Sorry for the lack of updates for over a month. If you follow my Twitter, you know why I was unable to write for a while. For those who don’t know, I had a family emergency back in the states that necessitated a visit to Ohio. It was an absolutely terrible experience and I’d rather not spend to much time talking about it. Again, if you want to know all the details, check my Twitter.
Anyways, I’m back in Japan now! And I’m trapped in my apartment for a two week mandatory quarantine (despite being vaccinated). And that sucks, but I’m committing to not complaining about it too much and will try to make the most of it. I hope I’ll finally get around to writing about some more obscure records that deserve proper, well-researched posts. In the meantime, he’s an obscure record that probably doesn’t deserve hours of research.
West Coast Posse
Big Shots (Put On The Brakes) 12″ Remix
Big Shots (Put On The Brakes) 7″ Version
Big Shots (Put On the Brakes) Instrumental Dub
Big Shots was a film that came out in 1987. It’s one of many 80s kids movies that is woefully problematic when looked at with modern eyes, but I sure loved it when I was a kid.
The film is about a young white kid named Obie (sigh) who runs away from his home in the Chicago suburbs after his father passes away suddenly. Lost in inner city Chicago, he becomes friends with a street smart black kid who calls himself Scam. Together, the pair embark on adventures that include running away from mob hitmen, grand theft auto, and armed robbery, eventually going on a road trip in a stolen car so Scam can reunite with his father who has relocated to the south.
It’s a weird flick, and definitely one in a long line of 80s kids movies that simply could not be made today. Iffy (if harmless) racial issues aside, these kids jack cars, and even hold up a pawn shop with a gun. Hell, one of them even drinks beer with no negative repercussions. Not to mention the whole “on the run from a mob enforcer who literally wants to murder them” subplot. The entire films feels like an evil twin to Adventures In Babysitting, right down to its Chicago setting.
No one of note stars in the film. Obie is played by a child named Ricky Busker, and this is his only role in anything ever. Scam is played by Darius McCrary. His career has fared a bit better, and he’s in a lot of movies and TV shows, but usually in smaller or supporting roles. He did have a role on The Young and the Restless for a few years, and more recently he was in The Leftovers, so he’s definitely getting by, so good for him.
About the only actors of note in the film have bit parts. Bill Hudson, best not known as Kate Hudson’s actual father, makes a quick appearance as Obie’s ill-fated father, and character actor Paul Winfield shows up as fence with a heart of gold who helps the kids out. Robert Proskey, who you probably know as the boss from Mrs. Doubtfire and the bad guy from Thief also drops in a for a few brief scenes, playing an ultra-scummy pawn shop owner who gets what he deserves from the kids.
The film was directed by Robert Mandel, who also directed School Ties and The Substitute, as well as the greatly underrated F/X. More notable, however, is the film’s writer: Joe Eszterhaus. That’s right, between writing Flashdance and Basic Instinct, the man who would eventually create Showgirls decided to pen a movie for kids. I guess that explains why it’s a little dark, and features a subplot about a dead body in the trunk of a car.
Big Shots is an above average 80s kids flick with some surprisingly dark elements and some decent performances. But that’s about it. If you don’t have the nostalgia for it, there’s probably nothing in it for you. However, if you were a weird kid like me and watched it over and over again while you were staying at your dad’s apartment on the weekends, you’ll probably be surprised by how well it holds up if you watch it again as an adult. It’s on Amazon as an SD rental, but the picture quality is good enough to get the job done, if you’re interested in seeing it.
But what about this song?
“Big Shots (Put On The Brakes)” shows up near the tail end of the film, for about 10 seconds at most. The song was obviously created for the film, so it’s strange that its sidelined so quickly. It never plays over the end credits, hell it’s not even mentioned in the credits. My friend and I could only find it by doing a Google search of the song’s title, which led us to Discogs. Where I, of course, immediately bought both the 12″ and 7″ singles of the track after I found out that no one had, to the best of my knowledge, ripped the tracks and put them online.
(For the record, the film’s actual theme song is “Freedom Overspill” by Steve Winwood, which plays at least twice throughout the film. That song ain’t bad, but it’s no “Valerie.”)
The song is a weird half electro and half rap thing. The rapping is what it is, forgettable at best, but I do like the instrumental sections, the breakdowns, and the dope guitar solo.
From what I can gather, this track is one of one two songs that wonderfully generically named West Coast Posse ever managed to get released. The other appears to be a remix/cover of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” But I would not be surprised if that was a different West Coast Posse, given that the track was released some 13 years after this one.
I bet there have been many acts that called themselves “West Coast Posse.” But who is this West Coast Posse? The two rappers are MC Jam and Pee Wee Jam. Aside from this track, they also showed up on the soundtrack to the classic Action Jackson, under their stage names, not as West Coast Posse, performing the movie’s closer “Protect and Serve.” Both the 12″ single for this track and the soundtrack to Action Jackson were released by Atlantic Records. Furthermore, Big Shots and Action Jackson were produced by Lorimar Film Entertainment. My guess is that these guys were somehow connected with someone at that studio.
Near the end of the track both MC Jam and Pee Wee Jam shout “Stevie No Wonder!” That’s not a random aside or adlib, that’s the nickname of the track’s guitarist, Stevie Salas. He’s worked mostly as a session dude. He’s on a bad Eddie Money album. He also shows up on some Terence Trent D’Arby stuff. His most noteworthy work (to me anyways) is his stuff with Was (Not Was) on their fantastic 1988 album “What Up, Dog?” (that’s Stevie playing guitar on “Walk The Dinosaur) and his work with Bootsy Collins. The dude even formed a band with Bootsy at one point, a funk-metal group called Hardware that doesn’t seem all that bad.
Finally, behind the scenes we have David Kershenbaum producing the track. Kershenbaum did remix work for Duran Duran, he produced for Joan Baez, The Hues Corporation, Joe Jackson, and countless others. He’s won Grammys.
I have no idea what the hell he’s doing here.
Enjoy. It’s good to be back. I hope I can get at least one more post out during my enforced isolation from the rest of the world.