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.

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!

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

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!