The Goonies centered around a group of young friends seeking to find buried treasure. Of course, generations of fans saw the group’s fun misadventures as endearing. However, those fun lively moments might’ve been too much for the movie’s director Richard Donner. After he wrapped filming on the coming-of-age comedy, Donner took a trip to Hawaii. Unfortunately, he didn’t get all the rest and relaxation he was hoping for as a rare video showed what happened when the cast surprised the celebrated director during his vacation.
The Superman director wanted a break after such a grueling movie shoot. He finally found solace in the Aloha State after working with the cast and crew for a year. Unbeknownst to Donner, producer Steven Spielberg chose to prank him during some much-needed relaxation. A home video surfaced online after Hollywood writer Todd Spence posted a clip of Richard Donner’s rest being interrupted on his Twitter account. Watch what happened when The Goonies cast surprised their director at his Hawaiian vacation home.
When GOONIES wrapped, Richard Donner needed a vacation after working with the kids for an entire year, and went to Hawaii to finally relax. As a prank, Steven Spielberg flew the entire cast out (including The Fratellis!) to surprise Donner at home. Here’s that footage. Amazing. pic.twitter.com/jfis28iFBzMay 10, 2023
The clip was filled with nostalgia as Donner sat in his backyard taking in the ocean waves surrounded by the young cast. You get to see a young Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Ke Huy Quan, etc. yelling and carrying on as a surprised Donner takes in the chaotic scene. While the director was taken aback by his surprise visitors, he also seemed exacerbated by seeing everyone in the same place at the same time. It was personified by the Lethal Weapon director yelling at the rowdy bunch to calm down.
Seeing the young stars was amazing, but having the entire cast pop up from various corners made the clip even more monumental. Looking back now the lost home video was a time capsule for many Goonies fans. With many of the adults from the film (including Richard Donner) now gone, it was a way to see and remember them once again. Seeing some of the cast reenacting moments from the cult classic was a nice touch. It also was heartwarming to see Richard Donner turn a corner and embrace the cast after Spielberg pulled off a masterful prank.
The Goonies proved to be another classic film in Richard Donner’s lengthy filmography. The movie helped to solidify the careers of up-and-coming stars like Brolin, Feldman, and Martha Plimpton. The coming-of-age film garnered critical and commercial success, and it gained cult classic status as one of the best movies from the 1980s, especially among Gen X and Millennials. Since it premiered in 1985, the surviving cast reunited for charity, stoking fans’ hopes for a sequel in the future, but for now, this video is enough to make me feel all the nostalgia.
If you want to relive the outrageous moments and memorable scenes, subscribe to streaming platforms, like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video, to watch The Goonies. Following the nostalgia trip, hop over to our 2023 movie schedule to see what potential cult classics will arrive this year.