Kenny & Company

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 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 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.

Post VCR generations, find out why all your digital gadgets, the internet, and marketing based "teen wanna-be-adult" dramas have nothing to do with childhood bliss, friendships and lasting (non digital) memories.

Before I begin my comments, I want to say that my profession is in technology, and therefore, I can appreciate what modern technology has allowed us to accomplish. DVD copies of films from the 70's that can be viewed whenever you want is a prime example of this. However, I think modern parents/kids should remind themselves, and show their kids the joy of being a kid without the over-scheduling, "over-marketing" and "over-connectedness" that is, in my opinion ruining the childhood experience.

Like the other posts here, I too saw this film on HBO back in the late 70's when HBO programming didn't start until 2:30pm most days, and signed off by 2-3am depending on whether or not it was a weekday or weekend night. Remember the rolling loop of the day's scheduled programming with the jazzy Maynard Ferguson (and other instrumental only) soundtracks? Remember getting the monthly HBO guide and mapping out movies and dates to watch them, sometimes up to weeks in advance before they were scheduled to air? Oddly enough, in an analog world, as a kid back then, even without wearing a watch, kids were more aware of time and schedules, and planning, to watch TV!!! You couldn't just turn on the TV and watch cartoons at anytime, put a DVD or video tape in whenever. You had to plan to watch what you wanted, and most days, after playing and dinner and homework, you may have watched TV for only an hour or so. This is the reason why Kenny and Company is such a special film.

Kenny and Company, a true independent, ultra low-budget, "B film" as they were referred to back then, is a true time capsule of life as a suburban adolescent in the 70's. The sense of freedom, that feeling of every day being totally new, another day of adventure, of days lasting seemingly forever is luckily and magically captured here, for generations. So many scenes are just that; snapshots of not quite there youthful exuberance. Moments that you didn't think much of as they occurred, but somehow are ingrained in memory without exacting photos or audio or combined recording. The movie itself is not a recording, it is more of a window into these precious moments in Kenny and Company's lives. And what makes Kenny and Company so special is that it trusts that all of us share at least some version of the experiences in some way. Set in California, the backdrop manages not to envelop the the movie. This is a movie that most 70's kids in America could relate to, even taking in environmental/racial/economic differences. That's because the movie isn't about any of those things.

Kenny and Company instead focuses on the power of the "semi-sort-of timelessness" of being 11; a not quite self absorbed teen. It uses the power of very specific moments in pre-adolescence that influence that critical time in youth were the innocent cocoon is both unraveling yet very much still protecting it's larvae.

Without getting into a obtrusively descriptive plot summary, Kenny and Company is about three childhood friends and their adventures over a 4 day period including Haloween night. And in the those few days, the experiences they encounter are either comical, fearful, developmental and/or life altering, and often moments apart from each other. It is perfect in it's imperfection, with some moments a little cheesy, but isn't that par for the course at age 11?

It is a feel good movie, but not in the contemporary over produced post "ET", "Goonies",etc., Hollywood sense. It is much more genuine. In fact, after thirty years, it's safe to say that a movie of this type is truly special, simply because while it was basically shelved then before becoming a hit in Japan, a movie like this would never be made today. A sad statement of the film industry which would rather portray kids as smaller versions of sarcastic adults. And while I think for those of us who were fortunate enough to be of the same age group as the characters in the movie (now in our mid to late thirties to late forties) and also lucky enough to have seen this movie at the time, the connection/draw was simply magnetic. You knew it was authentic because you were right there, probably watching on some early autumn evening after school, Halloween nearing, after having walked home from school, after having spent some time at your best friends house playing outside around the neighborhood, trying to build something, or playing pranks or just exploring. Even from a cinematic perspective the movie shines; the warm California sunshine, the cool of Autumn evening, filmed in that classic 70's slight haze effect.

Kenny and Company is an exceedingly accurate portrayal of this period of time even for adults at the time. The adults are visible to the children; admired and despised alike, as parents, disciplinarians, and mentors. The gawking awe of the next to the next phase of development- the early twenty something is on display here. Even the sense of community, of knowing people in the neighborhood, even if only by name is true. Most of the movie's wonderfully unstructured self determining activity is completely absent for today's youth.

Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have stumbled across seeing this movie a handful of times on television on obscure stations since then. Until now, it hasn't been readily available. And each time I've viewed it, it still maintains that magical element that sadly may be gone forever. This is a movie for the ages in the sense that it can remind us of what childhood should be like. And just think, we looked pretty cool considering our parents picked out our clothes!!

Looks like everyone who first watched this movie did so on HBO when that station came out. I,too, remember seeing Kenny & Company as a young pre-teen. My siblings and I could all relate to the plot less storyline, everything from pretending to enjoy a "suicide slush" to trying to wash enamel paint off your hands with soap. I think that's why this movie is so well thought of. It's made for regular kids about regular kids. Too bad movies these days are fake and made primarily for marketing appeal. I was lucky enough to find this online (try Video den.com). The picture quality was pretty bad, but quality of the storyline made up for that. Even my own 10 and 7 year olds loved it. My son, who rides on $150 custom skateboards, has been bugging his dad to take him to home depot so they can make a skateboard like the one in Kenny & Company. Now we'll have to start searching for those old clay wheels...