It's the unofficial 84th birthday of our favorite chain convenience store, 7-Eleven, meaning two things: First, you're entitled to a free Slurpee (at all participating locations) and second, it's as good a time as any to look back at some of the best scenes set in 7-Eleven-like establishments in movie history. Who knew that one-stop-shop marts were appropriate settings for pregnancy scares, super-human cyborgs, Michael Bay-directed hold-ups and most frightening of all, a skinny, '90s era Alec Baldwin in a track suit?
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
In this coming-of-age comedy from Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe, Brad (Judge Reinhold) surfs from entry-level job to entry-level job to pay off his car, encountering Ridgemont High's perpetually unemployed and stoned surfer Spicoli along the way. Enjoy this clip then, as Brad (and a bathroom-bound Spicoli) thwart a robbery on the first day of his convenience store gig.
Robocop (1987)
Which is less realistic: Judge Reinhold outsmarting a gun-wielding robber or a super-human cyborg known as "Robocop" walking into a quickie mart and throwing its owner through the dairy case? You decide in the video below from Paul Verhoeven's sci-fi hit.
Raising Arizona (1987)
In perhaps the most endearing convenience store robbery included on this list, Nicolas Cage's well-meaning but criminally-inclined "Hi" McDunnough burgles a Short Stop mart by announcing, "Wake up, son. I'll be taking these Huggies and, uh, whatever cash you got." All while his loving family waits in the car outside in this Coen Brothers classic.
Miami Blues (1990)
There was a time in the early '90s when Alec Baldwin was skinny, tan and didn't look like an overly serious Little League coach. That moment was captured in the forgotten 1990 crime thriller Miami Blues, about a violent sociopath nicknamed "Junior" who steals a badge and starts policing the mean streets of Miami, one 7-Eleven at a time. Burgeoning crime fighters without a firearms license, take note of the way Baldwin's character uses a bottle of pasta sauce as a weapon.
Falling Down (1993)
Convenience stores haven't just been used as the setting for robberies and feats of robot revenge though. They've been used as the location for amber-hued mental breakdowns, like in Joel Schumacher's crime drama about a man (Michael Douglas) pushed to violent rampage over the outrageous costs of a "stinkin' soda" in this Korean bodega.
Reality Bites (1994)
And they've hosted impromptu dance parties, like in Ben Stiller's Generation X rom-com Reality Bites when Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn demand that a clerk crank up The Knack's "My Sharona."
Clerks (1994)
Kevin Smith took full advantage of the convenience store in his career-making film Clerks. Set in the New Jersey store where the director was actually working at the time, the black-and-white indie captured a day in the life of two store employees and their friends as they bemoan their stations in life and discuss important things like Jedi politics.
Bad Boys (1995)
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence were able to figure out a crucial case clue at the convenience store in Michael Bay's Bad Boys while waiting for Téa Leoni to pick out some hair product.
Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)
While home for his 10-year high school reunion, Martin Q. Blank (John Cusack) realizes that his childhood home was razed and replaced by an Ultimart in George Armitage's black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank. "You can never go home again, Oatman," Blank tells his therapist's voicemail. "But I guess you can shop there."
Ghost World (2001)
Will Smith, Sean Penn and John Cusack aren't the only A-listers to stop by a mini-mart onscreen. Scarlett Johansson loiters at the Sidewinder (with Thora Birch) to annoy an unhappy clerk (Brad Renfro) in Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World.
Superbad (2007)
A convenience store was also used for a frank, pre-first period discussion about "dick-taking ability" in Greg Mottola's Superbad before long-time best friends (Michael Cera and Jonah Hill) were the victims of cruel loogie attack outside.
Juno (2007)
Here lies the only Academy Award-winning convenience store scene on this list. From Diablo Cody's Oscar-decorated script, this is also the only mini-mart clip to seamlessly integrate sage advice from a cosmetics aisle pickpocket and life-changing pregnancy test results.
Surely, there are more convenience store scenes than this though. Movieline would love to know about your favorite in the comments.