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In the latter half of 1972, my local cinema (the first purpose-built cinema in the U.K. since the war, with the largest screen in Scotland) was showing a double bill of LIVING FREE (the sequel to BORN FREE), and - wait for it - The MAN Called FLINTSTONE.
Back then, the programme probably ran about a fortnight before being changed, and, one day, having nothing better to do, I wandered in to see it. I was instantly enthralled by the exploits of FLINTSTONE... FRED FLINTSTONE, as he filled in for incapacitated secret agent ROCK SLAG on account of being his spittin' image.
(Apparently, the first title considered was THIS MAN FLINTSTONE, as a nod to OUR MAN FLINT, starring ol' stone-face JAMES COBURN.)
Right from the very beginning, the audience knows that this is going to be something different to the TV show. There stands WILMA, larger than life, holding aloft the famous COLUMBIA torch; then we're hit with a JAMES BOND style theme song before the film proper begins. And what a film it is! How a cartoon film can have a "big-budget" feel (at least at the beginning) in comparison to a TV episode, I'm not sure - but this movie (released in 1966 following the TV show's final season) certainly creates a whole new dimension and is well-worth seeing.
Over the course of the remainder of the movie's run, I went back several times, not even bothering with the live-action film which preceded it. Indeed, on one occasion when I took along a friend, he got in for free as a reward for my frequent attendances. (Some complimentary popcorn and Cokes would've been nice, but I guess you can't have everything.) Thanks to the late Mr. BOB JOHNSTONE, manager of The CINEMA (as it was imaginatively known) for its nearly 20-year run.
I obtained the video of the movie in the early or mid-'90s, and it was just as much fun as I remembered it to be. It's not yet available on DVD in Britain, but overseas editions no longer include the witty "Columbia" opening because of copyright issues - which is a shame. (It's available on YouTube - why not check it out now?!)
That first purpose-built cinema in the U.K. since the war (with the largest screen in Scotland, remember) is now a bingo hall - but, somehow, magically, I'm back there in its glory days whenever I watch this highly amusing and entertaining film.
6 comments:
I had the VHS of this movie as a kid, and watched it over and over. (I didn't get that it was a parody of James Bond and other spy movies until much later, of course!)
I seem to remember watching a rather strange musical number with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm singing(!) around this time, though I can't remember if it was in this movie or another one. I should really see if it's been released on DVD in the US.
Yup, this is the movie with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm singing. And it has been released in the US and Canada on DVD I believe.
The poster, with Fred straddling the swivel chair while surrounded by girls and gadgets, seems to be a direct parody of the Our Man Flint poster, with Coburn in a similar pose. That lends credence to the idea that The Man Called Flintstone was as much a spoof of Flint (and probably the whole spy genre in general) as Bond. (Although Flint was itself a spoof, and it's hard to satirize a satire.) Of course, in 1966, there were more spy movies, some straight, many spoofs, than you could point a Walther PPK at. Every producer in Hollywood was jumping on the James Bond bandwagon.
I'd imagine that Fred's little caper was the first full-length animated spoof. And what a cracker it was.
I heard somewhere that the original working title was "Our Man Flintstone." Maybe it was changed before release because of a trademark issue. Although I'm pretty sure that it was a spoof of the mid-1960's spy-fi fad in general, not just Flint, or Bond, or any one particular movie or TV series.
There was an episode of the TV series with Pebbles and Bamm Bamm singing "Let the Sun Shine In." IIRC, it turned out to be a dream that Fred was having.
I guess that both 'Our Man' and 'This Man' were considered before the final title was decided upon, TC. They could always have called it 'From Bedrock With Love' or 'Flintfinger' I suppose.
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