Kenny & Company

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

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.

Regarding other films from the 70's which took a stab at documenting the feel of life for the average suburban kid, I'd put them in this order...

(1) Kenny & Company (2) Over The Edge (3) The Bad News Bears (4) Breaking Away

I'm a longtime Phantasm fan, and I just watched Kenny & Company for the first time tonight. It's clear that the studio COMPLETELY dropped the ball when they shelved this film in the US.

Anything I'm inclined to say about how good this film is has already been said by other equally impressed viewers here on the boards, though I have to add that I have a new-found respect for Phantasm's bartender, the Tall Man's handyman, and the foxy granddaughter of the mute fortune teller. Reggie is in top form. And Fred Myrow-- the composer of Phantasm's score-- is present here, as well.

Now that it has seen the light on day on DVD (and it's a beautiful transfer with great sound, by the way), I'm certain Kenny & Company is destined to become a classic as news of its existence spreads.

Well, I might be a bit partial to Kenny and Company...I had a small role in the film as a young child on Kenny's football team, and it was made in my home town of Long Beach, California. It really was a great little film (for a then very young director Don Coscarelli) that presents a very straight forward view of "the All American Kids" going through growing pains in the 1970's...similar to what made you laugh and cry with The Bad News Bears. Director Coscarelli would soon be inspired to make his mark in the Horror Genre (after the growing pains would stop)...and would go on to create the well received Phantasm saga. I wish Kenny and Company was available on video, so more people could view some of Mr. Coscarelli's earliest (and most genuine) work.

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.