Sunday, September 5, 2010

Everyone Should See The Goonies

By Christie Boyle

Goonies for life! If you were a child of the eighties, you certainly remember this classic. If you haven't seen it yet, think Stand By Me meets Indiana Jones meets Pirates of the Caribbean. The end result is a thrilling, funny, exciting, and really fun adventure flick that entertains everybody of every age no matter who you are. If it's been awhile, put it on your movie downloads queue and relive the eighties with one of the all time great family adventure films.

The movie follows The Goonies, led by Mikey Walsh, son of a museum curator. This gang of misfits hails from the Boon Docks of Astoria, Oregon. The movie really kicks into the story when the rich folks in Astoria decide they're going to buy the Goonies' neighborhood, tear it down, and build a golf course in its place. Boooo! That's what we in the industry call a real Jerk Move!

So of course, the Goonies take it upon themselves to save the neighborhood, right? Right. Mikey finds an old pirate treasure map in dad's stuff in the attic, and he and the Goonies follow it to an old abandoned restaurant out on the coast at the edge of town. Turns out, some real sleazy gangsters are hiding out there, the Fratellis. These guys, led by Ma Fratelli, a real ball buster, are about as sleazy as it gets, as played by Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi.

It sounds like a lot of information to take in all at once: Pirates, the mafia, buried treasure, foreclosures... But if you just stay along for the ride, you don't have to worry about keeping track of all that. Just enjoy it for what it is, a fast paced, action filled adventure romp through caves and crypts, culminating in a showdown on an underground pirate ship.

It's really just a whole lot of fun. It inspires you with a sense of adventure, like this stuff can happen in real life. While it's not likely that it WILL happen, the movie is at least rooted enough in reality that it doesn't get into the supernatural or anything like that, so it could, technically, happen in real life, no matter how implausible and unlikely that might be.

When the movie first came out, it was actually considered to be just a bit TOO wild and fast paced. Times have changed, and with the manic pace and constant chase scenes of modern family films, The Goonies feels downright laid back in comparison.

Regardless, the film is a classic of the eighties era of adventure movies. Back when Indiana Jones was big, you had a bunch of people who wanted to join in and put their own spin on it. The Goonies was actually devised by Spielberg himself, so it was sort of his own take on his own ideas: Put kids in place of Indiana Jones.

But it really is a classic in its own right. If you haven't seen it in awhile, watch it again. Any child of the eighties should have a copy on their hard drive ready to watch at the drop of a hat. You'll need it for when you have kids of your own and you want them to know how good movies used to be back when you were a kid!

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