A little while back I was having a conversation with a neighbor who is around my age. She was going on about The Goonies, and how it was one of her favorite movies. I never heard of it, and for some reason my brain said "Gremlins." Why did she like Gremlins so much? That movie freaked me out as a kid. It just didn't make any sense. "And I really like the adventure," she said, "and the treasure hunt." By this point I was just baffled. We were having two different conversations, and instead of clarifying the mental mishap, I nodded my head and walked away.
A little time passed and I was reading the new American Girl Courtney books, based in 1986, and again The Goonies kept getting mentioned. Then I started noticing memes. Articles here and there popping up. "Where are they now," and so forth. Sean Astin was in it? Wow he's young.
It just came to a point that I had to finally see it. This apparent quintessential 1980's film I somehow missed and knew nothing about.
The Goonies is on HBO MAX. Convenient. No excuse, it was time. Last week I turned it on, opening credits roll, and the sudden realization: Wait, this is a Steven Spielberg movie?!! Okay, how did I not know about this film? And I just looked on IMDb... Chris Columbus wrote the screenplay, and I'm done.
The movie wasn't at all what I expected. I thought it would just be some pie in the sky sentimental tale about a group of boys in the 1980's, kinda like The Sandlot. Instead it was an adventure, mystery story with a little bit of everything.
The movie starts with the general "meet all the cast doing character defining cast things," so we know what we're dealing with and get a good primer. The story picks up when all the young characters venture into Mikey's (Sean Astin) attic, where they look through all his Dad's stuff: Pirate paraphernalia, paintings, artifices, and a treasure map. There's a lore, a legend, of a hidden treasure near their town, that no one has found. And since Mikey's family is about to lose their home, and he's really depressed and wants one last, good adventure, he's determined to find the lost gold and gems.
The small group joins on the adventure, later including Mikey's brother Brand (Josh Brolin), and a couple of girls, all the while thwarting some criminals in the process, and the whole thing turns into a race against time. Solving mysteries and avoiding booby traps.
Through the movie I kept getting Indiana Jones/Hook vibes.
In the end I'm kinda shocked I never heard of The Goonies, and it's nice to finally know what it's all about. It's just a fun little adventure flick. And now I need to re-watch Gremlins, because my memories are so morphed on the subject. How did I confuse the two?!
Sarah
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