Widescreen: 'Goonies' celebrates 35 years with a treasure chest full of goodies
Any movie's milestone anniversary gives the marketing department a good reason to hype an old catalog title, and Sunday will be the 35th trip around the sun for a movie I often popped in the Betamax player in the basement.
"The Goonies" was Indiana Jones for foul-mouthed kids. (Like, uh, Mouth, the fast-talking teen played by Corey Feldman.) The heroes of the title live in an Oregon neighborhood that's about to be taken over and razed by a country club unless someone can come up with a whole lot of money. But hey, what's that in Mikey's (Sean Astin) attic? Is that ... a treasure map?
Written by Chris Columbus ("Home Alone"), directed by Richard Donner ("Superman: The Movie") and produced by Steven Spielberg (I think you know his pedigree), "The Goonies" becomes a race to the "rich stuff" beneath Astoria between the kids and a trio of gangsters led by Mama Fratelli (Anne Ramsey). They encounter booby traps, a pirate ship and even a waterslide.
You can get in the spirit with a new 35th anniversary gift box in the shape of a treasure chest containing 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and digital copies of the movie; buttons with characters and sayings from the movie ("HEY YOU GUYS!"); a replica of that map I mentioned before; and an embroidered patch.
You'll have to wait until Sept. 1, though. You can preorder it for $49.99 at your online retailer of choice.
If you want to relive you childhood right now, "The Goonies" is streaming on HBOmax. Beware, mateys - there's a lot of PG-13 humor in this kids' movie made before PG-13 was a thing. You might want to have a nostalgic screening for yourself before showing it to your little pirates.
More Truffle Shufflin'
For $39.99 you can get a "Goonies"-themed Monopoly board that swaps in locations from the movie for Park Place and Boardwalk. Instead of the race car and the thimble, your player tokens include a skull and crossbones, a doubloon, and a certain infamous statue. ("That's my mom's most favorite piece!")
And for the cost of absolutely nothing, you can watch a "Goonies" Zoom reunion hosted by actor Josh Gad on his YouTube channel. The video, made to benefit the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, brings together most of the cast, including Josh Brolin and Joe Pantoliano, along with Donner, Spielberg and Cyndi Lauper, who sang the movie's catchy theme song, "The Goonies 'r' Good Enough."
And if you like that reunion video, you'll probably like Gad's talks with the casts of "Back to the Future," "Splash" and "The Lord of the Rings," too.
• Follow Sean (from a distance) on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.