Release Year: 1984

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family

Director: Richard Donner

Writer: Chris Columbus and Steven Spielberg

Stars: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Jeff Cohen

Been up to your attic lately?

You never know what you're going to find up there. Interesting historical artifacts—like an eight-track tape player. Antiques—like your grandpa's collection of souvenir snow globes. A box full of those puff paint sweatshirts your mom used to make for you and then force you to wear in public.

Oh, yeah…or a 17th century map that leads to an ancient and storied pirate treasure.

Shake that booty.

It isn't hard to see what it is about The Goonies that appeals to a younger audience. Who among us hasn't dreamed about uncovering a treasure map, swashbuckling our way through a series of underground tunnels, fending off a bunch of much older and dangerous baddies, or becoming an absolute hero in our parents' eyes? This flick caters to just about childhood fantasy a kid can have. About all it's missing is an invisibility cloak.

And yet…adults love this thing too. Maybe it's because it reminds them of their own childhood and lost sense of adventure; maybe it's because they still secretly dream of putting on a Superman shirt and pirate hat and knifing their way down the length of a mainsail. Maybe it's because adults can appreciate the Goonies' innuendo better than youngsters—this film has a pirate named One-Eyed Willie, after all. (Tee hee.)

Or maybe it's just that The Goonies is so totally fantastic.

Whatever the age, and whatever the draw, The Goonies is an enduring classic. Produced by Warner Bros. and Amblin Entertainment and released in 1985, the movie became a hit faster than you can say "Slick Shoes." It ended up being one of the top ten highest-grossing films of that year, and was just getting started. It has since achieved cult hit status, and now gets only slightly less play than Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Big Lebowski.

This movie's totally entrenched in the American pop cultural consciousness. When a movie makes phrases as bizarre-o as "Sloth love Chunk" or "Truffle Shuffle" not only comprehensible but also iconic… well, you know it's a hit for the ages.

Ah, yes. Childhood. That magical, pastel-colored wonderland full of sunshine, ponies, cupcakes, sing-alongs and… insane criminal families hell-bent on murdering a group of tweens.

Hmm. To quote Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the others.

We tend to think of kids' movies as being sparkly, happy, and totally devoid of real danger. Think Cinderella. Think Babe. Think brightly colored Pixar perfection. These aren't the kinds of movies that would inspire cult classic status and result in midnight showings at indie theaters in college towns.

And while there ain't nothing wrong with happy-go-lucky kiddie films (who doesn't love Monsters, Inc.?) they're not exactly edgy.

But back in the 1980s, kid's movies had more edge than a switchblade knife…and almost as much implicit danger.

In The Goonies, the kids look up to a pirate. That's right: their idol is a murderous criminal. And in order to plunder this dead pirate's booty (tee hee: booty), the gang of Goonies travels through a set of booby traps (tee hee: booby) that would leave Indiana Jones broken out in a cold sweat. They dodge real-deal danger—dismemberment, being crushed, being suffocated by bats—in order to complete what is quite literally an act of grave robbing. Oh yeah: and they stumble across about half a dozen corpses in their quest.

Yeah. Compare that plot to, say, Inside Out. On the one hand we have death and crime and on the other we have… a girl who moves from Minnesota to California.

As Roger Ebert says:

There used to be children's movies and adult movies. Now Spielberg has found an in-between niche, for young teenagers who have fairly sophisticated tastes in horror.…His technique is to take his thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds and let them act a little older than their age. It's more refreshing than the old Disney technique, which was to take characters of all ages and have them behave as if they were twelve. (Source)

We tend to think that most of what Ebert says is sage-like—we idolize him in much the same way that Mikey idolizes One-Eyed Willy—but we think this is especially right on the money. The Goonies works because it's a movie laced with real horror elements, and because it allows its protagonists to face challenges that would make grown-ups quiver in fear.

And The Goonies is made all the more special because its edginess is a rarity. An Atlantic Monthly article titled, "1985: The Last Great Year in Film for Kids and Young Adults," breaks down one reason why the kids' movies of today play it safe:

A PG movie with those [adult] themes couldn't be made today thanks to the dominance of the PG-13 rating, which bifurcated films for younger audiences after it was introduced in 1984. (Source)

We're loath to say it, but when your parents tell you that "kids movies used to be so much better," they actually have a point. Kids' movies used to be darker, more violent, and more ominous. And, as The Goonies proves, they had some serious staying power.