Since 1985, the Steven Spielberg-produced movie "The Goonies" has thrived as an enduring cult classic. To mark the 25th anniversary of the film, thousands of fans and original cast members, including Corey Feldman and Sean Astin, made the pilgrimage to Astoria, Oregon, where much of the film was shot, to celebrate the Goonies' never-say-die attitude.
In the movie, a group of misfit boys calling themselves the Goonies stumble upon a centuries-old map for pirate's treasure. A developer has nearly foreclosed their families' houses to expand his golf course, so the kids jump at the chance to save their homes. But they soon find out that the caverns containing the treasure are booby-trapped--and they're not the only hunters after the loot.
Fans who grew up adoring the lost-treasure quest were rewarded with some buried secrets about "The Goonies" during the weekend celebration. A 30-minute documentary about the cult classic revealed an alternate ending and the fact that Spielberg himself originally filmed a scene involving two escaped gorillas that steal a "red convertible and go tooling around town," according to the film's director, Richard Donner.
In that now-lost scene, the primates escape from a circus act when a police officer hears "frantic pounding and agonized screams" from the back of a van. Ripping open the door, the gorillas bowl over the cop and take off in the convertible of the preppy jock character (Steve Antin). Why was such a wild scene cut out? "I don't think the ape suits really worked," Donner admits. Considering the ape suits came from the justifiably forgotten movie "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes," it's easy to see what he's talking about.
As for the alternate ending, the housekeeper finds the rubies in Mikey's jacket back in the family's laundry room instead of at Bodega Bay. Originally, the pirate ship remained buried under the rubble instead of magically sailing off into the horizon. (Mikey, by the way, was played by Sean Astin, who went on to greater stardom as Sam Gamgee in the "Lord of the Rings" films. Josh Brolin also made his film debut with "The Goonies.")
There's another deleted scene in which the Goonies face off against a rather unconvincing mechanical octopus. How did the kids beat the hungry squid? With the power of '80s music, of course! Data (Jonathan Ke Quon, who also played the boy in "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom") shoves his blaring Walkman into the octopus, exclaiming "giant sushi!" Naturally, the octopus swam away as fast as possible.
In the documentary, Corey Feldman shared that the he actually met longtime friend Corey Haim through "The Goonies." In fact, both auditioned for the role of the lovably obnoxious Mouth. When Haim passed away at 38 this March, "Goonies" co-star Sean Astin called Feldman immediately. "Sean was the first one to call me when Corey Haim died," Feldman said. "We have that true friendship."
Haim and Feldman weren't the only ones who tried out for the role of Mouth. Jeff Cohen, the actor who played Chunk in the film, said he wanted the lead role, but the casting directors "said I sound like a Mouth, but I look like a Chunk. So I went back for a second time and learned the new lines." Cohen can't convincingly do the Truffle Shuffle any more, though--the 35-year-old entertainment lawyer has long since lost his baby fat. "Steven [Spielberg] said I went from Chunk to Hunk," Cohen told People, "and I defer to his superior judgment."
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