Kenny & Company

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.

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.

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...

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