Monday, October 6, 2008

Down at the Goondocks

I just finished watching The Goonies for the eleventy thousandth time. It was one of the first movies I went to all by myself. This was before the days of stadium seating and multi-plexes. Our little town had one theater with two screens. We got movies weeks or months after the rest of the world, but in our insulated reality, we didn't know or care. My best friend and I walked to the theater, which was located on the main street, about five blocks from our houses. I was 11 years old. Do parents even let their 11 year olds walk themselves to school these days, let alone a movie?

The years have dulled my memories of the minutiae of that movie-going experience, but I can say with absolute clarity that I was mesmerized. I saw myself in the Goonies. Always the new kid, I knew what it felt like to be an outsider. I knew what it was to dream of great adventures, far outside of the realm of possibility. I spent countless afternoons gallivanting around my backyard and neighborhood acting out fantastic scenarious.

All of this pales in comparison to the ENORMOUS crush I had on Sean Astin after seeing this movie. I thought he was just about the dreamiest boy a girl could imagine. Little did I know that he would grow up to be a hobbit, but in those pre-pubescent days, he was everything I thought a boy should be. I longed to be the girl that pulled him into a corner of that cave and kissed him. Such simple, innocent fantasies.

There was little violence, no cursing, and no sex. It was beloved by both girls and boys and adults were entertained, too. Do they even make movies like this anymore? Why does it seem like the only movies that are aimed at both children and adults these days are cartoons? And with a few exceptions, those aren't all that great.

Speaking of bad family movies, I just saw that the top grossing movie this past weekend was Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I think I just threw up a little.

14 comments:

  1. I LOVE the Goonies! One of my top movies, that's for sure!

    Others: Enchanted, Cheaper by the Dozen, The Notebook,Steel Magnolias and my one of my fav's: Parenthood (Steve Martin)

    My girls LOVE the Bring It On movies.

    Hey, also, I just picked up a new code to block people from clicking on my photos, you can view source on my site or email me sheila(at)maviefolle dot com I'll give ya the code!
    keeps all the pervs away from our kids online (hopefully)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I watched this with our 10 year old neighbor a few months ago...and again with our 2 neices. I had the biggest crush on Sean Astin and I remember watching this movie for the first time as kid...I wanted to take his asthma away ;)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I know this movie is great Just like ET and others. NO so sad they do not make movies likethis anymore

    ReplyDelete
  4. Would you believe I've never seen the Goonies?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Is now a good time to tell you Sean Astin (and his family) go to our church? :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think they make these kinds of movies, but theyr'e just dumb. The Pixar stuff just stretches the bounds so far with so little money down that the return is enormous. Sad, though.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Goonies isn't my cup of tea, but I do feel the absence of "family" movies that aren't animated or pixar and such. I have a wonderful memory of seeing Savannah Smiles at the theatre as a little girl!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've never seen the Goonies, but I'll have to look for it! I agree with your lamentation...they just don't make good movies any more (or at least they are few and far between)... Thank goodness for DVDs...we have a huge collection of OLD movies (even silent features) and we enjoy watching them with the kids!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've never seen the Goonies. I've contemplated renting it to watch w/my kids, but I wasn't sure if I should b/c I've been burned a couple of times renting movies from my childhood thinking, "oh, this'll be fun" but soon found that those movies that were rated PG back in the day would now be rated PG-13, and I wouldn't be letting my kids see them!

    ReplyDelete
  10. LOL you are a romantic like me. I used to watch those type of movies and think the same thing! LOL about you not liking that new movie.

    ReplyDelete
  11. GOONIES is in my TOP 5!!!! And to prove it, remind me to send you a picture from our "movie room." It's a very big deal. I must share it with you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Girl. I could have written this post.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Goonies really was a fun movie! A friend and I were reminiscing about childhood movies when she brought up this one. She said her mom complained the movie was nothing but kids running around and screaming. And my friend said when she re-watched The Goonies as an adult, she realized her mom was right.

    But I still like it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Carabee!

    This movie is in my top 5. and, I, like you obsessed over the adventure that I would wander aimlessly in my backyard trying to find treasures or just exploring.

    This might seem weird, too, but what I loved most about Sean Astin was his braces. i always had straight teeth and didn't get them so thought anyone with them was soooo hot.

    yay!

    ReplyDelete

Give me some sugar, baby!