| “ | Hey you guys! | ” |
–Sloth | ||
Sloth (born Lotney Fratelli[Citation needed] and later changed to Jason Sloth Cohen following his adoption[1]) is a gentle giant and the unfortunate middle son of the Fratellis before disowning his corrupt family to become a member of the Goonies.
Appearance[]
Sloth is very tall and muscular, and has distorted features due to his mother dropping him multiple times when he was a baby. He is seen with only a couple of teeth, and his eyes are slanted. This is the reason why Chunk is initially afraid of him.
Involvement[]
Sloth is first seen chained in a room, being fed by Jake's terrible singing. Left with food just out of reach, a spying Mikey pushes the dish closer, allowing him to grab his food. Sloth turns and Mikey sees his shockingly distorted face. Sloth holds his dish up and yells, happy that he has his food.
After Chunk is caught and interrogated by the Fratellis, he is tied up and locked away in the same room as Sloth. Chunk freaks when he sees Sloth and this causes Sloth to act similarly. Chunk offers Sloth his Babyruth candy in and effort to calm him. but when he throws it his way it smacks Sloth in the face. Desperate to eat the chocolate bar, Sloth rips his chains off of the wall. Fully freed, he shares the candy bar with him. Then Sloth hoists the still bound Chunk in the air and gives him a kiss, though Chunk complains he smells like phys ed (P.E. Class; he was supposed to say fish head). Later, as Chunk tries to report the murder to the sheriff, Sloth is getting food from the freezer, but cannot take it with him as he and Chunk get into the secret passage. Upon approaching the pipes, Sloth tries to stop one of them, but is dismayed to know he has caused more amok above ground.
Aboard the Inferno, Sloth makes a grand entrance by gliding down the ship's main sail using a dagger, and saves Stef and Mouth as per Chunk's command. He is quick to do battle with Jake and Francis, giving the rest of the Goonies the chance to get up and retreat off the huge ship. Though his brothers try to get the best of him, he is larger and is able to regain the advantage and then rip his shirt in half, revealing that he is wearing a Superman jersey. When Jake tries to get his memories in order, he and Francis start to argue before Sloth knocks them out by slamming their foreheads together, and then ties them up and raises them above the deck with the mast rope before he is beckoned over by Mama Fratelli, whom he scolds for being bad. After her explanation, she tries to get his memories in order, but he is reminded that he was dropped twice as a young lad. This makes him very wrathful, and he lifts Mama Fratelli off her feet, walks her over to the plank, and tosses her overboard in righteous retribution, earning him his long awaited freedom and the cheers from the Goonies, before he dives off himself. This gives Chunk the chance to introduce Sloth to his friends.
After the fiasco with his clan, Sloth and the Goonies see that the "candle" is actually a stick of dynamite, and they retreat for cover, before the dynamite selfdestructs. The exit is blocked by a large boulder, and in a show of strength, Sloth lifts the boulder up using his back before exchanging a friendly gesture of love to Chunk, though he loses his footing and is trapped with the Fratellis.
Sloth and his clan have managed to escape the lagoon and have arrived at Cauldron Point, and he is initially threatened with arrest by the police. He is spared from arrest when he demonstrates his strength by lifting the sheriff off the sand, which impresses Data. Chunk states to Sloth that he is to live with the Cohen family, which pleases Sloth. Then, the Inferno is seen sailing out into the distance one final time, and Sloth and the Goonies go to see it. He then roars out in approval of the ship's freedom, with the Goonies cheering afterward.
Behind the scenes[]
Sloth is portrayed by football star John Matuszak.
The character's face was molded with a combination of prosthetics, makeup, and animatronics. Fifteen pieces of facial prosthetics were worn by Matuszak.[2] The lower eye was a mechanical eye that blinked via radio control, as were the ears; all together, it took four hours of makeup to sculpt Sloth's face.[2] Various versions of his makeup and prosthetics were created and used during production. An early variant was more "smooth and cartoonish", and ultimately not used in the film.[3] It can, however, still be seen in some promotional material, including a number of the Goonies Topps trading cards.
Early versions of The Goonies saw Sloth spitting and burping up gemstones at the end of the movie, as the way that the Goon Docks are saved from destruction.
An extended version of the sheriff phone call scene was filmed, and had Sloth eating an entire T-bone steak[2]; this was cut from the film. Additional scenes were removed from the final cut, including Sloth and Chunk discovering the path the Goonies left and a final scene with everyone celebrating at the Walsh residence. The latter one shows that Sloth was indeed adopted by the Cohen family[2]; footage for it has never been released.
Trivia[]
- Sloth's real name is Lotney Fratelli; this is never mentioned in the film.[Citation needed]
- Like Mikey, Sloth is an avid fan of Superman; this is a reference to Richard Donner's previous films, Superman and Superman II. When he rips off his shirt to unveil a Superman jersey, a short motif from John Williams' Superman score plays.
- Sloth is also a fan of old pirate movies, such as ones starring Errol Flynn.
- His Raiders shirt is a reference to the NFL team Matuszak was signed to at the time.
- His signature quote, "Hey You Guys!", is originally a catchphrase from the 1970s television children's series The Electric Company.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ The Goonies (novel)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Goonies Souvenir Magazine
- ↑ Fred (2015-04-15). an Interview with Rob Burman ! (Article). Retrieved on 2019-04-06.
| The Goonies characters | |
|---|---|
| Goonies | Andy • Brand • Chunk • Data • Mikey • Mouth • Sloth • Stef |
| Fratellis | Francis Fratelli • Jake Fratelli • Mama Fratelli |
| Secondary | Chester Copperpot • Irene Walsh • Irving Walsh • Mr. Perkins • One-Eyed Willy • Rosalita • Troy Perkins |
| Miscellaneous | Andy's father • Andy's mother • Chunk's father • Chunk's mother • Data's father • Data's mother • Data's sister • Eydie Cohen • FBI Man • Mouth's father • Mouth's grandmother • Prison Guard • Stef's father • Stef's mother • Stef's sister • Tennis Player • Troy's friends |
| Novel and Cut characters | Bertha • Bonzo The Great • Doug • Gas Station Attendant • Grandpa • Lenny Dole • Octopus • Sylvia Keester • Simon Simian • Simone Simian • Uncle Art • Uncle Sydney |