The Goonies Trivia: 10 Amazing Facts About the 80s Adventure

One of the most treasured adventure films of the 1980s, The Goonies is a thrilling and heart-warming triumph from producer Steven Spielberg. It sees a group of young friends as they hunt for treasure in order to save their house from getting re-possessed, and they go head-to-head with a family of criminals.

We’ve found 10 awesome facts about the film…

1) Sean Astin’s mum binned One Eyed Willy’s treasure map

As a souvenir of his time working on the film, Sean Astin asked if he could keep the famous treasure map. His wish was granted, and after some time, the map wound up in Astin’s attic. When his mother was having a clear out some years later, she came across the map, thought it was scrap paper, and threw it out with the rubbish.

2) The pirate ship was kept a secret from the actors

No trickery was used for the pirate ship. The Inferno was a real, 105-foot-long working vessel that actually sailed! It was kept completely hidden from the actors until the scene where they see it for the first time, because the director wanted to catch their real first reactions. Unfortunately, those reactions had to be re-filmed because in his surprise Josh Brolin shouted, ‘holy shit!’ which rather spoiled the magical moment.

3) Ke Huy Quan spelt out S-H-I-T because of a promise to his mum

When the cave begins to collapse all around the Goonies, Data shouts out ‘Holy S-H-I-T!’ The script originally called for him to say ‘shit,’ but young actor Ke Huy Quan had made a promise to his mother that he would avoid using any bad language. He kept his promise.

4) Mother Fratelli really slapped Robert Davi

To stop her sons from arguing, Mother Fratelli delivered a fierce slap to the face of Robert Davi. This was completely genuine. The actress was told not to hold back when it came to slapping him, so she really went for it!

5) Parts of the ship ended up in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride

After filming, the ship was offered up for anyone that wanted it. Nobody came forward, though, and so it was sadly broken up for scrap. Some of the rigging ended up getting shipped to Disneyland, where it was used in renovations that were taking place on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride!

6) Blinking in sequence

John Matuszak, the actor who played Sloth (the deformed Fratelli brother) had to sit in the make-up chair for 5 hours. One of the character’s prosthetic eyes is out of place on his face, and a crew member controlled the blinking of the eye via remote control, off camera. John was given a countdown every time he could his own real eye, so that they could make the artificial eye blink at the same time.

7) Robert Davi is a trained opera singer

In one of the only scenes where the Fratellis show some kindness to Sloth, Francis sings opera to him. This was Robert Davi’s idea, as the actor is actually a trained opera singer. The piece he sings is from ‘Madama butterfly’.

8) Sloth’s Oakland Raiders shirt

Sloth is wearing a shirt of the football team Oakland Raiders. The actor who plays him, John Matuszak, is a well known football player in the NFL, and actually played the the Oakland Raiders for a number of years!

9) There’s a reference to Gremlins

In case you never picked up on it, when Chunk calls the police, they respond with, ‘This is like the prank about creatures who multiply when you throw water on them.’ This is, of course, in reference to 1984 classic horror-comedy Gremlins. The Goonies and Gremlins actually share a screenwriter: Mr Chris Columbus!

This line also popped up in the trailer, which you can watch lower down in this article!

10) The Goonies fought a giant octopus

Have you ever wondered why, at the end of the film when the police ask them what they’ve been through, one of the kids mentions that they ‘fought a giant octopus’? Well, there was actually a scene that was cut from the film that featured exactly that – the gang comes up against a tentacled beast that they had to fight their way past to continue on their adventure. Although the scene was dropped from the finished film, that comment at the end was left in.

There you have it – 10 things you might not have known about The Goonies!