Kenny & Company

I vividly remember seeing Kenny & Co in the movie theater where I grew up in Pomona, CA. I would have been about 7. The movie matches my recollection of how I grew up as a kid in 1970's Southern California. Skateboards....Kay Bee toy stores....smoggy days...hanging out all day and coming home when the street lights came on. As in the movie, blonde kids were cooler...your friend's parents never were. There is one scene that I remember being particularly sad...and as an adult, it's still sad! Decent acting from a bunch of amateur actors just doing what kids do. This movie is so much better than the terrible trailer - if you were a kid from the 1970s, it's a must see and fun trip.

The Genre of movies intended for viewers age 10-14 tend to be either crass exploitation or idiotic morality tales. Kenny and Co. is that rare gem of a film that transcends the limitations of it's genre.

There must have been a window in the mid '70's where it was possible to produce a "kid" movie with both heart and brain intact. The Bad News Bears (first film) is another example. In the era of Mortal Kombat and the latest Star Wars regurgitation, this well-written, fully realized, (and delightfully 'dated') work is a joy. Don Coscarelli, who went on to notoriety with the Phantasm B-Horror series, should be noted for this sensitive, aware, and charmingly non-condescending look at young malehood.

I am very interested in finding a copy of Kenny & CO. on tape, and I notice that one of the other posters on this board mentions having a copy. If you are willing to share, please contact

thanks and keep watching. jm

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.

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.

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.