What can we learn from The Goonies

I SAT in Coffee #1 in Penarth, opposite Chunk from the 1980s ‘classic’ film, The Goonies recently and sipped my quite delicious decaf, skinny cappuccino. Chunk and his exposed stomach were actually emblazoned on the t-shirt of my friend Tomos as he sat opposite me drinking his coffee and munching his Welsh cake and saying: "See, I told you I’d wear it".

Amongst people I know in their late 30s/early 40s, there is much-fondness for this film of our childhood and a desire for our own children to discover the same, it being a good excuse to dig out the DVD and share with our offspring.

Along with films like Back to the Future and E.T. there is a warm, fuzzy feeling of affection for these cinematic works that may not trouble Citizen Kane in a list of top 10 critically appreciated films of all time, but would rival it any day for most loved.

It got me wondering what it is that creates this feeling, this ability to still make us laugh when we likely know the script, certainly most of the jokes off by heart. We’re not surprised by the twists or turns and we’re not filled with trepidation because we know when each jolt and shock will happen.

We may still shed a tear as E.T. waddles away from Elliott through the forest, we’d be made of stone if we ever got to a point where we could watch without at least a lump forming, but we’re not seeing anything we haven’t seen countless times before and arguably we have gone on to see more thought-provoking and equally if not more funny films in the years since they were first released.

Is it simply that for my generation it takes us back in time to our childhoods? Not every childhood is spent skipping through a field of daisies and making fairy cakes, but a happy childhood can still be punctuated with joyous films and at miserable times in childhood (and indeed adulthood), films can be an escape. Is it also something about friendship, team work, being a part of something bigger than just ourselves? All of these films have this at their core.

I’ve talked often in my column about the importance of my friends and I know I am fortunate to have a group of very special people, both long-standing, like in the case of Alex, my beautiful, funny, warm, feisty, clever friend from school and those like for example the Chunk t-shirt wearing Tomos who are much more recently known.

But films, like friends, in all their zany, surprising, supportive, funny glory can help us escape, forget, move on and face the world. I haven’t yet been on a treasure hunt (except Geocaching with Laura) and none of my friends have lifted their t-shirt and wobbled their stomachs at me, yet, but when it comes to having amazing memories and fabulous future plans, I have friends as good as any Goonie.