Sunday, September 5, 2010

Everyone Should See The Goonies

By Christie Boyle

If you remember the eighties, then you certainly remember The Goonies. This movie was a classic. On the other hand, if you still haven't seen it for some crazy reason... Think Pirates of the Caribbean meets Stand By Me meets Indiana Jones meets The Sopranos meets... Well, it's a whole lot of different movies all wrapped into one, really. It's primarily an adventure flick, but it makes a lot of stops along the way, and stands as one of the all time classic kids movie downloads.

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.

With the pirates, the foreclosure subplot, the gangsters, the treasure, the coming of age thread, it... Sounds kind of complicated, right? Well, it really isn't. Remember, the only reason all these other factors are there is to keep the movie moving. It's all about adventure, and the gangsters and rich kids and all that, that's just something for the Goonies to always be running away from as they go from booby trap to booby trap and develop deeper bonds of friendship.

The movie is really a lot of fun. What makes it work is that it's shot in a fairly matter of fact style. It doesn't feel like a fantasy film, really. It feels just as real as Stand By Me or any other coming of age film. The fact that it has pirate ships and all kinds of crazy stuff like that, well, that's sort of just the background of the movie.

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.

Anyways, it really is one of the quintessential eighties flicks. The style, the music, the genre, even, it's all eighties, so at the very least, it'll bring you back if you grew up in that decade.

However you look at it, the movie's a classic. It's sort of like Indiana Jones with kids in the lead. If you have fond memories of the film from your childhood, give it another watch, and keep it on your hard drive to share with your own kids one of these days.

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