The Goonies: Review By Raoul Duke

Ahh, The Goonies. Just thinking about this movie warms my heart. Richard Donner directed, Steven Spielberg approved, The Goonies is a story about friendship, adventure, loyalty and above all, finding rich stuff. For those of you who know, you know I don't need to explain why The Goonies is great, for those of you who don't, I'll try my best to explain why this is one of the single greatest movies of the 80's.

First of all, there is the story. A true adventure that will have every kid looking for secret caves in his backyard after watching this. It's the story of a group of friends on the hunt for One Eyed Willies treasure. Treasure that will help save their homes from greedy land developers that will turn their homes into a golf course, if The Goonies don't make it in time that is.

Sean Astin plays bright-eyed Mikey Walsh, the leader of the group, though many years junior his older brother, Brand, played by a very young Josh Brolin. Mikey is an optimist, always looking on the bright side, even when he's being forced to move from the home he grew up in.

Every group needs it's cut up, and Corey Feldman delivers it perfectly as the wise cracking, smart-ass Clark "Mouth" Devereaux. His jokes are some of the funniest parts of the whole movie. Just don't ever get him to translate for you.

As every group needs it's cut-up, it also needs, for lack of a better word, it's fat kid. Jeff Cohen(who since this role has faded out of the acting scene) plays Lawrence "Chunk" Cohen. Chunk is a teller of tall tales, which range from Michael Jackson stopping at his house to use the bathroom to saving elderly people from a flaming nursing home.

Jonathan Ke Quan, who you'll remember from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, where he played the lovable Short Round, plays Richard "Data" Wang, the groups self appointed 007. His gadgets, though constantly backfiring on him, help The Goonies out of quite a few tight spots. And his mispronunciation of words inspire quite a few good laughs.

Then of course, there's the girls. Andy Carmichael(Kerri Green) and Stef Steinbrenner(Martha Plimpton) are practically drug into the treasure hunt. Though not fully unwillingly, as Andy harbors a not so secret crush on Mikey's older brother Brand, as does Brand for her. Kerri Green and her little cheerleader outfit probably jump started quite a few pre-teens into puberty after they saw her in this role.

While every adventure needs it's heroes, it equally needs it's villians. Mama Fratelli (played by the iconic grumpy woman Anne Ramsey) Francis Fratelli (Joe Pantoliano of Sopranos fame) and Jake Fratelli (played by the late Robert Davi) are a family of criminals, hiding out from the heat in what is the starting point of The Goonies adventure. Anne Ramsey delivers a memorable performance, which sadly, was one of her last as she passed away just three years after The Goonies release.

Then of course, there's Sloth (played by the late Raiders defensive end John Matuszak). I think I'm going to leave Sloth a secret, since he is, I feel, one of the best things about the movie.

The story, the characters, the music and the booby traps all add up to one great story of friendship, adventure, and most of all perseverance, because, after all, Goonies never say die.