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The Stop
The Goonies is a 1985 action/adventure film, written and produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Richard Donner,1 in which a group of misfit kids find themselves on an adventure involving gangsters, caves, constant peril, booby traps and pirate treasure. Filmed for $19 million, the film has made over $125 million and attained cult status. In 2017, the film was preserved in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry as being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.’2
Synopsis:
Their homes facing foreclosure, a group of young teens - the Goonies - discover a map to the lost treasure of a legendary pirate.3 Led by the ever-optimistic Mikey, they follow the map to an abandoned restaurant which they discover is the hideout of the Fratelli crime family. The kids escape through a tunnel in the basement, but not before one of them - Chunk - is captured. Interrogated by the Fratellis, Chunk tells them where the Goonies have gone. The criminals imprison him with their deformed brother, Sloth, and set off after the kids and the treasure.
Evading numerous booby traps, and after many adventures - and getting very, very wet - the Goonies discover One-Eyed Willy’s pirate ship in a secret grotto. As they fill their pockets with treasure, the Fratellis appear, take their loot and make them walk the plank. Suddenly Chunk arrives with Sloth and distracts the Fratellis long enough for the Goonies to jump overboard and swim to safety. The Fratellis grab all the treasure they can, triggering the final booby trap which causes a cave-in. With Sloth's help, the Goonies and Fratellis barely escape.
They all emerge on the beach and the Fratellis are arrested. Just as Mikey’s father is about to sign the foreclosure papers, their housekeeper discovers Mikey's marble bag is filled with gems he took from the ship and Mikey's father rips up the papers. The kids start to tell the tale of their adventure to the disbelieving press and police, and the pirate ship, broken free of the grotto, is seen sailing off on its own in the distance.4
One remarkable aspect of the film is its cast. With the exception of Jeff Cohen (Chunk) who became an attorney and hasn’t acted since 1991, much of the young cast are still active in the entertainment industry. Some of these include:
Josh Brolin (Brand) has earned numerous awards and starred in No Country for Old Men, Milk, True Grit, Inherent Vice, various Avengers films and the recent Dune.
Sean Astin (Mikey) starred as Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and was in Stranger Things as Winona Ryder’s5 romantic interest.
Corey Feldman (Mouth) starred in Stand By Me, The Lost Boys and License to Drive and remains active in minor television series and reality shows.
Martha Plimpton (Stef) starred in The Mosquito Coast, Parenthood and has been in a host of Broadway theatre productions in addition to winning an Emmy for her work in The Good Wife.
You can see the original trailer from 1985 here:
The Detour
Today’s Detour is to a review of Straits, a new biography of Ferdinand Magellan. The Sixteenth Century adventurer sought a westward route to the Spice Islands, discovered (and named) the Straits of Magellan, lost most of his crew to mutiny and disease, named the Pacific Ocean, believed he had divine powers, and died in battle trying to conquer the Philippines. The review is a brilliant read - and I’ll definitely be getting the book.
Going to the Ends of the Earth
The Book
Sticking with the subterranean theme, today’s book is Richard Church’s Five Boys in a Cave. Though I haven’t read this since checking it out of the library when I was probably ten, the plot involving a group of friends exploring a cave system has remained in my head ever since.
As the book was published in 1951, the only available reviews are quite brief. This thread from Goodreads is informative, though: Five Boys in a Cave
Unfortunately Five Boys in a Cave is out of print. To read it, you’ll either need to get lucky at your local library - or find it in a used bookstore. Regardless, it’s unavailable new from Amazon6 - and that’s a bonus for everyone.
The Sounds
Today’s playlist is composed entirely of songs from albums released in 1985. The Talking Heads, The Cure, The Cult, INXS (just as they were becoming famous) and one of my favourite Dire Straits tracks - what’s not to love? It’s not The Goonies soundtrack,7 but these were certainly in the atmosphere at the time.
The Thought
Today’s Thought is a quote from the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704):
“What worries you, masters you.”
If you have a thought on this Thought - or any part of today’s issue - please leave a comment below:
And that’s the end of this stop - I hope you enjoyed a brief diversion from your regular journey!
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Until the next stop …
Fun fact: the screenplay was written by Chris Columbus who, after writing a number of 1980s teen comedies, became a director. Adventures in Babysitting, Home Alone, Mrs Doubtfire, a couple of the Harry Potter films … they’re all his.
There are, of course, certain aspects of the film that don’t necessarily work well today. Stereotypes are both present and a source of humour throughout. CommonSenseMedia.org notes these include ‘fat-phobic jokes, an Asian character who’s a gadget fanatic, Italian American mobsters,’ and a deformed man who is ‘considered a monster by his family and chained up under the stairs.’ Looking at it with my 21st Century eyes, I can’t help but think it’s a bit more problematic than that, but - hey - it was the 80s. And the film is fun - and certainly worthy of its ‘classic’ status.
The pirate is named One-Eyed Willy. Which means - that’s right - the film is about a close-knit band of young pubescent boys who suddenly find themselves on an adventure hunting for … One-Eyed Willy. While underground in a series of dripping caves, surrounded by threat and peril. It’s a Freudian interpreter’s dream come true.
Freudian dreams notwithstanding, The Goonies was exactly what I (and, evidently many, many kids) wanted at the time: a rollicking adventure with your best friends. The fact that the characters - and the target demographic - are at the age when reality is causing this possibility to fade is probably why it works so well.
Yep, Winona Ryder. Who is essentially a synonym for the mid-1980s.
Or anywhere, actually.
It’s certainly an interesting listen: Cyndi Lauper, Luther Vandross, The Bangles and REO Speedwagon …
With respect to The Goonies, the town of Astoria, Oregon has a large business playing on the fact that the film was shot there, even tours of locations. Added fun fact, Kindergarten Cop also shot in Astoria. Pretty place to visit, lots of brewpubs!