<P> In The Making of The Goonies, director Richard Donner notes the difficulties and pleasures of working with so many child actors . Donner praises them for their energy and excitement, but says that they were unruly when brought together . The documentary frequently shows him coaching the young actors and reveals some techniques he used to get realistic performances . One of these tricks involved One - Eyed Willy's ship, which was actually a full - sized mock - up of a pirate ship created under the direction of production designer J. Michael Riva . Donner restricted the child actors from seeing the ship until they filmed the scene wherein it is revealed to their characters . The characters' first glimpse of the ship was thus also the actors' first view of it, bringing about a more realistic performance . However, that particular scene in the movie is actually the second take, as the cast was so overwhelmed at first sight that the scene had to be re-shot . It was later noted that the entire set was scrapped after shooting because they could not find anyone who wanted it . </P> <P> In his book There and Back Again, Sean Astin claims that Richard Donner and Steven Spielberg were "like codirectors" on the film as he compares and contrasts their styles when directing scenes . </P> <P> Some of the on - location filming was done in Astoria, Oregon . The interior and exterior of the old Clatsop County Jail features as the holding place of Jake Fratelli at the start of the film . (The building was later converted into the Oregon Film Museum, which opened on the 25th anniversary of The Goonies with memorabilia from this and other local films .) The museum where Mikey's father works is, in reality, the Captain George Flavel House Museum . The Walsh family home is a real home on the eastern end of the town . The scenes along the coast were filmed in Oregon, but they were a considerable distance from Astoria . The Goonies bicycle to Ecola State Park (in reality, over 26 miles south of Astoria) and then find the starting location of the map using Haystack Rock as a guide . Underground scenes were filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, including the cavernous set where the Goonies find One - Eyed Willy's ship, which was in Stage 16, one of the largest sound stages in America . The final scene was shot at Goat Rock State Beach in Sonoma County, California . </P> <P> The film marked Wes Takahashi's first major motion picture as an animation supervisor for Industrial Light & Magic . </P>

Where was the cave scene in the goonies filmed