This past summer, my maple syrup loving friend paid me a visit all the way from Vermont. Along with his suitcases, he brought one request – he wanted to see where “The Goonies” was filmed.
Upon this suggestion, I looked him directly in the eye and yelled, “goonies never say die!” Once the shock of my response wore off, we booked a hotel and headed to Astoria.
Our problem, however, began from the beginning; I had no recollection of prior visits to Astoria. Thus, we began perusing the streets in search of the Goonies house. After many wrong turns, and a few failed photo-ops, we ended up at the gas station, using the attendant as our guide. Finally we came to the house. While disappointed to find a “no trespassing” sign at the end of the driveway, we had to get creative in order to take pictures that included both our faces and the house in the background. But with some excellent photo skills we got it done, and felt pleased to have documented ourselves in front of the house from one of our favorite childhood films.
I recently stumbled across these pictures and realized that I hadn’t actually seen the film in years. This realization made me begin to wonder if the film itself was really as good as I had remembered, or if my nostalgic recollection had trumped the actual reality of the film.
So, I decided to do a bit of research and sat down last weekend to bask in the company of “The Goonies” film, and boy was I in for a real treat.
For those who have never seen the film, let me enlighten you with a brief overview: The plot of the film is based around a group of kids that goes on a hunt to track down One-Eyed Willie’s hidden treasure. Upon finding the treasure, they are able to save their town from being bought out and destroyed by a large corporation that planned to tear down all their houses to build a golf course. Heartwarming, yes, but near and dear to my heart at 8 years old? Probably not.
Upon my research, however, I realized that the plot of the film holds very little importance in the overall thrill of watching these kids run across the screen. Instead, the lure rests in the blatant stereotypes each character represents to the utmost degree.
First, we have Data, the Asian kid whose ease and skill with gadgets seems to be his only formidable contribution to the group. Next is Chunk, the round, curly-haired boy, whose Hawaiian print T-shirts make him prime material for midday infomercials. Then there’s Mikey, the overprotected, weak kid, who is almost crippled by his asthma. And then, of course, the badass, played by Corey Feldman, who walks around playing tricks on the housekeeper and always acting about 10 times cooler than he actually is.
This is the core group, but outside of them, there’s the macho older brother, the pretty popular girl, the nerdy glasses- wearing, less attractive female, and a mob of Italian gangsters. And last, but certainly not least, we have my personal favorite, the monster. It is my belief that the monster is the soul of the movie. He is the main relatable character.
I personally have no idea how someone found a way to stick all of these characters into one movie, but they did, and it’s definitely entertaining to watch.
Now, as an pseudo-adult, I watch this movie and realize how very disconnected I feel to these characters. And yet I still harbor such a fondness in my heart for the film, which brought me to the question: Why do we have such a need to wax nostalgic about the film? Is it the pirate ships, the crime, the crazy antics of Chunk? Or do we unknowingly feel connected to these kids who go on a trip together? Much like the books “The Baby-Sitters Club” or “The Boxcar Children,” are we a generation defined by large social groups, creating roles for us to play?
I want to say the latter is true, but I can’t be completely sure of that. Because truth be told, I’ve always had a fascination with pirates, and sometimes when I’m in a bit of financial trouble, finding buried treasure sounds like a pretty solid alternative.
All I know is that if we’re picking roles to relate to, I pick Corey Feldman, because everyone wants to be the badass.
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