Retro Reading Corner: Goonies Souvenir Magazine

The first time I saw the commercial for The Goonies on TV in 1985 I was hooked. The scene that stuck with me forever was when Mikey and friends were sliding down the tubes to get to the Inferno! I still remember watching that commercial with amazement.

Just like every boy who grew up in the 80s, The Goonies were a staple of my childhood. Who didn't want to wrangle up their friends, jump on their Huffy bikes and ride along into a great adventure filled with treasure, danger and cheerleaders? I watched this movie on VHS over and over again until it broke. Then we watched it at my friends house. My only negative memory of the film was that there were no action figures, no Happy Meals, no real merchandising for the film. There were some cool things that did come out though. An iffy Nintendo game, Topps trading card set, Cyndi Lauper song and this magazine!

 The Official Collectors Edition Goonies Souvenir Magazine was printed in 1985 by the good folks at Ira Friedman Inc. It is full of all the pictures and moments from the film we know and love. Like this one of Chunk doing the "Truffle Shuffle"!

 It also contains concept drawings, set designs and behind the scenes photos. The mag also reveals production secrets. On this page I found out that the FX crew created spiders out of singed pipe cleaners, a perfume expert created a scent that would make the set smell like damp caves and musty old rooms and the scene where the bats fly out of the cave was actually crumpled, black crepe paper shot out of an air-cannon! AWESOME!

 The next page I will share, shows the procedure actor & ex-NFLer John Matuszak had to go through to become Sloth. Reading this mag also reveals some deleted scenes! Like this one, where Sloth eats a frozen T-bone steak. Why would they cut this golden moment out?

What Goonies article would be complete without mentioning the famous "Octopus Scene"? I swear I saw this scene as a kid on a tape that was recorded off HBO by a friends Grandma? Anyway, this scene was deleted from the theatrical release, but was still included in many marketing materials and even at the end when Data tells a reporter about it! What the hell was that all about? Eventually the scene would be included as a Deleted Scene feature on most recent DVD/Blu-Ray releases. We really weren't going crazy as kids. Thanks a lot Spielberg!

One-Eyed Willy was the first Goonie according to Mikey. So, even though his skeletal remains were pretty scary for a young kid, you had to show respect to this guy for trying to protect his rich-stuff with mind boggling booby traps. These parts of the movie were the ones we talked about the most as kids. "Did you see that guy that had the knives in his eyes?", "Data almost died when he fell down that cave!" We loved stuff like that.

 Towards the end we get a bit of "Bonus Material". The story has been told, now we get to dive into the characters and actors themselves. Here we find out that Corey Feldman started acting at age 3 and enjoys horseback riding. Who knew, right?

 We've finished our Goonie adventure, now let's all take the Goonies oath and wind down with a hot Cyndi Lauper jam:

I will never betray my Goon Dock friends,

We will stick together until the whole world ends,

Through heaven and hell and nuclear war,

Good pals like us will stick like tar,

In the city or the country or the forest or the boonies,

I am proudly declared one of the Goonies.

Cyndi Lauper: The Goonies 'R' Good Enough (1985)