Set in New York City, Clockers tells the story of Strike (Phifer), a street-level drug dealer who becomes entangled in a murder investigation.

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.

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.

Andre angrily beats Strike in front of the whole project, and with a gun threatens the onlooking bystanders to stay back.

Left with no other options and unable to go home, Strike asks Rocco to drive him to Penn Station.

The film ends with a shot of Strike looking outward on a moving train somewhere in the New Mexico desert, apparently far away from the city.

The site's consensus reads, "A work of mournful maturity that sacrifices little of its director's signature energy, Clockers is an admittedly flawed drama with a powerfully urgent message".

[5] David Denby of New York said that while the original novel was "filled with operational detail" the film adaptation was "more emotional" and "less factual".

Denby further explained that Spike Lee was "concerned less with Strike's spiritual condition than with the survival of the entire community.

In regard to the cinematography of Malik Sayeed, Denby said that it was "rough and dark-hued, with an almost tabloid angriness in the scenes of violence.

Composed of twelve songs, it features performances from Marc Dorsey, Rebelz of Authority, BrooklyNytes, Buckshot LeFonque, Chaka Khan, Crooklyn Dodgers '95, Des'ree, Mega Banton, Seal and Strictly Difficult.