The other day I walked into a conversation already in progress, in which my coworkers were debating the quality of a movie.

As sometimes happens -- and this is one of the few occupational hazards of being a movie critic -- my colleagues asked me what I thought of this movie, the 1985 kids' adventure "The Goonies."

"I've never seen it," I replied.

The conversation stopped dead. Everyone's eyes grew wide. Jaws dropped. You would have thought I had told them I was pregnant, or a cannibal, or a space alien.

"You've never seen 'The Goonies'?!?" One of them quickly sent a "tweet" on Twitter, to tell the world that I have never seen "The Goonies."

Within minutes, replies were floating across Twitter. "I don't believe @moviecricket can call himself a film critic if he has not seen 'The Goonies' ;)" said one "tweet."

The scandalous news spread around the Tribune newsroom. One reporter put up a "tweet" that read: "Wait, you haven't seen 'Goonies'? Did you even HAVE childhood dreams?" This reporter was eager to fix this situation, and even offered to host a screening of "The Goonies" at her house.

As the reporter and I discussed it further, I discovered a generational difference at work. She was 10 when "The Goonies" came out in theaters, and the movie was a thrill ride aimed squarely at her demographic. I was 21, in college, and watching movies for grown-ups -- such as "Prizzi's Honor" and "Blue Velvet" -- and not

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kiddie fare like "The Goonies."

Since I became the Tribune 's movie critic, I have worked to fill holes in my movie education. It wasn't until I got married that I saw "A Clockwork Orange." Thanks to my wife's film-history classes at the University of Utah, I finally saw "The Seventh Seal." Anniversary re-releases have allowed me to see such films as "The Exorcist," "Pierrot le Feu" and "The Passenger," just to name a few.

However, in any list of the movies I still need to see before I die, I doubt "The Goonies" would rank in the top 1,000.

"The Goonies" bore Steven Spielberg's name as executive producer. But Spielberg was a little busy at the time -- he had just come off directing the disappointing "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," was gearing up to direct "The Color Purple," and that year also had produced "Back to the Future" and "Young Sherlock Holmes."

The movie was directed by Richard Donner, who for my money has only directed one worthwhile movie: The first "Superman." Donner's other films, including "The Omen," "Ladyhawke," "Scrooged," "Maverick," "Conspiracy Theory," "Timeline," and all four "Lethal Weapon" movies, range from so-so to bloody awful.

So I'm not embarrassed that I have never seen "The Goonies." But this discussion got me wondering: What movies do other people feel a bit ashamed that they never watched. I sent up my own "tweet" to ask the question, and this is what I got:

» One critic friend offered "Schindler's List."

» Another critic friend wrote " 'Nashville,' 'Raging Bull' (both in pieces, but never in their entirety)."

» An editor here wrote, "I haven't seen 'Titanic.' But I'm not embarrassed about it."

» A national film blogger I know said "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." (That's OK -- I've seen it enough for everybody.)

» A publicist I know wrote: " 'Citizen Cane.' I hear it's a big deal or something." When I corrected her spelling of "Kane," she wrote back, "Now I'm double embarrassed."

» This one from a stay-at-home mom: "I've never seen 'Apocalypse Now,' 'Fargo' or 'Citizen Kane.' Shame on me."

» And from another mom: "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Funny, I've seen all of the movies mentioned -- and I'd rather see any of them again than watch "The Goonies." Sue me.

Sean P. Means writes the Culture Vulture in daily blog form, at blogs.sltrib.com/vulture