Steven Soderbergh proved that American indie film-making could cross over into the mainstream with “sex, lies and videotape” in ‘89. Two years later, Richard Linklater’s “Slacker” turned the camera on the mentally malnourished MTV generation. But it took Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” in ‘94 to put the elements together and produce a stand-alone comedy that just happens to be a credit-card budget indie film.

“Clerks” is an uplifting story of can-do film-making. Smith set it in a convienience store because he was working there. He cast people he knew from high school, played Silent Bob himself and filmed it all in grainy black and white. The final pic came in at about $22,000 – five grand less than Miramax spent on the music rights.

Proof then that talk is cheap – but what talk. Hilarious drivellings about union labour in “Return of the Jedi”, speculation about jizz moppers pay, Happy Scrappy Hero Pup, hermaphrodite porn, the now infamous 36 dicks monologue……But “Clerks” potty-mouthed humour failed to impress US censors, who slapped it with a porn-rated NC-17 before relenting. Amazingly, for such an entertaining film, hardly anything happens – it’s a daft day in the life of till jockeys and slackers who hate their jobs. And mercifully, the one bit of action – when star clerk Dante’s robbed and shot – was dropped for a more fitting ending. Instead, he simply locks up and goes home. He wasn’t even supposed to be there today.(Cam Winstanley)