Some kids wanted to be firefighters, astronauts, singers, or movie stars. But when I was young, all I wanted to be was a pirate, and it was all thanks to a movie that probably wouldn’t exist without Steven Spielberg.
With 35 directing credits to his name (including his latest film, the ’80s sci-fi throwback Disclosure Day), Spielberg boasts one of the biggest and most influential filmographies of all time. But he didn’t technically direct what many movie fans may argue is his greatest contribution to film.
The Goonies was technically directed by Richard Donner (Superman, Lethal Weapon), but Spielberg’s influence is apparent throughout. The E.T. director not only has a “story by” credit but also played a significant role in the film’s production, similar to his involvement in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist. But regardless of exactly how much Spielberg was involved, there’s no denying the impact and staying power of The Goonies. Released in 1985 and played on cable TV throughout the ’90s, it was The Curse of the Black Pearl of my childhood. And, just in time for Spielberg’s latest romp, it’s now free for everyone to watch on Pluto TV.
While the bulk of family films from the ’80s have become nostalgic curiosities, The Goonies still feels fresh in how it approaches adventure. Throughout its nearly two-hour runtime, Donner and Spielberg maintain an exciting yet dangerous tone with the occasional hijinks, often led by Chunk (Jeff Cohen), the inarguable star of the film. It’s no surprise it went on to influence everything from Stranger Things and Super 8 to the recent It adaptations. It’s still one of the finest blueprints for the kid-adventure genre.
The setup is deceptively simple. With his family home facing foreclosure, Mikey Walsh (Sean Astin) and his friends discover a treasure map in their attic that may lead to the long-lost fortune of legendary pirate One-Eyed Willy. Mikey believes that finding the treasure can help save them all from losing the Goon Docks to a nearby golf course. What follows is a winding quest through skeleton-riddled underground tunnels and ancient booby traps, all while the kids are being chased by a criminal family of counterfeiters whose hideout sits directly above the treasure.
The adventure and treasure are two thrilling elements of The Goonies, but what makes the movie so special is the way it treats its young cast. These kids don’t feel like polished movie stars. They talk over one another, argue constantly, panic under pressure, and frequently make terrible decisions. The chemistry between them is so natural it often feels like you’re watching an actual group of friends stumble into an adventure rather than actors following a script.
No character embodies that better than Chunk, who remains one of the funniest figures in family-film history. Whether he’s obsessing over food, dropping nearly everything he touches, or telling stories nobody believes, Chunk is a walking disaster, but the movie understands exactly how to use him for comedy. One of my favorite blink-and-you’ll-miss-it scenes is at the very beginning. After Data (Ke Huy Quan) breaks the screen door, all the characters are outside on the porch and walk back into the house using the door normally, but Chunk just walks right through the broken screen frame. Sure, it’s a silly gag, but it’s exactly the kind of subtle moment that makes The Goonies as hilarious as it is brilliant in drawing out the personalities of its many characters.
For a family action-adventure, The Goonies also gets surprisingly dark, with dead bodies, skeletons, threats of violence, and enough fatal situations to make modern studio executives sweat. Even the movie’s structure reinforces that sense of danger. Early in the film, Mikey rigs a bowling-ball trap that is played largely for laughs, but a very similar trap shows up later inside the bowels of One-Eyed Willy’s hideout, twisting that same bit into a genuine obstacle that could kill the Goonies.
That escalating sense of peril helps make the adventure feel real. Every step forward carries consequences, and every discovery feels earned — even when it’s Chunk finding ice cream. But if there’s one reason The Goonies has endured for four decades, it’s because it taps into a universal childhood fantasy. The legends surrounding One-Eyed Willy, the mystery of Chester Copperpot, and the eventual discovery of Willy’s magnificent ship, the Inferno, all combine to create a mythology that feels enormous through the eyes of a child. (I still own old childhood books on pirates because of my early obsession born from The Goonies).
What gives the treasure hunt its emotional weight is the strange bond the film creates between Mikey and One-Eyed Willy. For most of The Goonies, Willy exists only as a legend, but Mikey seems to understand him better than anyone else. As the group moves deeper underground, Mikey begins to see the traps not as barriers, but as challenges left behind by someone who thought the same way he does. Mikey instinctively understands the logic behind Willy’s challenges because he thinks the same way: every dead end is simply another puzzle waiting to be solved. By the end of the film, it feels like he’s finally understood the man behind the legend.
The Goonies‘ treasure hunt isn’t really about gold, but about believing the world still has secrets left to uncover. That’s why this movie continues to resonate four decades later. Mikey’s determination to save the Goon Docks gives the film an emotional core that elevates it beyond a simple adventure. It’s the kind of story only Steven Spielberg could dream up, even if he needed a director like Richard Donner to finish the job.
70 snapshots from a 50-year career.
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Final Score
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