The Man Called Flintstone

The Man Called Flintstone

Original poster
Directed by Joseph Barbera
William Hanna
Produced by Joseph Barbera
William Hanna
Screenplay by Harvey Bullock
R.S. Allen
Starring Alan Reed
Mel Blanc
Jean Vander Pyl
Gerry Johnson
Paul Frees
June Foray
Harvey Korman
Music by Doug Goodwin (songs)
John McCarthy (songs)
Ted Nichols (score)
Marty Paich (score)
Cinematography Dick Blundell
Gene Borghi
Charles Flekal
Bill Kotler
Edited by Larry C. Cowan
Pat Foley
David M. Horton
Milton Krear
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release dates
  • August 3, 1966
Running time
 88 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Man Called Flintstone is a 1966 American animated musical comedy film produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and released by Columbia Pictures. It was the second Hanna-Barbera feature, after Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! (1964).[1] The film is a theatrical spin-off of the 1960-66 television series, The Flintstones, and is a swan song (series finale) of the show, made immediately following the end of production on the series. The working title of the film was That Man Flintstone,[2] with the film poster featuring Fred in the same pose of the Bob Peak poster for Our Man Flint. The film is a parody of the James Bond films.

This film was the first feature film voice role for Betty Rubble's voice actress Gerry Johnson. Additionally, it marked the first voice work of Henry Corden, who supplied Fred's singing voice, and would go on to fully assume the role of Fred after Alan Reed's death in 1977. While the film includes numerous musical interludes, including one song performed by Louis Prima, the popular theme song from the show itself is not used. However, plots from several episodes of the TV series are used, including an episode in which Fred becomes involved in a spy caper spoofing Goldfinger, and another in which he encounters JL Gotrocks, the world's richest man, and his exact double.

Plot

In the opening scene, secret agent Rock Slag, who is physically identical to Fred Flintstone, is being chased through Bedrock. His pursuers, Bobo and Ali, think that they have finally killed him when they push him off a building. Meanwhile, the Flintstones and Rubbles prepare for a camping vacation which includes trying to drop Dino and Hoppy off at the veterinarian. On the way back, Fred crashes Barney's car, and they make a stop at the hospital where Rock Slag is also recovering. After Bobo and Ali find Rock and put him out of commission, Chief Boulder of the Secret Service enlists Fred to take his place in Paris for a special meeting. His assignment is to meet Tanya, the Green Goose's #1 lieutenant, who has agreed to turn over the evil Green Goose in return for a chance to meet the irresistible Rock Slag.

Not realizing that the Green Goose is not an actual bird, Fred tells his family that their vacation has become an all-expense paid trip to Eurock. Barney and Fred return all the camping gear and use the money to buy the Rubbles tickets to go along. Meanwhile, Ali and Bobo make several attempts on Fred's life assuming that he is Rock Slag. Once in Paris, the Chief tells Fred that he must now go to Rome instead, with the help of master of disguise Triple X. Fred makes attempts to sneak away from Wilma to meet with Tanya, but ends up spending the night trying to escape all of Rock's female admirers. After missing a date with Wilma, Fred buys her an imitation diamond necklace from a street hustler to make it up to her, but finds that she slept soundly through the night without realizing he was missing.

Fred tries to back out of his assignment after finding out that the Green Goose is actually a master criminal, but has pangs of guilt over Pebbles' future and makes an excuse to get away and meet Tanya. Unfortunately, Wilma and the Rubbles go to the same restaurant and catch them together --- thinking that Fred is having an affair. Rock actually shows up to replace Fred, but gets pounded by an angry Wilma and ends up knocked out again. Tanya then leads Fred to the Green Goose, but he is unaware that the Chief has been put out of commission by Bobo and Ali so he has no back-up. Barney, meanwhile, has followed Fred, and they both end up captured by the Green Goose, who is revealed to be Triple X. Barney is tortured in an effort to get Fred, who is believed to be Rock, to give him secret information.

Triple X makes plans to launch his deadly inter-rokinental missile — locking Fred and Barney inside until he overhears that Fred has an "expensive" necklace on him. When he opens the door to get at the necklace, the boys turn the tables on Triple X and lock him in the missile with Bobo, Ali and Tanya — with the target reset for outer-space, sending them to their apparent deaths.

A huge welcome home ceremony is held in Bedrock for the return of Fred, now considered a hero, but he is just grateful to be back home with his beautiful family, who head on a secret getaway.

Voice characterization

Production Credits

Ending Credits

Reception

Variety gave The Man Called Flintstone a positive review on August 10, 1966, calling the production "excellent" and noting that the "stone-age scenery and machinery are mildly amusing and sometimes highly inventive". The review judges that the plot is a fast-moving and clever spoof of contemporary spy films.[3]

Home Media releases

In 2005, a North American DVD version was released by Warner Home Video. However, owing to licensing complications between Warner Bros. (current owners of the Flintstones property) and Sony (current owners of then-Flintstones distributor Columbia Pictures/Screen Gems), only a Canadian release occurred; a United States release was canceled and would not be rescheduled until the rights issue was cleared in August 2008.

The DVD was finally released in the United States on December 2, 2008, along with Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, a film with which The Man Called Flintstone was released as a double-bill during the 1970s.[4] Both the Canadian and American DVD releases by Warner Bros. altered the opening of the film from the then-Columbia Pictures release, which used a parody of Columbia's famous "torch lady" logo featuring Wilma in said role. At present, only the out-of-print 1988 VHS and 1990 Laserdisc releases of this film includes the original custom opening logo, and there are no plans to re-insert it for DVD releases.

In 2010, the film was made available as a download through the iTunes Store. Unlike the DVD release (which is 4:3 Open Matte), the iTunes version is presented in a "matted" widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1.

References

  1. ↑ Beck, Jerry. The Animated Movie Guide. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2005. ISBN 1-55652-591-5. pp. 160-161.
  2. ↑ p. 161 Beck. Jerry The Animated Movie Guide 2005 Chicago Review Press
  3. ↑ The Man Called Flintstone (film review). Variety, August 10, 1966
  4. ↑ "The Flintstones DVD news: DVD Release in the USA for The Man Called Flintstone - TVShowsOnDVD.com". tvshowsondvd.com.

External links