Actor-Inspired Element: Francis shooting the gasoline with his pistol in the opening scene was Robert Davi's idea.
Blooper: There is a moment during an argument between Mikey (played by Sean Astin) and Brand (played by Josh Brolin) where Mikey calls him Josh. Astin points this out during the dvd commentary.
California Doubling: The movie was largely filmed on location in Astoria, Oregon and the city itself has a film history museum (in fact the building used as the county jail in the opening scene) where Goonies props and materials take up about 30 percent of the space. The family house in the film was unfortunately an unofficial tourist destination where fans would bother the actual family living there. That said, the Goondocks is a fictional location and Hollywood Geography has the kids travel in underground tunnels to a coastline 30 miles south in one night.
The Cast Showoff: Jake Fratelli sings Italian opera in a few scenes: "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore when feeding Sloth and Madame Butterfly when Chunk flags him down on the road. This was the idea of Robert Davi, who played Jake and trained as an opera singer.
Corpsing: When they're talking about the fact that the cooler was broken just after the Goonies (sans Chunk) disappeared down the tunnel, Francis (Joe Pantoliano) cracks up when Ma (Anne Ramsey) smacks Jake (Robert Davi) and snags Francis' headphone cord, Jake whining as he walks off.
Creator Backlash: Cyndi Lauper grew to loathe the song "Goonies 'r' Good Enough." She objected to having to tack the title of the movie onto the title for publicity and had Creative Differences with Richard Donner over the music video. Sean Astin has also speculated that Lauper interpreted the cast's low energy during the video shoot as disinterest rather than simple exhaustion. The song didn't appear on her compilations until 2003, and she didn't perform it live until a year later. She eventually warmed up to it when she was asked to record a parody of it for the Bob's Burgers episode, "The Belchies."
Data at the end saying that the octopus was very scary, which was cut from the final film (although showed up in some television versions).
In the end, Stef thanks Mouth for saving her in a scene that was also cut.
Another Deleted Scene on the DVD shows the Goonies stopping at a convenience store, where Mikey matches the treasure map to a modern map. Troy comes in and takes the treasure map, then rolls it and lights it like a big cigarette/cigar (nearly burning away the musical notes) just to spite the Goonies. Brand comes to the rescue, chases off Troy, and then tries to take Mikey back home, but they manage to get away. This is also shown in some TV versions along with the one above.
Boy: You misunderstood! I said I saw two giant tentacles, not... oh, never mind!
Additional scene of the Goonies outside the restaurant figuring out how to get the treasure without the occupants noticing. It also introduces the Pinchers of Peril. This is also shown on TV along with the three other scenes above.
DVD Commentary: All of the Goonies reunited many years later for the commentary, alongside Richard Donner. Unfortunately because the commentary recording session started late, Sean Astin had to leave in the middle to attend a function for co-star Joe Pantoliano.
The kids weren't allowed to see the pirate ship until the filming of the scene in which they see it for the first time. Unfortunately, the first take wasn't used, as several of the cast blurted out an unscripted "Holy shit!"
Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk, was told that the scene where Sloth picks his chair-tied self up would cut before the actual lift occurred; it obviously didn't, and John Matuszak straight-out picked him up easily, leading to the kid's wails and cry of, "You smell like phys. ed.!"
When the Fratelli brothers argue Anne Ramsey really slaps Robert Davi. She was told to hit him as hard as she could.
Friendship on the Set: Ke Huy Quan and Jeff Cohen formed one that lasted into adulthood, solidified when Cohen agreed to become Quan's lawyer after Quan decided to begin acting again. When Quan accepted his Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All at Once, he made sure to call out Cohen as his "Goonie Brother for Life".
According to his autobiography Corerography, Corey Feldman and Martha Plimpton did not get along at all. Plimpton confirms this on the commentary, describing an incident where he annoyed her so much they got into an actual fight that had to be broken up by the on-set tutor.
In the commentary, Josh Brolin describes an in-character heated argument between Robert Davi and Joe Pantoliano (the Fratelli brothers) as also being accurate regarding their working relationship during filming.
Orphaned Reference: At the end of the movie, Data tells the news reporters that the "octopus was really scary" which actually refers to a Deleted Scene. Given that Data was likely to make stuff up, this artifact is not really disruptive. The octopus scene is included in the TV version of the movie though.
Real-Life Relative: Some of The Goonies' real-life parents were filmed as their characters' parents in the ending's reunion scene, including Kerri Green's mom and dad, Martha Plimpton's mom and dad, Jeff Cohen's mom, and Corey Feldman's grandmother. All other parents are played by actors.
Stillborn Franchise: A sequel was teased for quite a while, but in 2016 Corey Feldman finally told the fans that it probably wouldn't be happening, as Richard Donner was now in his 80s and wouldn't have the energy for the shoot, and none of the old crew wanted to work with another director. Donner’s death five years later officially ended any chance of it.
Most of Chunk's confessions (except the fake puke story, alleged to have been based on a prank played by Steven Spielberg as a child in Phoenix) were based on actor Jeff Cohen's life. According to Jeff, it was a different kid who was kicked out of fat camp for pigging out.
When Chunk first sees Jake Fratelli's face when he approaches the car, the Hebrew prayer he says was actually improvised by Jeff Cohen.
Heather Langenkamp auditioned for the role of Andy. Steven Spielberg and Richard Donner felt that she had given a great audition and was the right physical type for the role. However she was 20 years old at the time. The script described her as being 17 years old and both Spielberg and Donner felt that Langenkamp was too old for the role.
In the original screenplay, there was a scene that was filmed but got taken out of the movie which The Goonies banging the waterpipes accidentally causes zoo animals to escape and two gorillas, which would have been reused from Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, steals Troy Perkin's car and drives off in it.
The production initially hired Craig Reardon (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial) to handle the makeup effects for Sloth, but fired him after being unable to get the eye to work right. Outside of the character's first scenes, his work would be superseded by Tom Burman.
Word of Saint Paul: When Anne Ramsay, Joe Pantoliano and Robert Davi were interviewed about the movie, Robert Davi explained that Mama Fratelli got the tattoo on her arm when she was in the navy.
From the video games:
Fan Remake: The MSX version has one. Sloth is the player character here.
Manual Misprint: The second game's manual claims that the B button is not used in "Adventure Scenes", the game's first-person mode inside the rooms. In fact the B button is used to access the second page of the item menu, where the Glasses and Diving Suit commands are.
No Export for You: The first Goonies NES game was only released for home markets in Japan. In America it was available on Playchoice-10 arcade machines, but never as a cartridge.
Real Song Theme Tune: The main theme that plays throughout much of the games are 8-bit renditions of "The Goonies R Good Enough" by Cyndi Lauper.
Furthermore, this particular rendition was given a remix and used in one of the pop'n music games.
from L'elisir d'amore when feeding Sloth and Madame Butterfly when Chunk flags him down on the road. This was the idea of Robert Davi, who played Jake and trained as an opera singer.