Goonies never say die
Celebrating the 40th anniversary of a movie with plenty of 'staying power'
Prepare to feel old: The Goonies turns 40 tomorrow. It was originally released on June 7, 1985, directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story developed by Steven Spielberg. The film received mixed-positive reviews at the time, with some critics, like Roger Ebert, citing it as “special because of the high-energy performances of the kids”, while New York Times critic Janet Maslin tossed a note in her mostly positive review, calling the film “almost entirely without staying power”. That’s hilarious because as we know now, 40 years later, The Goonies is one of the most beloved and enduring films about adolescence to come out of the 1980s, an era in which Hollywood regularly made movies for and about teenagers.
The Goonies has a classic 1980s setup—those jagoffs at the country club want a new golf course, and they want to build it on top of the working-class neighborhood known as “the Goon Docks”. The setting is Astoria, Oregon, a foggy place with a dramatic coastline but far from anything glamorous or cool. With their homes under threat of foreclosure, a group of neighborhood kids known as “Goonies” band together to find a legendary pirate treasure and save their homes. Does that make a lot of sense? Not particularly, but back in the 80s it was normal to assume that rich people Shouldn’t Get Everything They Want and for working-class characters to push back on their desire to privatize The Cool Thing Everyone Enjoys.
A relic of its era, The Goonies depicts what we now know is the last generation to fuck around and find out without parental supervision. Riding bikes all day, no cell phones, no way for your parents to find you until they started calling around the neighborhood at dusk, asking for you to be sent home for dinner….
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Squawk to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.