their respective stores, and fade to credits with hit alterna-rock theme song.

The movie was originally shot with another scene after that.

In the scene, a man enters the store while Dante is in the process of closing. "sorry, we're closed," he says. The man produces a gun. Close-up shot of Dante's eyes widening. The man shoots Dante, empties the register, and leaves. Fade to credits with random, muted cash register sounds.

This completes the Greek tragedy formula, I suppose, in that Dante has not only wasted his youth, but his entire life.

Artistic completeness or not, it would have ruined the whole tone of the movie. And if the message is 'don't waste your life' it comes off much better, than it would have if the movie had ended with such theatrical tragedy. As it stands Clerks is a great film to watch. Its in my relatively small list of movies worth owning because its so watchable. Had it ended that way, it would be too much of a downer to enjoy -- more like watching Requiem for Dream, a good movie, but not one you sit down for an enjoyable evening of relaxation.

From what I understand of the decision to leave it out, Kevin Smith had to be convinced to do so. Hearing that, I began to question his intuitions, leading me to wonder if he's really as good as people give him credit for. With the exception of Clerks and Chasing Amy, his movies have been forgettable (and Clerks would have been much less positive an achievement if it had ended that way). Like all movie comments of course, this is just my opinion, but Smith is impressing me less every year. -- BillCaputo

A big part of talent is knowing what advice to take. The fact that he ended up leaving it out is what matters, not that he considered leaving it in.

This ending is not considered canon; Dante is alive and well in JayAndSilentBob Strike Back, and the cartoon.

ThankYou --AalbertTorsius