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Clerks

Star Wars politics abound in Kevin Smith’s Clerks — especially during the film’s original ending. “Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader’s his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that’s what life is, a series of down endings,” Brian O’Halloran’s Dante argues with Jeff Anderson’s Randal. Smith took that sentiment to the extreme when he filmed a grim finale for his cult 1994 hit that found Dante shot dead during a robbery. Smith fans debate the dark genius of the scene (especially as an homage to Empire), but the director was encouraged to cut it from the film after it screened. The movie had already been struggling with a potential NC-17 rating due to its graphic language, and the death scene surely would have added to the heat Smith was getting. Watch the NSFW clip, above.