The Man Called Flintstone

There is so much padding here that the movie seems to last three hours instead of one and a half. The plot parts are fine, with some good gags and an okay spy spoof story, but the songs are just interminable. The kids one has cute animation but serves no purpose to the plot and slows the movie to a crawl. If they'd cut out all the songs, you'd have a decent movie here, but with them it's just bleh.

The first movie of the modern Stone Age family came out in the midst of the spy craze that was all through films and TV at the time (and at the end of the series' run in 1966), so given Hanna-Barbera's fondness for leaping on bandwagons it was a given that Fred would become mixed up with spies (as in fact he was in an episode of the TV show).

The film has a plot that would be flattered by the word "skeletal," and as a result it's padded out with endless musical numbers - even Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm get in on the act! The amazing thing is that despite the emphasis on music and the painfully weak plot it's STILL miles ahead of the 1994 movie...

THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE was the first-ever animated theatrical feature based on the highly-successful television series THE FLINTSTONES which ended its run in 1966 after six seasons and an astounding 166 episodes when it aired on ABC-TV. The theatrical version came out five months after the television series ended. Today it is rarely seen in some markets,but it was a great follow-up to this TV show. In this version,Peebles and Bamm-Bamm along with Dino are not in this one. This version focuses on Fred Flintstone his wife Wilma,and their neighbors The Rubbles(Barney and Betty). In this version(which in the opening credits of the picture features Wilma Flintstone portraying the Columbia Pictures model is a riot)Fred Flintstone is mistaken for a American secret agent Rock Slag,who was wounded while chasing after international espionage spy Green Goose and his girlfriend,Tanya.

Fred is asked to take Rock's place and fly to Rome(along with Barney and Betty and his wife Wilma of course,leaving the children behind with the babysitter along with the pet dinosaur Dino)to help corral and captured Green Goose once and for all. The whole thing turns out to be a trap for Fred and the real Rock Slag,who comes fully recovered to comes to Fred's rescue and saves the day.

The theatrical version THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE,released by Columbia Pictures was released in theatres on August 3, 1966 and produced and directed by William Hanna and Joesph Barbera,who also served as executive producers with the script written by R.S. Allen and Harvey Bullock(based on a story by Harvey Bullock and R.S. Allen with additional story material by William Hanna,Joesph Barbera along with Warren Foster and Alex Lovy) and for this theatrical version,which is by the way was animated of course featured the voices of Alan Reed, Jean Vander Pyl, along with Mel Blanc and Gerry Johnson with additional voices by June Foray,Paul Frees,Janet Waldo,and Don Messick(in fact Janet Waldo,who was also the voice of Judy Jetson and Don Messick were regular voice-over stockplayers for a lot of animated shows and cartoons for Hanna-Barbera). With a Running Time of 87 minutes,it was shown as part of a kiddie matinée feature for Columbia Pictures. However,Columbia Pictures re-released this feature again in the 1970's and during the early 1980's as part of its family matinée series that was to be shown theatrically. After this,it was rarely shown on television in certain markets.

The 1994 big screen version of "The Flintstones" was undeniably atrocious, so if you want a decent "Flintstones" movie, then "The Man Called Flintstone" works (if only marginally). The plot has secret agent Rock Slang, who just happens to be Fred Flinstone's doppelganger, getting injured and replaced with Fred. This not only complicates Fred's vacation plans, but makes him the target of spies Ali and Bobo (fortunately for Fred, these guys are beyond incompetent). In the end, Fred's big mission is to stop master criminal Green Goose from destroying the world.

Okay, so this movie won't challenge your mind or anything (and I guess that it does go overboard at times), but at least it's not a travesty of the show (I can't say the same for the 1994 movie). This one passes.

"THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE" was the second of two releases from Columbia Pictures in the mid 1960s-the first one was "HEY THERE,IT'S YOGI BEAR!" that the studio released in 1964! and,,after buying the DVD in 2008,i became enraged,when i discovered that the COLUMBIA logo with "Wilma Flintstone" was not included in the DVD release! Columbia's former TV subsidiary Screen Gems,which was revived in 1999 by SONY,had a very long and prosperous relationship with Hanna-Barbera in the 1960s and early 70s so why they couldn't allow that logo to be used,is both an insult,and an outrage! some history should still be upheld and honored,even though the studio is a SONY owned asset-and both Warners and Columbia had a pretty long relationship,since both studios worked on the Burbank lot! so whatever the exact reasons for this awfully BAD edit of "The Flintstones" first full length movie,it was unacceptable and NOT the same thing i remembered growing up with-this was a great Family film in 1966,when "THE FLINTSTONES" had just finished its six year run on ABC-TV..and that awful edit job,that they replaced the COLUMBIA logo with,just ruined this whole release!