One of Steven Spielberg’s many hits of the 1980s was The Goonies, a movie for which he executive-produced and provided the story. It’s equal parts a rollicking adventure movie about the search for a pirate’s hidden treasure and a coming-of-age movie about a group of kids with separation anxiety on the eve of losing their homes to a real estate development.
While many movies of its era have aged poorly, The Goonies is still just as much fun for new viewers who discover it today as it was for moviegoers who bought tickets back in 1985.
8 The Cast Shares Impeccable Chemistry
The key to making a movie like The Goonies work is choosing a cast with tangible enough chemistry to convince the audience they’re lifelong best friends. This is easier said than done, as it’s tough enough to find a child who can act at all, let alone one who shares a strong on-screen bond with all their co-stars.
But, Richard Donner managed to assemble a fantastic cast for The Goonies. Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, Jonathan Ke Huy Quan, and Jeff Cohen all share impeccable chemistry as the titular band of Goon Docks residents. The childhood friend group dynamic in The Goonies is second only to Stand by Me.
7 It Has Plenty Of Executive Producer Steven Spielberg’s Signature Sentimentality
Steven Spielberg didn’t direct The Goonies—that title goes to Superman director Richard Donner—but he did act as an executive producer through his Amblin banner, and he also provided the story upon which Chris Columbus based his screenplay, so he put a lot of his own artistic stamp on the movie.
Spielberg’s signature heartwarming sentimentality can be seen all over The Goonies. Throughout the movie, the Goonies suffer from separation anxiety as an expanding country club is about to push them out of their homes. The fear of losing touch with close friends is universal, and Spielberg’s story tackles that fear through a heartfelt lens.
6 The Story Moves At A Rapid Pace
One of the main reasons that older movies fail to stand the test of time is that audiences’ attention spans are getting shorter, so slower-paced movies from yesteryear don’t tend to fare as well today.
Movies with faster pacing still hold up today, and The Goonies is one of them. Spielberg’s story moves at a breakneck pace, quickly establishing the title characters and their conflicts before thrusting them into a treasure hunt and sending the bad guys after them.
5 Josh Brolin Got His Decades-Long Acting Career Off To A Great Start
There’s an added bonus for today’s audiences discovering The Goonies because they’re able to recognize Brand as Thanos. Josh Brolin got his movie debut in The Goonies and has since gone on to become one of the most acclaimed and recognizable actors in the world, starring in such varied projects as Deadpool 2, Men in Black 3, and No Country for Old Men.
Even after all that poignant, cerebral acting and all the awards he’s won for it, Brolin’s turn as the goofy, tropey teenager put in charge of the Goonies is still one of his finest performances.
4 The Villains Pose A Real Threat
Despite the whimsical, lighthearted tone of The Goonies’ adventure story, the movie’s villains, a notorious Italian crime family headed by Mama Fratelli and her two sons, are truly sinister. The kids are just having fun by going on a treasure hunt, but the villains are hardened criminals who would have no qualms about murdering them. It gives the story real stakes, as the kids are actually in danger.
3 Sloth Is Still Just As Lovable
While most of the Fratelli family is made up of reprehensible villains, there is one sweet, adorable, innocent Fratelli named Lotney Fratelli, better known by his nickname “Sloth.” Due to his appearance, Sloth is an outcast in his family. Mama Fratelli keeps him locked away and treats him like an animal.
When Chunk is captured, he’s initially afraid of Sloth, but he learns to look past his appearance and becomes his friend. Sloth ends up emerging as the hero of the movie as he rescues the Goonies from his amoral relatives. This character is just as lovable today as he was in 1985.
2 The Pirate Ship Finale Is Suitably Spectacular
In the finale of The Goonies, the kids finally reach the grotto where One-Eyed Willy’s pirate ship, the Inferno, is anchored. They find untold riches onboard, and, out of respect for Willy, decide not to loot the scales in front of his skeleton. The Inferno is a huge, extravagant set built by hand, the scale of which can’t be recreated with mere CGI.
When the villains show up and force the kids to walk the plank, they take the treasure from Willy’s scales and bring the cave crashing down with a series of booby traps. This whole sequence is a fitting climax to the story, bringing all the conflicts to a head in the biggest action scene of the movie.
1 It Offers Pure Escapism
Like many Spielberg productions of its era, The Goonies offers pure escapism. Like Jaw, Jurassic Park, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Goonies provides audiences with the excitement of adventure. The film also has an added sense of childlike wonder thanks to its young heroes.
Just as the protagonists use a treasure hunt to escape the misery of losing their homes, audiences can use the nonsensical adventure story of The Goonies to escape from their humdrum lives for a couple of hours.
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