Another Anniversary: Goonies are Good Enough

by Gigi

It's been a great year since we launched this blog. In the time since we started planning the Pens Fatales last spring, I signed with an agent, bought my first house, wrote my first Young Adult mystery, and have had a blast on this blog. (At left is one of my favorite photos I've taken of the group.)

The other Pens have thoroughly summed up how this idea grew into something more than we ever imagined. I couldn't say it any better myself, so instead, today I'm going to talk about another important anniversary that's happening this week: the 25th anniversary of The Goonies.

Oh yes, I'm talking about that cult movie classic from childhood.

The Goonies has a special place in my heart. Like the MacGyver homage I wrote and filmed as a teenager, The Rescue of Mac and Sam: A Mission of Friendship, I also made a Goonies movie.

A friend and I were lucky enough to spend a summer in Europe when we were 16. Thus was born The Goonies Go To Europe.

Remember the story of the Goonies? A scrappy group of kids goes on a treasure hunt in search of one-eyed Willie's pirate treasure along the Oregon coast, to save their parents' houses from being foreclosed.

Like my MacGyver movie, the starting point of our movie was the end of the real movie, where the Goonies have found the treasure, captured the bad guys, and everyone is happy. The premise for our "sequel" was that the authorities didn't believe the riches were from a pirate treasure, and the Goonies' parents have been sent to jail. Thus, our Goonie alter egos, "Hikey" and "Feta" -- instead of the real characters Mikey and Data -- go on a Goonie adventure to prove their innocence.

We filmed scenes like running from bad guys through an overgrown glen in Scotland (where we accidentally fell down a muddy hillside -- but at least we got it on tape!), and found a clue in the mouth of a lion in Trafalgar square.


Unlike my MacGyver movie, this one didn't have a coherent plot. But with our spoofs of Data's ingenious inventions -- e.g. duct tape on our shoes to climb back up that muddy hill -- we captured the spirit of the adventure. (Um, at least that's what we were going for.)

Last weekend was the official 25th anniversary of the real film. Filmed in and around Astoria, Oregon, "The Goon Docks" storefront was set up in Astoria, and the whole town was participating in a Goonies treasure hunt and other activities.

I was visiting Oregon at the time for my dad's birthday, so I got to check out the festivities.

We went by the Goonies house in Astoria, and out to the coastal rocks that gave the Goonies the fateful clue that led to their great adventure.

I had to fly home before the screening of the new Goonies documentary. But I think it was for the best. I want to remember the magic of the movie that inspired my imagination when I was a kid, not learn about whatever happened behind the scenes.

Yeah, it's been a great week with two exciting anniversaries.