I was surprised to see that 1983's Kidco has finally made it to DVD. This is one of those movies from the 1980s that received only a very brief theatrical release but found most of its audience through the exploding home video market (released back then on Fox's Playhouse Video label) and repeated showings on cable movie channels during their glory years. It was somewhat forgotten after that, but it started showing up on the digital movie services last year and is now available on DVD, albeit on a DVD-R through Fox's Cinema Archives program.

Though we're told up front that "this story really happened," I wasn't aware until now that the movie used the real names of most of the people involved. The mastermind behind the story is sixth-grader Richard "Dickie" Cessna, who's portrayed by Scott Schwartz (in between his appearances in The Toy and A Christmas Story) as a scheming kid who is smarter than most of the grown-ups around him. While he gets suspended from school early on for running secret gambling sessions during recess, he's also genuinely business-minded and seriously contemplates ways that he might go into business for himself at an early age. His belief is that the school system is teaching kids the wrong things, when they should be teaching them how to be successful in the business world.

Dickie first enlists the help of his younger sister Nene (Cinnamon Idles, whose only other film appearance was in Sixteen Candles) to sneak around the local golf course and pilfer as many lost golf balls as they can and then sell them back to the course's owner. It turns out he already pays some older kids to do that for him and doesn't need their help. On their way out, Nene accidentally gets hosed with chemical fertilizer from Orville Peterjohn (character actor Clifton James) who became very rich through his business, which gives Dickie his biggest idea yet. Since their family already owns a stable with several horses, he figures that he can shovel all the horse manure and start his own fertilizer business. With the help of Nene plus older sisters Bette (Tristine Skyler) and June (Elizabeth Gorcey), a practical system is soon developed and the company Kidco (which it was called in real life) is born. Their first client is the golf course that rejected them before, who drops Peterjohn's services after his rates are raised. (The real Kidco also trapped the pesky gophers around the golf course, though that isn't brought into the movie.)

Kidco soon picks up more clients and becomes famous across the country, but Peterjohn is mad from losing business to them and the kids' father Richard Cessna Sr. (Charles Hallahan) is already in trouble with the state of California from a tax-related matter (which isn't clearly explained here). State agent Phil Porzinski (played by comedic favorite Vincent Schiavelli) has already been trailing him for that, and Peterjohn enlists him to also go after Kidco. It turns out the kids hadn't been paying their taxes either, and don't have all their permits in order, so they're fair game to be taken to court.

All of this is played mostly for laughs in Kidco (written by Bennett Tramer, best known for several "Saved by the Bell" episodes and an obscure reference in the first two Halloween movies), which seems to best suit the abilities of its cast as well as the tastes of the young audience it targets. Still, Kidco retains a level of smartness that only a few other "family" movies have aspired to. (Though horse manure is an essential element of the plot, there isn't a single gross-out gag resulting from it- likely impossible if it had been made within the last decade.) While some of the court proceedings get a bit wordy and might have bored a few kids in the audience, the movie is mostly looked back at fondly by those who saw it early on and should be happy to finally revisit it on disc.

After viewing this movie, I tried to research the real-life Kidco and the Cessna family. Kidco was a bit of a media sensation in the 70s (their TV appearances seem to be locked in the vaults, but I did find several newspaper articles as well as a "People" magazine piece online), and Warner Bros had originally purchased the film rights to their story in 1977. Ronald Reagan is said to have been a big admirer of Kidco around that same time. Kidco purchased the coastal California town of Gorda in 1979, but I haven't been able to find much information after that. It appears that the real Dickie is now running a debt relief service.

Presented on standard DVD in 1.85 widescreen, the picture appears to be from a recent transfer, clean but retaining its film grain. Obviously a Blu-Ray would have been preferable, but seeing how long this movie has been out of print most fans will likely be happy to get this in any format. (I did rent this on Vudu in "HDX" quality last year, and remember the picture being a bit sharper than this DVD but also with more obvious compression artifacts.) There's plenty detail enough to catch a few production flaws, such as the reflection of the camera in a car window within the movie's first minute and a boom mike reflected in another window shortly after that. I later noticed an actual boom mike dipping into the frame for a second, which would have had me double-checking the framing had I ran this at a theater. Whether that was a genuine mistake or a framing error is hard to tell.

Sound:

Audio is 2-channel Dolby Digital "big fat mono," staying properly in the center channel with Pro-Logic decoding engaged. Sound was not a high priority for this movie as was the case for many during this era. Quality overall is as clean as can be expected, though some dialogue is poorly recorded and difficult to understand. The disc does not include any subtitles or captions despite the original VHS tape being closed-captioned.

The theatrical trailer is included in 4x3 format, which gives away part of the movie's end. The movie itself is auto-chaptered at every ten minutes as many of these DVD-R titles have been. Given that I've always properly chaptered DVDs of old material I've transferred, it seems that somebody would have been able to do the same for these. Heck, I'd likely do it just for a free copy of each title.

This release of Kidco proves that there are still plenty more films from the past couple decades that have gone unseen for a long time and should be given their due on disc. (Director Ronald Maxwell, who went on to direct the Civil War epics Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, had previously helmed 1980's Little Darlings which is another still-missing-on-DVD title.) In addition to resurrecting the movie, I'm also hoping it might inspire someone to make a follow-up documentary on what happened in real life afterwards- I would certainly check that out.

Jesse Skeen is a life-long obsessive media collector (with an unhealthy preoccupation with obsolete and failed formats) and former theater film projectionist. He enjoys watching movies and strives for presenting them perfectly, but lacks the talent to make his own.