Hey you guys: ‘The Goonies’ turns 40

Richard Donner teamed up with Steven Spielberg and Chris Columbus to make an ‘80s classic, starring kids who became much more famous later on.

In 1985, a group of kids fought criminals and evil real estate speculators to save their small town and find the sort of buried pirate treasures not often located off the coast of Oregon.

The film was called The Goonies, and it was directed by Richard Donner, of the Superman and Lethal Weapon franchises, while Chris Columbus wrote the screenplay and Steven Spielberg the story.

And its cast was filled with actors — Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Martha Plimpton, Ke Huy Quan — who would remain well-known as adults, although the fame of some cast members (Corey Feldman, most notably) wouldn’t endure quite so much. Quan, with his astonishing comeback a couple of years ago, has the cast’s only Oscar, although Brolin was nominated for Milk.

The film is set in the “Goon Docks” section of Astoria, Oregon, as a group of kids fear losing their hometown to an encrouching development. Soon, they discover a treasure map, which they believe will lead to the abandoned treasure of pirate “One-Eyed Willy.” They also tangle with a family of criminals (Anne Ramsey, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi), who are after the treasure themselves.

It’s a slight, simple, fast-moving adventure, one with lots of Rube Goldbergian booby traps, and the appeal is driven mostly by the well-cast kids and their rapport. I’m not sure whether the true “auteur” of this film is Spielberg, Donner, Columbus or some combination of the three, but it’s certainly of a piece with types of films Spielberg was making at the time, most notably E.T.