Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure

1/17/2021

The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure

♥♥♥

Hanging from a crumbling dripstone, a beautifully drawn and painted poster for Richard Donner's The Goonies, which spells high adventure

A small town is getting demolished to make space for a golf court, but the town's mischievous, inventive children take the chance, when they happen upon an old pirate's map in an attic. Pursued by some bumbling criminals their adventure begins.

The Goonies is written by Chris Columbus (Heartbreak Hotel (1988)), based on a story by Steven Spielberg (Saving Private Ryan (1998)), and co-produced and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Richard Donner (Salt and Pepper (1968)).

Several good and very charming child performances save this film from being tedious: Sean Astin (Unleashed (2016)) is sweet as the leader; Ke Huy Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)) is sweet and funny as 'Data'; Corey Feldman (No Witness (2004)) has comedic talent, and Jeff Cohen (Webster (1983, TV-series)) as 'Chunk' acts terrifically, although it hurts some that his overweight character gets treated so poorly. The girl characters are hysterical, dopey and unfortunately simply not very good. SPOILER And the parents turn up out of the blue in the end as if called upon by an invisible 'movie-is-ending' whistle.

Columbus' somewhat obvious script often seems to be the hindrance for this film completely succeeding, and the sound mix is also leaving something to be wished for. Still, The Goonies is mostly an enjoyable film and a fine production.

Richard Donner: 16 Blocks (2006) or, Heavy Traffic!

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 19 mil. $

Box office: 126.4 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.52 times its cost)

[The Goonies opened 7 June (North America) and runs 114 minutes. Shooting took place in Oregon and California from October 1984 - March 1985. Astin has later claimed in his autobiography that Spielberg acted as a co-director during the shoot. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Rambo: First Blood Part II to a 9.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5) and grossed 61.3 mil. $ (49.4 % of the total gross). It was the 9th highest-grossing film of the year in North America. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. It has been re-released in latter years, adding about 2.4 mil. $ to its original gross. Talks and plans for a sequel have been persistent over the years but seem dubious at best. Donner returned with Cyndi Lauper: The Goonies 'R' Good Enough (1985, music video) and theatrically with Lethal Weapon (1987). Astin returned in Cyndi Lauper: The Goonies 'R' Good Enough (1985, music video), The Magical World of Disney (1986, TV-series) and theatrically in White Water Summer (1987); Quan in Cyndi Lauper: The Goonies 'R' Good Enough (1985, music video) and theatrically in Passenger: Sugisarishi hibi (1987); and Feldman in Cyndi Lauper: The Goonies 'R' Good Enough (1985, music video), Family Ties (1986, TV-series) and theatrically in Stand By Me (1986). The Goonies is certified fresh at 76 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Goonies?

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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1/17/2021

The Goonies (1985) - Sweet child performances drive Donner's beloved, uneven adventure

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