The Sort-Of True Story of ‘The Goonies’

The Big Picture

• The Goonies is considered a quintessential 1980s Amblin film, with a fun and adventurous premise and a great cast.
• The movie’s plot of finding a legendary lost ship and its setting in Oregon are based on historical elements, specifically the Santo Cristo de Burgos shipwreck.
• Although no conclusive evidence has been found, archaeologists are still searching caves near the Oregon coast for the lost ship, and hope to one day confirm the authenticity of a piece of timber found along the shoreline.

You don’t get much more entertaining than The Goonies, a movie that is hell-bent on being as fun and entertaining as possible. It’s one of the many classic Amblin projects that have continued to live on to this day. It makes you wonder what exactly Steven Spielberg was eating on in the 1980s because this was an era when this man dug one classic after another out of his brain like it was no big deal. Movies like Poltergeist, Gremlins, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial all bore this particular Spielbergian brand of adventure and fun that was unmatchable. However, unlike those movies, The Goonies wasn’t purely cooked up by the man himself… because The Goonies were actually real!

Okay, that’s not entirely true. The Goonies isn’t based on a real group of adventurous kids who went on a quest to find the treasure of an actual pirate named One-Eyed Willy. While that would certainly be great, that’s where Spielberg comes in. In reality, The Goonies is loosely based on the true story of the Santo Cristo de Burgos. This was a real-life ship that went missing somewhere off of the Oregon coast in the late 1600s. Archaeologists believe that some pieces of timber found along the shoreline are the remains of the fabled ship, but other than that, the answer is unclear. This means that, aside from the setting, a lost ship, and the prospect of having to dig through caves like Mikey (Sean Astin) and the gang, there were never any adventurous kids involved with the Santo Cristo de Burgos.

‘The Goonies’ is One of the Most Beloved Kids Movies of the 1980s

Who doesn’t love The Goonies? Out of all the 1980s Amblin films, this just might be the quintessential one. It has the most fun and adventurous premise and debatably has the best cast. This movie never overstays its welcome and doesn’t have to juggle various tones like Poltergeist and Gremlins. It might not be directed by Spielberg, as that credit goes to Richard Donner, but it’s probably the purest shot of his specific vibe that you could possibly find. E.T. might be more widely celebrated, Poltergeist might be the gateway drug for many horror fans, and Gremlins just kicks ass as a charmingly demented Christmas classic, but you could still make the argument for The Goonies.

This 1985 adventure comedy follows the titular Goonies, a group of kids who try to save their homes from foreclosure by hunting down the treasure of the legendary One-Eyed Willy. Their journey isn’t made easy though, considering they have a family of criminals on their tail at every turn who are also seeking the treasure. For an 80s movie, you can’t really ask for a better group of child actors than this. It’s an all-star lineup of this generation’s talent! You’ve got Josh Brolin, Ke Huy Quan, Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, and Martha Plimpton, some of the best that you could find. Watching this movie does make you wish that Jeff Cohen and Kerri Green had a bigger career. You can’t forget about the actors for the Fratellis — Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano, and, of course, Anne Ramsey as Mama Fratelli. Oh yeah, and John Mantuszak as Sloth!

The Ship in ‘The Goonies’ is Actually Based on a 16th-century Shipwreck

I hate to break it to you, but The Goonies and its characters are all a byproduct of the genius of Steven Spielberg, Richard Donner, and Chris Columbus (who wrote the screenplay). The real story that it’s based on is actually pretty simple with the only elements based in reality falling in with One-Eyed Willy’s story and the film’s setting. In 2022, The Washington Post reported that an Amblin Productions spokesperson used the story of the Santo Cristo de Burgos as inspiration for The Goonies‘ story. The Santo Cristo de Burgos was a ship that allegedly wrecked off the Oregon coast, sometime after it went missing in 1693. While the ship went missing centuries ago, archaeologists might have recently found a piece of it when a piece of timber was found along the shoreline of the state’s coast. This has led archaeologists to search caves surrounding the site for the lost ship. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been an easy task, as described by Scott Williams, the president of the Maritime Archaeological Society. He told The Washington Post, “The caves are incredibly hard to get to. They are located on a beach that is only accessible at high tide, and it’s a tough hike to get to it over landslides and boulder fields.”

This means that the movie’s plot of finding a legendary lost ship and setting in Oregon is all that was lifted from reality. In the end, while this movie may not be 100 percent based on a true story, it is based on historical elements. As for the actual ship, there’s still no word whether the piece of timber is actually from the Santo Cristo de Burgos, nor any update on the ship’s whereabouts. Maybe one day, if the ship is ever found, the piece of timber that was recently found on the Oregon coast can officially be linked with the legendary vessel. There’s an obvious reason behind why the ship still has not been found, though. Somewhere out there, there has to be a real group of kids as cool as The Goonies. The government needs to find these young chaps and get them on the job! Until then, it seems as though the Santo Cristo de Burgos will forever be lost.

The Goonies is available to rent on Prime Video

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