Has a long-standing rumor about The Goonies been debunked? (2025)

The Goonies is filled with a ton of memorable scenes. But one that stands out above all else is the moment the titular gang comes across One-Eyed Willy’s pirate ship. But to capture it, director Richard Donner and producer Steven Spielberg had the idea to hide it from the view of the cast to get the most authentic reactions possible…or so the story goes.

Appearing at a cast reunion which coincided with The Goonies’ 40th anniversary, star Sean Astin (Mikey Walsh) said that he couldn’t believe anyone would think to do such a thing to a young cast. “I was sort of offended that they had that idea, that they wouldn’t let the kids see the pirate ship, so that they could capture their real reaction. Like, what? We don’t know how to do real? We did real reactions all the time.” Astin added that he ended up working to make Donner and company think they had pulled a fast one on the kids. “But I remember wanting to perform in such a way, because I had had a sneak peek of it. So I wanted to perform in a way that really made them think that they had captured the honest reactions, so they would for 40 years be like, ‘Oh, we got these kids to do this thing!’”

The Goonies rumor actually goes deeper than any of that, with another element saying that the version we see on the screen is the second take, as the supposedly shocked cast started cussing during the first due to their shock, thus ruining the shot. Now that we know that the ship wasn’t truly hidden from everyone, pretty much anything involved with the long-standing rumor has walked the plank. (That said, Martha Plimpton, who played Stef, still claims she didn’t see One-Eyed Willy’s ship until filming.)

Hopefully we get more stories from the set of The Goonies as the year goes on. But in the meantime, we can probably all agree that The Goonies 2 should indeed say “die!”

What is your favorite scene from The Goonies? Do you have a favorite quote?