10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Making Of The Goonies

The Goonies is one of the most iconic ’80s movies ever made. The teenage adventure tale of a group of Oregon misfits who find a treasure map and go on a harrowing journey to find a lost treasure is a classic example of Spielbergian entertainment. Despite a relatively soft box-office opening in 1985, the film went on to become a major hit.

Starring Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Jeff Cohen, Maggie Green, Jonathan Ke Quan, Martha Plimpton, Joey Pantoliano, Robert Davi, and Anne Ramsay, The Goonies turns 35 years old this month. In celebration, here are 10 behind-the-scenes facts about the making of The Goonies.

10 Treasure Map Prop

Once production on The Goonies wrapped, star Sean Astin was given the beat-up treasure map prop used in the film to take home as a memento. In the film, the map is found in Mikey’s (Astin) attic, prompting the Goonies to go off on an adventure to find a trove of lost treasure.

Years after the movie came out, Astin’s mother Patty Duke found the prop map in her house. Thinking it was a bundled up piece of trash, she threw the map in the garbage, much to Astin’s dismay.

9 Pirate Ship

One Eye Willie’s pirate ship The Inferno featured in The Goonies was a real ship that was constructed specifically for the production. The 105-foot long ship took two-and-a-half months to build.

The ship was patterned after Errol Flynn’s ship in the 1940 film The Seahawk. Roughly 7,000 square feet of materials were used to construct the ship, and the methods used were later used to refurbish Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Once production wrapped, the ship was offered to anyone who would take it. When it went unclaimed, the structure was destroyed.

8 Recycled Music

Much of the musical compositions heard during the action/adventure scenes were recycled from the 1948 film Adventures of Don Juan, starring Errol Flynn.

The music parallels the movies Sloth watches while chained-up in the basement. He watches a slew of pirate pictures from the 1940s and 50s, imagining himself as a heroic figure seen on-screen. In the end, Sloth slides down the pirate ship sail just as Flynn does in one of the movies he watches.

7 Filming Extras

Many of the background extras in The Goonies were played by the various crew and family members. For example, the man who plays Mouth’s father at the end of the film was a cameraman. Several other family members were played by the actors’ real-life kin. Chunk’s mom was played by actor Jeff Cohen’s mother, for example.

In addition, a stunt man played the dead FBI agent stuck in a freezer. Director Richard Donner and one of his assistant directors also appear as police officers arriving on the beach via ATV at the end of the film.

6 Sloth’s Makeup

Former NFL player John Matuszak’s makeup for the role of Sloth took roughly five hours to apply each day. For the movement of one of the misplaced eyes on his face, a remote control mechanically operated the prop from off-screen.

In order to synchronize Sloth’s blinking eyes, a production member would count down off-screen to let Matuszak know exactly when to squint. For the scenes in and around the pirate ship, the cast was told not to get Matuszak wet for fear of ruining the rig. The kids got him wet anyway, prompting a one-week shutdown.

5 Strategic Profanity

The S-word and its variations are uttered 20 times throughout the PG-rated movie. In order to skirt a harsher rating, the profanity spoken in the film was strategically placed so that the words could be drowned out by the background noise.

For TV broadcasts, a simple hike in volume of the movie’s score would make the profanity inaudible. In one scene when the rocks begin falling beneath the Goonies’ feet, Data screams out “Holy S-H-*-T” rather than saying the word in full.

4 Cyndi Lauper Video

Prior to heading out to find the lost treasure, the Goonies are seen watching MTV in Mike and Brand’s home. The music video they watch is Cyndi Lauper’s “Goonies R Good Enough,” which she co-wrote for the film and made a 12-minute music video to help promote the release.

However, the video was shot six months after the film had wrapped. That means the Goonies would have been watching another video at the time of filming, which was then swapped out for Lauper’s video in post-production.

3 Octopus Scene

Richard Donner deliberately kept the pirate ship prop away from the cast’s eyes prior to filming. His goal was to elicit a genuine reaction on film by showing them the ship for the first time as the cameras rolled. However, Josh Brolin shouted profanity and the scene had to be re-shot.

Right after they spot the ship, an original scene in the film included the kids being attacked by a large octopus. Mention is made of a giant octopus when the kids are rescued by police at the end. Additionally, a song called “8 Arms to Hold You” was meant to accompany the octopus scene, but was cut along with the attack.

2 Original Ending

In the screenplay by Christopher Columbus, the ending was much different than what appears onscreen. The initial plan was to have Mike and his family return home, where Rosalita would then find the bag of jewels while doing laundry.

The ending was changed as a way to feature all the characters reuniting with their parents at the beach. The change was primarily made to accommodate the awe-inspiring shot of One-Eye Willy’s pirate ship sailing away.

1 Surprise Party

During the final week of filming, director Richard Donner noticed that the cast members began acting a bit cold and distant towards him. He had no idea why they were upset, if at all.

Once production wrapped, Donner went to his vacation home in Hawaii. When he arrived, he was surprised to see that producer Steven Spielberg had secretly flown the entire cast to Hawaii to celebrate the completion of the project. The kids were told by Spielberg to act mean to Donner in order to keep the surprise a secret.