The Goonies: One Boy's Quest for One-Eyed Willie
By Jenny Curtis and Jessica Hegi
With all the hoopla around the AFI 100, which named five Steven Spielberg flicks as among the best American films of all-time (more than any other director), I thought I'd take a look at one of his less-acclaimed movies, The Goonies. Although technically, Richard Donner of Letahal Weapon fame was the director, the Goonies was produced by Spielberg and leaves behind that certain Spielberg taste in your mouth.
Steven Spielberg's PG cheese factory produced this mid-eighties classic cult film about the Goonies, a group of pre-pubescent boys who go on a hunt for treasure on the California coast. The Goonies are asthmatic Mikey (Sean Astin); Data (Jonathan Ke Quan), a criminally cute inventor who went on to play Short Round in the second Indiana Jones movie; Mouth (Corey Feldman), who's junior High Spanish has taken him so far in life; and Chunk (Jeff Cohen), who's passion for Rocky Road ice cream out weighs his instinct for self-preservation. The boys are joined by Mikey's older brother Brand (Josh Brolin), his girlfriend, Andy (Kerri Green) and her Velma-esque sidekick, Steph (Martha Plimpton). The Goonies are about to be evicted from their homes by evil developers who want to turn their idylic turn of the century houses into fairways. They find a map to One Eyed Willie's treasure in the attic and head off into the elaborately booby-trapped countryside. But the Goonies aren't alone in their search for the pirates lair. The colorful Italian stereotype gangsters, The Fratellis are also in pursuit of the treasure. The Fratelli's oldest brother, Sloth (John Matuszak), is an eight foot tall mishapen freak who they keep chained in the basement, and in a bizarre but heartwarming plot twist is freed by Chunk and helps the Goonie's quest for treasure. (See A Goonie's Sequel?)Throughout the movie, Mikey keeps addressing One-Eyed Willie as if he were alive, saying "This is one of your tricks isn't it One Eyed Willie." Lest the metaphorical significance of the pirates moniker ecape you, let me just point out that there's a scene at the end of the movie where Mikey asks to be alone with One-Eyed Willie. If this were a Judy Bloom novel and not a shlocky pre-teen adventure film, one might assume that some of One-Eyed Willie's tricks include showing-up unexpectedly when Mikey is writing arithmatic problems on the blackboard. But this is a schlocky pre-teen adventure film, so references to sexual development need to be cloaked in a quest for treasure. Mikey's coming of age includes a crash course in leadership. After leading his friends into danger, he must convince them to continue the quest when things look bad. When all of the Goonies are offered a way out of the underground caves, riding up Troy's wishing well bucket ("I know that Troy. He's a real shit guy," says Data in the first scene), Mikey orates passionately like a squeaky-voiced George C. Scott, "It's our time," he wheezes beween snorts of his inhaler, "It's our time down here."
As the Goonies move closer to the treasure, they occupy their time as anyone who was in mortal danger from deadly booby traps and homicidal maniacs would--they make-out. When Mikey accidently kisses Andi in a case of mistaken identity, Andi reveals, "If you keep kissing girls like that, the parts of you that don't work so well will catch up to the rest of you."
In the end, of course Mikey finds Willie and the treasure. He tosses away his inhaler, the pacifier that's no longer necessary and in doing so, gives false hope to asthmatics everywhere . "I made it. I beat you," he addresses One-Eyed Willie.
While the story revolves around Mikey and his Willie, the real strength of the Goonies is the supporting cast. Wise-cracking Mouth, smuggly comments on the unfolding adventure in his Prince T-shirt, while attracting the ire and affection of Tom-boy Steph. "Your looks aren't so gross," he woos and you could almost hear the Tiger Beat centerfolds being torn out and taped-up in lockers all over the country. Data, the inventor, cheerfully delivers every line with a shrill, cute Sino-American accent. Toward the end, though, he shows his darker side. Data becomes fed up with the adventure and gets a Nicholson moment as he falls through the deck of the Pirate ship and delivers a rant to himself about how the callous Goonies take no thought or care in his welfare. Chunk, who starts out at the same pitch and intesity as Data, calms down for his heartwarming scenes with Sloth. And the female Goonies, Steph and Andi, are older,more-worldly Goonies than the boys they follow into trouble.
Compare The Goonies to other coming of age films, of that era and you'll find that none are as caught up in the fantasy world of children. The movie doesn't force adolescents to be too grown-up, but intsead indulges their love of fun and adventure. Take for example, Stand By Me which was released the following year, bearing many similarities to the Goonies (Corey Feldman is in both movies, Chunk is a lot like Vern, and there is a tale of a barfing chain-reaction in both films) but received great critical acclaim and went on to be a legitimate box-office hit. While Stand by Me, had smarter dialogue and better performances, it just wasn't as entertaining as The Goonies. It was an adult film about children, with its irritating introspective middle-aged narrator. The Goonies was a kid's movie about kids. It remains frozen in 1985, obsessed with "gross" and "shit" and references to Michael Jackson. The script is a perfect time capsule of that year in every way, and if you happened to be the same age as The Goonies, in 1985, you probably adored it as much as I did.
After the glorious pirate ship's launch into the ocean, the Goonies are reunited with their ecstatic, loving families. The end. Or is it? For one Goonie, the adventure has just begun. Chunk says to Sloth, "It's OK, Sloth You're gonna live with me now." But shouldn't he have paused to consult his parents before promising an eight-foot freak that he could live wiih them. Had The Goonies become a bigger hit, like E.T. or an Indian Jones, we might have seen a sequel revolving around this sub plot. "Sloth Loves Chunk," is a title that easily springs to mind, perhaps with the potential for a spin-off sit-com on the WB. Another driving force of the sequel could be the sexual-tension packed romance between Steph and Mouth. I could see a Sixteen Candles, John-Hughsey plot revolving around the problems of a senior girl dating a boy in the eighth grade.
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