Goonies --- A great adventure film about pirate treasure

Steven Spielberg has always known exactly what audiences are looking for, and when he wrote up the story to The Goonies he must have known that it would become a success. With the added talents of screen-writer Chris Columbus and Director Richard Donner, the story of a group of kids trying to save their town really took hold of audiences. The star of the show is young Sean Astin as Mikey Walsh, a kid that always seems to let his imagination get the best of him. His story in the film begins when he is up in the attic of his house, and stumbles across an old picture that he accidentally breaks. In turns out to be a fortunate accident though, as he finds a map and oddly shaped rock within it that immediately draws his attention. Opening up the mop, he starts to realize (just as we do in the audience) that he has a treasure map in his hands, and with it the clues to possibly find it.

Taking the treasure map to his friends, he regales them of an old story he learned when he was younger, and how this could lead them to the riches that could save their families from signing a deal to sell of the homes they can no longer afford, and allow a developer to turn the area into a country club. Feeling both that they have no choice, and that the level of excitement of this quest would be too interesting to pass up, Mikey and his group of friends decide to head off to the Oregon coast in search of the locations on the map. Trouble lurks nearby though, as a simultaneous story presents us with the bank-robbing Fratelli Family, who has just committed several crimes, and is now holed up near where the boys are heading. Of course their paths are going to ultimately cross, and it serves as a motivator for the boys to move quickly through a set of clues and underground tunnels that could lead them to treasure.

The thing that really makes The Goonies work, is that it seems like a very plausible story. The cast is all presented quite well, and there are no stretches at the beginning of the story that you would think are outside the realm of possibilities. A group of kids find a map, and much like I would have done when I was younger, decide that it will hold true, so they head out on an adventure. It is a big adventure too, as they are going to come face-to-face with a gang of bad-guys, various obstacles, and of course traps set to discourage people from following the map. Mixing adventure, comedy, and of course pirates into a story like this was brilliant, and that of course translated into box office success and many millions of dollars in both rentals and purchases of the DVD’s and VHS tapes.

The cast was pretty strong for the film, and seeing most of them now, you cannot help but marvel at the good job of casting. Sean Astin plays the leader of the gang, his older brother is played by Josh Brolin, who has interest in a girl played by Kerri Green with a friend played by Martha Plimpton. In other roles you have Jeff Cohen, Corey Feldman, Joe Pantoliano, and of course Anne Ramsey as Mama Fratelli. They each bring their own unique qualities to the story, with one of the friends there for the comic relief and another there because he is so handy with gadgets. Put it all together and you have an exciting film that really shows off a lot of the Oregon coast, and keeps audiences of all ages interested in each of the characters. It’s fit for viewing by kids of all ages, and is a classic from my childhood that is now in my permanent film collection.