When it comes to Goonie die-hards, they push fan-dom to the limit. Mickey Cox of the Astoria Inn Bed and Breakfast called to tell the Ear about one of her guests, a Goonie fan who came all the way from Italy, Davide Flamigni.

Recently in town for his fourth visit, he first came to Astoria in 1998 on a mission to see the house and town where “The Goonies” was filmed. With little command of the English language, and too young to rent a car, he stayed at the Astoria Inn and bicycled all over Astoria, videotaping everything in sight.

Apparently he is also a huge fan of Astoria. Now a regular at the Astoria Inn, he often brings people with him so they can experience Astoria, too. And it’s become a reciprocal arrangement, as Cox, his “favorite Goonie mom,” has also traveled to Italy with fellow Astorian, Marialana Le Clair, to stay with the Flamigni family.

According to Cox, when arrangements were being made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the movie in Astoria in 2005, Flamigni bumped into Goonie star Sean Astin in Paris. He asked Astin if he was planning to attend the anniversary festivities, and Astin said he hadn’t been formally invited. If Rep. David Wu would invite him, Astin would go.

Flamigni contacted the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, who contacted Wu, who then issued an invitation to Astin. True to his word, Astin showed up for the anniversary/reunion.

Super-fan Flamigni even made his own 25-minute Goonie DVD movie in 2005, “The Italian Goonie (Goon Docks 20 years later),” replete with a full musical score, filmed in Astoria and Cannon Beach.

The plot centers around Flamigni being convinced there is a second bag of treasure the Goonies missed, and his quest to find it. As Flamigni reaches each location in his pursuit of the treasure, little clips from “The Goonies” shot in that same location pop in.

The Ear has seen the DVD, courtesy of Cox, who has a part in the movie, as does Sandi Preston, owner of the Goonie house. The Ear, almost speechless for a change, can only say that the movie is utterly charming, and that the scenes shot around Astoria shamelessly steal the show.

According to Cox, Flamigni rented a theater back in Italy and showed “The Goonies,” followed by his own movie. Now, Cox says, Flamigni is in touch with a producer, and is working on a script for a new Goonies movie.

Goonies never say die, indeed!

To find out more about the “Italian Goonie” (warning: only parts of the Web site are in English), go to: (http://xoomer.alice.it/dflamign/forthegoonies.html)