Big Shots

Plot synopsis:
An 11-year-old boy from Hinsdale, Illinois named Obie Dawkins (Ricky Busker) is out fishing with his father, who tells him about the birds and the bees. All the while Obie shows interest in his dad's watch, who eventually gives it to him. Later that morning in school, Obie's mom arrives to tell him that his dad is in the hospital. The family learns that he suffered a massive heart attack, which he dies from days later.
Arriving at school Obie is reminded of the way his dad took him to school when he sees a father drop his son off. Upset, Obie leaves school and runs away on his bike. Having left the suburbs Obie finds himself on the South Side of Chicago. There, Obie is lured into a lot where he is attacked and robbed of his bike and watch. A boy named Scam (Darius McCrary), an 11-year-old street hustler, befriends him and aids Obie in retrieving his watch. Scam takes Obie to a bar where they greet a man named Johnnie Red (Paul Winfield). Scam believes he bought the watch from Obie's muggers, Johnnie Red denies it at first, but later he tells them he did have it but gave it to a man named Keegan (Robert Prosky), a slick pawn shop owner.
Scam and Obie go to visit Keegan, and it is there at his pawn shop where Obie finds his watch. But Keegan has put it on display to be sold. They leave promising Keegan they will get him the money. Instead of going home Obie stays the night with Scam, who lives at a hotel managed by a Miss Hanks (Beah Richards). As they are heading to Scam's room a hit man named Doc (Jerzy Skolimowski), and his assistant Dickie (Robert Joy), are looking for a man who runs out the door seconds later with Doc and Dickie chasing him.
The next morning, Doc and Dickie return to the hotel having caught their mark, killed him, and stuffed his body in the trunk of their car, a dark gray colored Mercedes-Benz. Using Obie as an accomplice Scam steals the car, and they both drive to the bank to get the money for Obie's watch, with both unaware of the body in the trunk. After leaving the bank Obie has Scam to take him home to check on his family. While there, they learn that Obie's mother has reported him missing to the police. Having discovered their car stolen, Doc and Dickie begin offering a reward for its recovery. Obie and Scam return to the pawn shop to buy back Obie's watch. However, Keegan stiffs them by taking the money and refusing to give Obie his watch. Plus he makes a horrible comment about Obie's dad, sending him running out the pawn shop upset. Despite this, the boys are determined to get back Obie's watch.
Back at Scam's room, they get cap guns to use to scare Keegan. On the way out they have an encounter with Dickie, then overhear Doc asking about their missing car, leading them to hide it. Later, they burst into Keegan's pawn shop, pointing their cap guns, demanding Keegan give Obie his watch. But Keegan hits his silent alarm. Convinced that the guns are toys he dares them to shoot him. Squeezing the trigger, Obie fires a live round, revealing the gun Obie has is real. They force Keegan into his own cage and make off with Obie's watch. When the police arrive Scam is caught. Obie then gets rid of the gun and hides. He manages to subdue one of the officers and steals the car where Scam is locked in. After leading officers on a chase through the city streets and down an alley, Obie and Scam crash the car but manages to get away.
At a diner, Scam informs Obie that his own father is actually alive. According to Scam, his father went south to look for work after his parents divorced. His mother died 3 months previously and he has been on his own ever since. Having only his father's old driver's license, Scam vows to find him. At this point, Obie now considers Scam his friend as he heads home. The next morning, the Dawkins are visited by the police to find out what happened to Obie. Obie lies, claiming he caught amnesia and does not remember. Not wanting to mention his bike was stolen Obie has his mom take him to school.
While at school Obie starts thinking about Scam and decides that for all he has done for him he would help find his father. The next morning Obie steals the family jeep and returns to the hotel to look for Scam. Miss Hanks tells him that a social worker came and placed Scam in a home. Obie visits the social worker and finds out where Scam is. On his way back to the jeep, Obie finds it swarmed with police looking for him. Determined to help Scam he gets the Mercedes out of hiding and enlists the help of Johnnie Red. Though hesitant at first, Johnnie Red agrees to help him. As they set out to get Scam, someone spots the car and calls a friend to inform Doc and Dickie to claim the reward. Obie and Johnnie Red arrive at the youth center where Scam was placed. And with Johnnie Red passing himself off as Scam's father the youth center releases him. Obie informs Scam that his uncle works at the Internal Revenue Service and with his help they will find his father.
Meanwhile, Doc and Dickie head back to the bar to locate the car. Attacking the bartender the men are referred to Johnnie Red. Arriving back at Johnnie Red's place Doc and Dickie sneak up, grabbing the boys from behind. In an attempt to kidnap them Johnnie Red saves Obie and Scam, making Doc and Dickie flee. Obie and Scam head downtown to the IRS office of Obie's uncle. Using his father's driver's license, they find that Scam's dad lives in a town in Louisiana, and the two set out on a road trip. Obie's uncle tells his mom where they are headed, causing her extreme worry. Recalling their encounter with the boys previously at the hotel, Doc and Dickie force Miss Hanks into telling them Obie's name, thus leading them to the Dawkins' residence.
Posing as Chicago Police officers they find out from Obie's mom where the boys are headed. Because the car is registered in Doc's name both he and Dickie set out after the boys, before they discover the body in the trunk.
When Obie and Scam get to Missouri they pick up a hitchhiking bible salesman. He talks them into heading to a diner to get a bite to eat. At the diner, he asks them to watch his suitcase while he goes to wash his hands. Scam believes that he is a conman. Meanwhile, Doc and Dickie pass the diner, unaware that they just passed the car. Revealed to be a conman, just as Scam suspected, the conman sneaks outside and steals the car, leaving Obie and Scam stranded. Stopping so that Doc could urinate, he and Dickie spot their approaching Mercedes. Thinking it's the boys they jump back in their car and give chase. But before they are able to catch up to the car, a State Trooper starts pursuing it for speeding, forcing Doc and Dickie break chase. When they notice that it's not the kids they follow the car to the police station. Waiting to retrieve it Dickie and Doc sit inside a diner across the street.
Meanwhile, Obie and Scam are aboard a bus heading towards their destination. But when Scam notices the conman being taken into police custody, he and Obie leave the bus to retrieve the car. A distracted Doc and Dickie allows the boys to sneak up and regain the car. They drive off with Doc and Dickie chasing out right after them. They catch up to the boys and starts ramming them to force them off the road, with Doc firing gunshots at them. But good driving skills allowed Obie and Scam to evade their pursuers. They then take the car to a dealership and trade it for another car, not ever knowing of the body inside its trunk.
Having traded the Mercedes for an old beat up Cadillac convertible, Obie and Scam make it to Louisiana. Heading inside the house, they learn that Scam's dad has moved. As they are heading back to the car, they noticed that Obie's mom has shown up looking for him with the police, and run out the back door to avoid them. They head into a bar to ask about Scam's dad. Overhearing their inquiry, a waitress follows them outside and she tells them where they can find him.
As they are heading back to their car the boys are grabbed once again by Doc and Dickie. Returning to the dealership, Dickie holds the kids captive, as Doc attempts to take back the car at gunpoint. Briefly distracted, Obie and Scam attack Dickie and flee. Running across the road, a semi-trailer truck swerves and crashes into the cars on the lot. Doc tries to run, but the chain reaction of car crashes sets off an explosion, killing him. As Obie and Scam escape motorists spot an armed Dickie, subdue him, and hold him for the police. Opening the trunk of the Mercedes, the police discover the body of the man they killed. Dickie begins claiming innocence and informs the police about the kids that stole the car.
Obie and Scam reach a car ferry to take them across the river. But with no money to pay the ferryman Obie willingly gives his watch. The ferryman accepts Obie's watch, but then has a change of heart and decides to take them for free. The boys arrive at a factory where employees are leaving after the ending workday. Scam spots his dad, who recognizes him as they both run towards one another and start hugging. Witnessing the reunion of Scam and his dad, Obie has found closure and is able to accept his father's death. The film ends with Scam and his dad riding back on the ferry with Obie, as he is reunited with his mother.

Tags: murder

Review:
Great childhood memories of this fun movie.
I saw this movie when I was around 10 or 11 years old, and I loved it.
I mean, come on, the story revolves around two 11 year olds stealing a Mercedes!
I rented it for a flashback thrill in 1999 to refresh my memory of it.
It is still a wonderful movie, so I bought it.
Its a great movie to show to your little brothers and sisters or, if you have some, your own kids.
There is a little violence, some swearing- but this is what kids love to see!
I will treasure this movie forever, and never forget villains, the actor who play the German guy "Doc" is great!
I always loved the main theme song to it, "Freedom Overspill," however I thought it was done by Peter Gabriel.
I was wrong, it's Steve Winwood.
But it's an easy mistake; Gabriel, Winwood, and Phil Collins can sound alike.
See the movie!
The kid in you will love it!.
Entertaining adolescent film from the 80's..
Big Shots (1987) is a fun little film about two teens that are polar opposites of each other and the struggles they go through after forming a working relationship between each other.
I enjoyed it very much when I was younger.
The bad guys in the picture are painted with such broad strokes I was expecting them to all be chomping on big cigars whilst laughing out loud.
The film is what it is and nothing more.
Recommended.B..
12 year-olds save the day!
Cool stuff!.
For some reason, 'Big Shots' has struck upon some sort of revival, as this seems to be the topic of many inquiries on the messageboards.
I remember watching this film as a kid, and again when I rescued it from the video stores a few years ago.
I loved it and still love it now, despite some of the innocuous family elements because it allowed the young characters (12 year-olds on the run) to have more independence and recognition that family films sometimes do.
Ricky Busker and Darius McCrary are the main characters of the story.
You'll probably recognize little Darius right away, as he later enjoyed a pretty long run older brother 'Eddie' on the old ABC tv series, 'Family Matters.'
Obie (Busker) is broken hearted over the loss of his father, and takes off, kind of running away from his problems.
Leaving his Illinois suburbs, he gets himself lost Chicago's South Side, where he befriends a runaway and professional con named Scam (Darius).
Together, they embark on a wild adventure and get themselves in quite some trouble when they inadvertently get wind of some gangsters who go out of their way to eliminate the two "loose ends." With the help of Scam's knowledge of the streets, Obie's optimism, and a slick fellow named Johnny Red (the wonderful, late Paul Winfield), they can take care of themselves.There's a subplot to the boy's adventures involving father's and families.
Obie's father died, someone who he was extremely close to.
He comes from a decent, upper middle-class home in the safe surroundings of the white Illinois suburbs.
Obie's more structered, asking about religion and things like that.
Contrast this with his pal Scam, who grew up fatherless and presumeably, family-less, in the run down streets of Chicago's South Side.
Scam operates under a different structure, a different set of rules, doing what he has to in order to stay alive.
And in the end, Obie agrees to help Scam look for his father, as a sort of way of connecting Scam to his father in a way he can not with his own.
I loved this movie as a kid.
The kids weren't annoying or excessively whining or sentimental (though Obie could sometimes manifest these qualities in the beginning).
They were aware of things, of their families, their lifestyles, their surroundings.
And they weren't afraid of things, despite being faced with some pretty relentless gangsters.
They were cool kids!.
Old but good.
This Is an old movie but it was still pretty good.
It is about a white kid (Obie) who runs away from his family after his father dies.
He runs into a gang who beats him up and steals his bike.
Then he meats a black kid who helps Obie find his watch that he lost if Obie will help him find his lost father.
Good action.
Eventuallt obie and his freind steal a car, get in trouble with the cops, and all sorts of trouble.
It did get a little long though.
3/4 stars.
A touching movie that shouldn't be forgotten.
I watched this movie around the age of 10 and @ 33 it still sticks in my mind.
A very touching story with excellent life lessons.
I wish that Netflix or Amazon Prime would dig this lost treasure up and let the new generations experience this under-appreciated 80's movie.
I still have my VHS copy regardless I haven't owned a VCR for 15 years because this movie means so much to me.
IMDb requiring me to have "10 lines of text" is irritating and for that reason I will not be making any further reviews on movies.
I can understand having a minimum text needed but asking for that much as a minimum is tedious and makes the author fluff their post to meet the requirements to submit their review as you're seeing here now.
But I'm sure this will most likely never see the light of day by IMDb moderators and the Catch-22 of posting here will continue for whomever runs into the same problem with writing a review as I have.
So as you can see MOST of my review is padded with useless words to ensure I can even submit my paragraph review on this movie.
So with these words, if you can find this movie on VHS buy it or I think I've seen it for sale on Amazon Instant Video too.
Either way it's a movie that's worth your time to watch and if you have empathy and a heart, this movie will tug at your emotions..
big shots, little ammo.
Soooooooooooooo....what was so funny about this immature movie, people?
The kids acted like adults, the adults acted like kids!
This was a movie literally about nothing.
"Your sisters got a great butt." Said another way.
A police officer gets kicked in the crotch.
This movie is funny if you're at a twelve year old mentality.
Other then that, pass this up by all means, because the circus did not set up its tent in this town.