Character Analysis
Piano Woman
1980's Hollywood wasn't exactly known for its strong female characters. In keeping with the norm, Andy spends most of this movie freaking out about bats, freaking out about skeletons, and freaking out about…rakes.
She acts like…well, probably like most of us would act in that situation. But she's definitely the one who does not want to be there. Kisses from Brand notwithstanding.
But there's some good news. Rather than just being "the pretty girl who screams" throughout the entire movie, she has a chance near the end of the Goonies' journey to pitch in, i.e. save all of their sorry butts.
When they come upon the bone organ, Andy has to call upon her middling musical skillz to play the chords written on the back of the map and lower the bridge that will guide them to safety. The only problem? Andy hasn't taken piano lessons since she was four. That's a lot to ask of a person. When we were four, about all we could play was "Chopsticks," so any chords at all would have been over our heads.
But, after a couple of near-fatal missteps, Andy comes through. She shows that she actually has something to contribute to the group…other than to warn them that there's danger up ahead by screaming her lungs out. And, because Stef really doesn't do much, it's important that we've got a female character here who can pull her weight.
After all, the only other female character of any significance is Mama Fratelli, and we don't see a lot of young girls looking up to her.
Andy's Timeline