Kidder had a central supporting role in the airplane-themed drama "The Great Waldo Pepper" (1975) opposite Robert Redford and Susan Sarandon, followed by a lead role in the psychological horror film "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud", directed by J. Lee Thompson, in which she portrayed a woman about whom a college professor has recurring nightmares. "Variety" praised her performance in the latter film as "outstandingly rich." In the summer of 1975, Kidder was hired to direct a documentary short chronicling the making of "The Missouri Breaks" (1976), a Western film starring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson. "I was such a jerk," she recalled. "I mean, I thought they wanted a real documentary. So I filmed all the behind-the-scenes rows and arguments and shot footage of the vet shooting up the horses with tranquilizers so the actors would look as if they rode well. What an idiot I was. Then when they fired me, I realized what they'd wanted was a publicity film."