The Goonies

Pirates and buried treasure are always goods elements to an adventure story, case in point the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, but in the mid 80s there was one story that fulfilled every little boys fantasy about the subject. Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner teamed up to give us the high adventure tale of The Goonies, and in so doing released the treasure hunter in all of us. The cast of actors that were gathered together for this film works all the way around, from Corey Feldman playing the wisecracking big mouth to Sean Aston as the sickly little brother, everyone plays there parts like it was second nature.
A group of young boys band together to search for the buried treasure of the pirate One-Eyed Willy, and along the way they discover that there are some things in life that are worth more than treasure. The action sequences with the injection of comedy that Donner puts on display here shows the early work that he did on Gilligan's Island and the action story that was shown on the Banana Splits Show, Danger Island, helped him make the movie an instant classic. Also throughout the movie you see different pulley and weight contraptions that were developed in a homage tribute to the Warner Bros. cartoons with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.
I can remember seeing this film in the theater back in 1985 and being amazed by the craftsmanship that went into making such an enjoyable movie, and after all these years it still makes me feel the way I did back then. The making of this film must have been a task and a half, there are so many places where detail was a must and the prop department came through in spades. The biggest prop that was constructed for this film was the pirate ship, and since you only see it the last 15 minutes the studio was very worried that the film was going to be a flop. But there was nothing to worry about; the movie is so fun and enjoyable that even 26 years after its release, it hasn't really aged, except for the music and some of the cloths. If you have kids that have never seen this one, I suggest making some popcorn and sit back for a ride that they'll enjoy from the very beginning.