‘The Goonies’ 20th anniversary draws a crowd from around the world”Is he in there?”

Samantha Hall clutched a DVD of “The Goonies,” bounced on her toes and peered across a driveway at the Astoria house made famous by the 1985 movie.

She was waiting for Jeff B. Cohen, who as the chubby and klutzy character Chunk had danced the Truffle Shuffle only a few feet away, to come out of the house and say hi.

“He’s right there, Captain Chunk is right there!” said the 18-year-old from Washougal, Wash., as Cohen stepped onto the porch. “This is a dream come true. It’s the Goonies, the Goonies!”

Astoria became the Goondocks again this weekend as more than 650 people from around the world came to town to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the movie, as part of the “Goonies Never Say Die” event organized by the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce.

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Braden Yoder, a 5-year-old Goonies’ fan from Silver Lake, Wash., has a mouthful of a Baby Ruth bar that he won answering trivia questions on a bus tour Saturday morning.”It’s my favorite film of all time,” said Terrence “TJ” Gorman, who traveled from Melbourne, Australia. “I think the child at heart can relate to it – a group of friends going off, doing their own adventure.”

Gorman and six other Goonies buffs who chat on an Internet forum devoted to “The Goonies” had gathered Thursday night and talked about the movie for four hours.

“It’s actually great to be here and meet up with a lot of fans,” he said. He was also excited to meet members of the cast, and was waiting with Hall and others Friday morning as Cohen chatted with fans, posed for pictures and signed autographs.

Truffle Shuffle”It is pretty cool,” Cohen said. “I think it’s great. I think it’s really nice, that the movie really impacted (the fans) and they’re coming out here.”

He told audiences what it was like “Growing up Goonie” in presentations throughout the weekend, sharing stories about auditioning for the movie (he ignored director Richard Donner and went straight to producer Steven Spielberg, asking him to sign an E.T. figure), and about how the Goonies has followed him throughout life.

He was elected student body president at the University of California, Berkeley, in a landslide after handing out lollipops adorned with “Chunk for President” stickers, and he brought Chunk’s signature moves out of retirement after 10,000 people started chanting “Truffle, Shuffle” at a UC Berkeley football game where he was the mic man.

Although Cohen, now an entertainment lawyer in Beverly Hills, has re-retired the routine, he held a Truffle Shuffle contest at the end of his talk, asking for volunteers.

Max Reisfar, an 11-year-old from Bend, had perfected his performance.

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“I’m your No. 1 fan,” announces Samantha Hall, an 18-year-old from Washougal, Wash., to “Chunk” actor Jeff B. Cohen Friday morning. Hall, who had her sweatshirt and Goonies DVD autographed, says,”This is like the day from heaven.” “I’m a little freaked out right now,” Cohen said as Reisfar walked onstage with a mop of curly hair and wearing a Hawaiian shirt, looking a lot like Cohen did as Chunk, 20 years ago. The other contestants didn’t stand a chance.

SecretsIn other adventures, Goonies fans boarded school buses and went on a tour of sites featured in the movie. Sandi Preston, who owns the Goonies house, invited groups inside to look at the living room, the hallway that stood in for Mikey’s bedroom, Brand’s bedroom, and the stairs to the attic where the boys first stumbled upon the map to One-Eyed Willie’s treasure.

“Oh my word,” Katey Lund said as Preston pulled down the attic stairs. “It was just cool to be there,” she recalled afterward.

Similarly awed was Taylor Jacobson of Dupont, Wash. “Oh my gosh, this used to be Mikey’s room; Data came through this window,” she said.

At the next stop, Jacobson and other fans on her bus, who didn’t know each other 45 minutes earlier, decided to form a “Victory Pyramid” on John Warren Field, just as Andy had done in the movie’s opening credits.

The tour then wound through Astoria, visiting the old County Jail, the Flavel House, the house where Mouth lived, and then to Ecola State Park. Along the way, tour guide and chamber employee Carol Ray asked trivia questions and tossed Baby Ruth candy bars to folks who shouted out the right answer.

Not too many questions stumped the fans on the bus: “That was too easy,” Ray said after asking what Mikey’s favorite magazine was (Answer: Mad Magazine). But when the group got to Ecola State Park, Oregon State Parks employee Pat Lines gave them a glimpse into some behind-the-scenes aspects of the movie’s filming.

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“We need somebody on top!” shouts a group of Goonies’ fans who recreated a scene, doing a victory pyramid on John Warren Field Saturday. From top left are Thor and Stephanie Lund, Irene Evans, Katey and Robyn Lund, Taylor Jacobson and Heather Cooper.”I have secrets,” Lines told the fans.

He worked at Ecola 20 years ago when the crew built a restaurant from scratch above a cliff, and then used “special sauce” to weather it and make it look old. He watched as picnic tables were covered in old wood and equipment to hide them, and a picnic shelter was camouflaged with bushes. He knew that Brand’s bike was actually fastened onto Troy’s convertible as Troy dragged Brand down a narrow road. And he was happy to share his secrets with the visitors.

Goonies’ PerspectiveFans discovered even more about the filming of “The Goonies” from a new documentary that screened during the weekend, created by Ron Fugelseth and Patrick Radcliff. The filmmakers talked to director Richard Donner, as well as cast member Lupe Ontiveros, who played the housekeeper Rosalita, locals including Mick Alderman, who observed the film crew at work in Astoria, and others.

The documentary examined questions such as whether there was an alternate ending to the movie, what happened to the scenes of escaped gorillas that stole Troy’s car, and if there will be a “Goonies 2.” It’s about 80 percent done, Fugelseth said.

“The perspective we didn’t have was from the Goonies themselves,” he said. “You know, you can’t make a Goonies documentary without a Goonie in there.” During the weekend he talked with Cohen and Sean Astin, who played Mikey, and plans to edit the interviews into the documentary before releasing it on DVD.

“It was wonderful to finally get their perspectives,” Fugelseth said. He shot some footage of fans at the event to capture a sense of the movie’s widespread appeal.

“I think it’s just this fantasy that every kid has,” cameraman Brent Holland said, comparing the movie to an amusement park ride.

“It really makes you feel like, ‘Hey, I’m a kid, I can find a treasure map and do this,'” Fugelseth said.

The weekend events were a rousing success, organizer Regina Willkie of the chamber said Sunday evening.

“It sounds like everyone had a great time, and that’s what pleases me,” she said. “I’m just so glad that people came out and supported it.” And as for a 25th anniversary celebration in 2010?

“I think there will be one,” Willkie said.