While I was in first grade at Thornydale Elementary, in Tucson, AZ., the crew from Kidco did a presentation at our school's assembly hall asking for extras. I took the "permission slip" home to my parents and begged them to let me be in the movie. They signed the forms, and we went to a large casting call. I call it a casting call because I don't know what else to call it. I didn't get in the movie, but some of my friends were in the courthouse scene. We all received Kidco t-shirts and felt like we were movie stars (even though most of us were not in the picture.)Looking back, nearly twenty-five years later, this was a fun and interesting event in my life. I saw the film again in the mid-nineties, and enjoyed it. It has some of the same moral thematics as "The Goonies," but presents them in a less fantastic way--or does it?
10 Reviews
Odd drama about kids running a business recalls the 80s.
emm28 February 1999
KIDCO, which sounds more like a toy manufacturer, expressed some signs of power for its time about getting rich, a major 80s lifestyle theme. The story about selling manure and making big bucks is very unusual, but thought-provoking and imaginative for youths to dream of someday attaining fame and fortune. Unfortunately, that dream becomes a valuable lesson in life when there are trials and drawbacks in operating any kind of business, including lemonade stands, or else eventually getting caught for violating any means of strict regulations. That's the important vital aspect of the film. Targeted at mostly young children, it's too sophisticated and the acting comes up flat, but there is a place in its heart for the fantasy of it all. Talk about an awful lot of kids! A good little film, though ordinary.
Kids as capitalists
bkoganbing19 February 2014
Now here's a film for the capitalist Reagan Eighties. When young Scott Schwartz who is constantly in trouble in school for various schemes to extort money out of them gets in trouble, it's certain he's got the making of a venture capitalist. Schwartz who with his three sisters live on a horse ranch with parents Charles Hallahan and Margaret Blye has noted that there's a byproduct on the ranch that no one is taking advantage of. Which gives him a marvelous idea to go into business after he hears fertilizer manufacturer Clifton James try to holdup country club owner Allan Rich for a bigger price. Kidco becomes the name of their company.
Of course it becomes a big success, but that gets James all mad as the kids of Kidco start taking away his business. And of course James looks to government to solve his problems as Deputy Attorney General Ron Rifkin goes to court.
Rifkin takes the kids to court and hits them with all kinds of violations, sales tax, health code, you name it, Rifkin has a case. Young Mr. Schwartz elects to proceed pro se and at the tender age of 11 does himself Frank Capra proud.
Although Kidco is Capra for the kids, the trial itself and the actions of Judge Benny Baker come straight of Miracle At 34th Street as Judge Baker who is elected gets a few tips about the facts of political life if he rules against the kids who have now become celebrities.
Per the times big government and grownups who take advantage of it are the villains here. Kidco is an amusing enough film for juvenile audiences and I can see it as required viewing in every Republican household with young ones in it.
Of course it becomes a big success, but that gets James all mad as the kids of Kidco start taking away his business. And of course James looks to government to solve his problems as Deputy Attorney General Ron Rifkin goes to court.
Rifkin takes the kids to court and hits them with all kinds of violations, sales tax, health code, you name it, Rifkin has a case. Young Mr. Schwartz elects to proceed pro se and at the tender age of 11 does himself Frank Capra proud.
Although Kidco is Capra for the kids, the trial itself and the actions of Judge Benny Baker come straight of Miracle At 34th Street as Judge Baker who is elected gets a few tips about the facts of political life if he rules against the kids who have now become celebrities.
Per the times big government and grownups who take advantage of it are the villains here. Kidco is an amusing enough film for juvenile audiences and I can see it as required viewing in every Republican household with young ones in it.
Kids Doing Adult Things.
tfrizzell30 October 2002
Young Scott Schwartz and his three sisters create their own manure company in this sleight little film that is a time-passer and nothing more. Living on a horse ranch, they create a really booming business. However the state starts to breathe down their throats when they want taxes paid on the company's profit. A kid's courtroom drama that feels a bit forced and honestly a bit silly in its final act. Not quite a recommendation here, but still a film that is actually better than you might think. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Quirky and entertaining, yet educational--somewhat
mollytinkers10 August 2021
Believe it or not, this film was inspired by true circumstances. Four minor children, heirs to Cessna Aircraft's family owners, incorporated and purchased public land in 1979. After selling the rights to their story, it was heavily fictionalized and made into this movie.
I would classify this as family entertainment but with the disclaimer the children use mild profanity occasionally. Nothing that a 6th grader couldn't handle, especially taking into consideration the filth children are exposed to these days. It is both a light-hearted fantasy and a glimpse into the nature of entrepreneurship and owning/running a business. (There are some glaring errors, such as no one under 18 can enter into a contract without the signature of a parent or legal guardian. Also, you must be 18 in most states to form a corporation.)
The children give really good performances. I did laugh out loud here and there, although there are plenty of moments the dialogue falls flat, or at least feels forced. The last half takes a more complicated tone, but the ending rounds it out.
Don't take it too seriously. This isn't Chekhov or Shaw. Let it be what it mostly is--good fun.
I would classify this as family entertainment but with the disclaimer the children use mild profanity occasionally. Nothing that a 6th grader couldn't handle, especially taking into consideration the filth children are exposed to these days. It is both a light-hearted fantasy and a glimpse into the nature of entrepreneurship and owning/running a business. (There are some glaring errors, such as no one under 18 can enter into a contract without the signature of a parent or legal guardian. Also, you must be 18 in most states to form a corporation.)
The children give really good performances. I did laugh out loud here and there, although there are plenty of moments the dialogue falls flat, or at least feels forced. The last half takes a more complicated tone, but the ending rounds it out.
Don't take it too seriously. This isn't Chekhov or Shaw. Let it be what it mostly is--good fun.
Entertaining fantasy
biker45111 October 2001
This is one that I wish I could have seen as a child. As an adult I know just too much of the realities of business to believe everything in the story. But, it was simple enough to toss aside my adulthood and step into my childhood for a while and see the fantasy of this story.
The Cessna children are always hatching schemes to make money, mostly ones that are on left side of legal, but this time they come up with an apparently legal means to fill the bank account. Their father manages a horse ranch and they start mixing the manure with hay to make fertilizer and sell it to, first a golf course, and later other businesses. They do quite well until their competition sics the regulatory agencies and the tax man on them.
The acting isn't always the best, but that only would make it more real for children. I liked this movie, and I suspect that children would also. After all, I don't think its target audience was anyone over the teen years, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was enjoyable to this adult.
The Cessna children are always hatching schemes to make money, mostly ones that are on left side of legal, but this time they come up with an apparently legal means to fill the bank account. Their father manages a horse ranch and they start mixing the manure with hay to make fertilizer and sell it to, first a golf course, and later other businesses. They do quite well until their competition sics the regulatory agencies and the tax man on them.
The acting isn't always the best, but that only would make it more real for children. I liked this movie, and I suspect that children would also. After all, I don't think its target audience was anyone over the teen years, so I was pleasantly surprised that it was enjoyable to this adult.
Pretty watchable movie
matrix293 October 2008
KIDCO is a very watchable movie about children creating a Fertilizer Distribution Business, resulting in these children being sued by a rival Fertilizer Salesman (the character of Orville Peterjohn) who once held local dominance in town. Orville Peterjohn, angry at losing his monopoly on his Fertilizer Sales business decides to sue KIDCO under a variety of corporate regulations, state requirements for submitting documentation to the variety of agencies as well as failure to pay sales tax. The courtroom drama being precisely a strong Conservative message (without dipping into hysterical rants) about how there are too many forms to submit for approval in the basic creation of a new business entity. The movie plays out with some tiny "twist surprises" in the courtroom scene, but at no time drives off into insultingly stupid territory or insults the children as human beings or insults the legal system (as it is) despite having the courts becoming "the tool of oppression" working on the behest of the character of Orville Peterjohn.
The children here are wonderfully sane, rational, logical, emotionally normal, and very human. The courts, family, and townspeople all remain believable human beings and not grotesque insane idiotic parodies of human beings as is so common in "children's entertainment" these days. The movie moves through the story at an enjoyable energetic pace and did not bore me as a viewer. There are no explosions or cartoon characters or "zany sound effects" or digital animation, just regular human people of a normal intelligence level sanely seeking to better themselves and their families with creative wit and enduring the challenges of a short realistic courtroom drama about defending their interests from the tyranny of a business rival.
My summation is that this movie is wonderfully not insulting to the intelligence of the children or the adults viewing this movie.
If your children are vapid overstimulated psychotic idiots, then you should take them to go see "The Bee Movie". If you want better for your children and your children want a better life for themselves, then get them a copy of this movie.
======== KIDCO did have a few minor audio editing problems (no audible audio distortion or distracting unnatural audio noises, just a bit more editing was needed to lessen standard human audio of feet shuffling bodies as they flump into a sitting position on chairs and so on). The movie was professionally lit and framed to best set the proper mood for the movie in a natural manner. The acting was exceptional for a movie for children and the script, although only simplistic at points to not drag the movie into tedium.
Ron Rifkin provides a very comprehensive (and handsomely bearded) performance as the lawyer for the plaintiff.
The children here are wonderfully sane, rational, logical, emotionally normal, and very human. The courts, family, and townspeople all remain believable human beings and not grotesque insane idiotic parodies of human beings as is so common in "children's entertainment" these days. The movie moves through the story at an enjoyable energetic pace and did not bore me as a viewer. There are no explosions or cartoon characters or "zany sound effects" or digital animation, just regular human people of a normal intelligence level sanely seeking to better themselves and their families with creative wit and enduring the challenges of a short realistic courtroom drama about defending their interests from the tyranny of a business rival.
My summation is that this movie is wonderfully not insulting to the intelligence of the children or the adults viewing this movie.
If your children are vapid overstimulated psychotic idiots, then you should take them to go see "The Bee Movie". If you want better for your children and your children want a better life for themselves, then get them a copy of this movie.
======== KIDCO did have a few minor audio editing problems (no audible audio distortion or distracting unnatural audio noises, just a bit more editing was needed to lessen standard human audio of feet shuffling bodies as they flump into a sitting position on chairs and so on). The movie was professionally lit and framed to best set the proper mood for the movie in a natural manner. The acting was exceptional for a movie for children and the script, although only simplistic at points to not drag the movie into tedium.
Ron Rifkin provides a very comprehensive (and handsomely bearded) performance as the lawyer for the plaintiff.
A Diamond in the Rough (Many Spoilers)
ColeSear2 February 2003
Warning: Spoilers
Kidco is another one of those fantastical films of the 80s with a grounded theme. It was written by Bennett Tramer who went on to create probably the most famous television show that's "So Bad It's Good," called Saved by the Bell. This film tells the story of Dickie Cessna, played aptly by Scott Schwartz. We start off watching his Keno scheme at school which is busted by the principal. He's the quintessential 80s hero; anything for a buck but he's the little guy because who's gonna come after him? The crummy feds of course, to paraphrase Dickie. We first meet with these agents when they come to inspect his father's ranch because the board of taxation needs to appraise his assets. First, Dickie gives them bad directions and then when they arrive his sister's lead them to the barn where they supposedly live and put on this act of misery. Dickie's father tells him he has to stop running scams in school so he takes him up on the loophole. Yet then he stumbles on to a legitimate business opportunity when he sees they throw away piles and piles of manure everyday and all the local companies are complaining that Orville Peterjohn, the town tycoon, is charging them an arm and a leg for fertilizer. They are then charged with not paying sales tax, not having a seller's permit and not listing the contents of the product. Not only are they brought to trial but Dickie and Betty Cessna decide to defend themselves. This provides for some of the most hysterical moments in this film. At one point Dickie decides he needs to deliver a speech to state his case and says in closing 'The United States could've been the greatest country in the world but they had to go and bust Kidco.' This is also a film that deals heavily with the fundamental differences between children and adults and Dickie says "Youth is wasted on the young. Children should be seen and not heard. Your honor, if we believed in cruddy old sayings like that Kidco wouldn't have made a cent." While Dickie's vocabulary is lacking he is always brutally honest and has no problems insulting a lawyer which is always fun to watch and what this film has which I think is great is a triumphant defeat. They get out of the sales tax because their father has already paid sales tax on the hay and oats the horses ate that became the manure. It's a great moment because you see it coming and Dickie says "Your honor we're getting taxed at both ends!" The judge under heavy media and political scrutiny to be easy on the kids quickly dismisses the charges. Then the prosecutor reminds him the other charges still stand before the court. There is a plea bargain struck because there's really no way they'll be absolved. They'll be given a special seller's permit and must pay practically all their profit's worth in fines. The triumphantly they walk outside. There is a gathering of thousands of kids and Dickie gets up before them and starts talking riling them up. Neil, a cub reporter who's been helping them out give him a box full of orders for Kidco T-Shirts then Dickie grabs a bullhorn and says: "And we wanna tell you, you just made us enough dough to pay our fine
and buy supper for ever kid in San Diego! Maybe now those bozos will pick on someone their own size" then he announces plans for a new shirt with his picture on it. And the kids chant 'Kid-co, Kid-co, Kid-co.' Some of the details in this film are really what make it work instead of baseball pennants over his bed Dickie has Pennants of Ford, Standard Oil and General Motors. And at the very end there are protest signs that read: 'In Kids We Trust,' 'Peter Pan Lives," "Children's Coalition," "Kids Liberation" "Suffrage for Kids" and "Equal Rights for Kids." These signs are fantastic. The whole tone of the movie is perfect. In many films made in the United States children are given little or no respect as people they are portrayed as stupid, whiney, troublemakers. Few and far between are the films that treat them with any respect. This film screeches for and demands that respect. Not only that but it's a great portrayal of big business in the 80s where kids were also looking for money and identifying themselves with corporations. Kidco might be a strange and unusual little film but it is most definitely funny and it is definitely a film of the 80s,a nd I think it's great.
Good comedy! Great fun for whole family!
cday5716 February 2007
When this first came out on premium movie channels - our whole family watched it every time it was on. Then we taped it on a VHS tape. Took a couple of trips to Callifornia from Illinois (driving the whole way) had a VHS player and small color TV that would run off car battery and selected movies for kids to watch in transit to keep them occupied and also for us 2 grownups to watch and relax when we'd stop and have our meals/breaks. That was one of the movies taken on those trips and we eventually wore it out because we watched it so much! I wish that Kidco would come out on DVD so I can get a copy for myself and for each of my kids (4) so they can sit and enjoy it with their families like we did.
While the acting may not be up to some peoples standards, the message that the movie gets across is great for kids, parents (even parents-to-be!) - the whole family unit. IF you can find it - enjoy and be prepared to laugh!
While the acting may not be up to some peoples standards, the message that the movie gets across is great for kids, parents (even parents-to-be!) - the whole family unit. IF you can find it - enjoy and be prepared to laugh!
Real Life Drama, but misses its target audience
tex-425 June 2000
A real life drama concerning a brother, his three sisters, and their hugely successful manure business. Perfect fare for the early 80's as the kids rake in the dough and show where a little entrepeneurship can take you. However the movie moves slowly and becomes very complicated when KIDCO runs afoul of the IRS. It's here most likely where the target audience of children will find themselves lost as tax codes, etc are reviewed ad nauseum. This movie was filmed in 1982, but was shelved until being released in 1984.
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