Kenny & Company

I saw this movie on HBO a couple of years after its release and really related to the characters (being 13 at the time). It's a time capsule. Anyone considering making a movie set in the 70s should view this film to garner some ideas for period detail.

Imagine my surprise when the gang from Kenny and Company, minus Kenny, turned up in "Phantasm"!

Update - 11/2006: Saw it again on DVD after 26 years and it held up well. I was impressed with Fred Myrow's music and I really enjoyed the 360 degree shot of the vet's office waiting room when they took Bob in for the final appointment. The combination of those two elements, the music and the touching content of that scene, provided the "emotional glue" (to borrow a Coscarelli phrase) of the film for me. Nobody needed to cry; the director allowed us to connect the emotional dots. Brilliant.

If I ever make a film, I hope its half as good as this one.

I remember seeing this movie on HBO in the 78-79 range. That's when HBO was on from 5 pm - 11 pm M-T and Friday and Saturday it stayed on till 3 am, showing the more adult movies in the wee hours.

This movie hit me directly between the eyes. I related directly with Kenny and his first love and the tension of telling her. Then the unforgettable 'should I or shouldn't I' hold her hand and the personal strength it took him to do it.

Not once during the movie did Kenny watch TV. He was always outside playing with Doug doing boy activities. I really connected with the movie when the went to get Sherman a birthday present. The department store was just that, a department store with a 4 aisle section for toys. Talk about memories.

I went on EBAY and did a search for the movie and found it available. For what its' worth, the guy I bought it from knows Raplh, the guy that played Big Doug in the movie. I now have the movie on VHS and have watched it twice in less than a week with my 8 year old son.

We laugh at the same parts of the movie every time. Some instances include Paco learning a new word, Sherman showing up at Kenny's for Trick or Treat, Doug popping Pudwell as the kids are running after Johnny and Kenny, Sherma reaching in the bag for 'candy'.

This movie really is a down to earth no frills kid movie. No underlying tones, just straight kid from a kids point of view. Kenny trying to understand death and what happens afterward when his dog Bob has to be put down. Dealing with a bully but not letting it control his everyday life.

I have to say, that I can remember seeing my first Playboy. When Sherman brings his old mans Playboy in the garage and hearing the boys talk about having baby's, they didn't have the slightest idea, and looking at today's kids. Today's kids are really losing out. Growing up too fast and missing out on what that movie portrays.

It is a great movie and it should be a must see for every Dad and 8-12 year old son. Tyler keeps asking to watch it with me. I'm figuring 3 times a month, making it something special and hopefully he'll get as much from it as I did.

Rent it, Buy it, but above all else SEE IT!!! Tom

Kenny & Co. was like candy to me while I was watching it. The story line, the actors, the structure; everything in this film just flowed so perfectly that you never wanted it to end. This isn't some film with engineered plot twists, it was written by someone just starting out in film (no formal training), about what his youth was like growing up, & thrown together up on screen with a small group of people.

I found out about this movie after watching Phantasm. I searched online to watch it but couldn't find it. I wanted to buy it after watching a trailer on YouTube & went to Amazon to see the price. I figured it should be around 7 or 8 bucks to buy this film today; boy was I surprised to see the price tag for this film! Listed as new (at the time of this review) $136.46. This was no ordinary 70s low-budget film.

I know a lot about film and the whole film making process so when I saw the first scene of this film it was like pure excitement to be watching this film. The quality was fuzzy but for a kid at 21 years old making his first feature length movie in the early 70s (shooting took place in the summer of 1974) this was a very big accomplishment. I actually wanted that look of the film because it added to the look and feel of the time of movies coming out then, plus it gave it this warm glow that made it seem like a magical time. The quality of the film improved a bit throughout but it still had a few pops and scratches here and there.

This film is like a handbook of how kids used to play outside and one kids should be encouraged to watch. Children's desk had just a lamp and some pencils and comic books on top and their drawers were always messy where they stuffed whatever they had into them. Homes were small and located in suburbs where children could ride their bikes anytime they wanted and drop by friends' houses anytime they wanted without having to call anyone up to arrange a "playdate." When you watch how children played in this film you saw they had true imaginations because if a kid didn't, he was considered boring but if you take it a step further in understanding this world, it actually becomes quite interesting what children knew back then about where they lived. If you ask a kid today where something is in their home city, chances are they have no idea how to get to it because their parents take them everywhere. Not only do parents take them everywhere but they don't pay attention to have they got there because they are either watching a movie or playing video games. Kids back then went wherever they wanted whenever they wanted and because of that freedom they knew of all these different places around where they lived. If a kid came over and asked where to get the best soda in town, the kid could name off a few places, not only that but he could also tell you the names of all the people who worked there because he knew all of them. Children had relationships with people all over town and guess who those people were? Most of them adults, with a few middle and high school kids working the counters and there was nothing wrong with that.

Parents today discourage their children from forming friendships with adults because they think a child should only play with those their age. Children knew people back then and talked with them about anything because that was how they got to know people, but not only that, it taught them social & communication skills.

I didn't grow up in the 70s but I had the same freedom that those boys did and I wouldn't exchange it for any age-appropriate upbringing that parents today shove down kids throats. It actually does more harm than good later on down the road. I know because kids today have shallow understanding of everything.

Kids kept up with everything at the movies because that is what you did on the weekends. They knew what movies were playing, what & when their favorite TV shows were coming on, they could actually remember things. But why worry when there is an app for that? Want to encourage your kids to be more creative? Kick them out the door, tell them to go make friends, and to come back when it's dinner time. If you want them to start improving their memory, start asking them about places they've been to and how to get there or talk about what is going on in their favorite TV shows or movies. Research has shown that active cognitive memory in children is a good indication of intelligence later on. Play during childhood is extremely important, it increases creative abilities, thinking skills, and reasoning abilities. When a child is put in an environment (the suburbs) and allowed to explore, you will learn just how smart they really are and how capable they are of taking care of themselves (when they have been taught the basics of how to handle certain situations) when they don't have parents around to bother them all the time.

Kenny & Co. is a time that needs to come back but it won't. Life today is very complex for children compared to what Kenny & his friend, Doug, lived. They didn't have complicated schedules, school always got out at 3 pm, you played with your friends until it was dark, which meant it was dinner time, ate, then watched your favorite TV shows (because that is what you talked about with your friends the next day who all watched the same thing), showered, messed around in your room for a bit and then went to bed.

I was one of the few people who saw this film in its original run in the theater in Orlando in 1976 when I was 9 years old. I went with my cousins while visiting from Georgia. And although this is a film about kids in a California suburb, and I grew up in a textile mill town in the Deep South, this movie is still a more accurate portrayal of what my life was like back then than anything else I've ever seen or read.

Now let's be clear, this was a very low-budget film. I think it was made for something like $130,000. Some of the roles, including Kenny, were not performed by professional actors. There are continuity errors and all the other problems you expect with low-budget films. And there are elements that are typical of the 1970s that wouldn't make it onto a screen today, like when Doug tells Kenny what his big brother says about girls. But nevertheless, it's accurate to that time period and quite poignant.

I rediscovered this film when I found out that another of my favorite movies from my youth, Phantasm, was also a Coscarelli film and featured many of the same actors. I got the DVD with commentary and it really took me back! Eventually I also found a DVD of Coscarelli's first movie, "Jim, the World's Greatest".

"Kenny & Co." doesn't really have a narrative arc - it's more a slice of life. But when you're at that age, that's how life seems to you anyway, just a sequence of events that you have to deal with as they come. So to me, that just makes the film more accurate to its subject.

I really don't know if kids today could enjoy this film, or even understand it. The world was so different then before cell phones and the Internet and CGI and the need for constant spectacle. But if you're a guy in your 50s in 2019, I promise this will take you back! Coscarelli really gets it right. I can see why the movie had a hard time finding its audience back then. It's not really a "kids' movie" at all. Oddly enough, it seems to have been made for people like me today, guys who lived through that as boys and who are looking back now as adults. I'm really glad I got to see it with my cousins when it came out. And very glad that it's on DVD, especially with the commentary track, so that I can enjoy it again and reflect. It's like a time capsule for me and will always have a special place in my heart.

This film is a must see for anyone who was around 10-15 years old in 1976. Kenny and Co. doesn't miss a trick in depicting the life of a seventh-grader, his friends and enemies. Prank phone calls, over-sized school bullies, Halloween hijinks and fickle first loves, it's all here.

The director unknowingly created a time capsule of such realism that Kenny is more enjoyable now than it ever was when it was made. Best of all it doesn't try to ram some big morality trip down your throat. It just documents. And unlike in "Stand by Me," the kids actually act like kids not philosophers. If there's any point at all to the story it's that the genius of kids is their unique ability to survive the banality and meanness of existence through a combination of devilish humor and harmless civil unrest.

I started breaking this film out at parties and now I get requests for it. Kenny and Co. is better the second and third times.