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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 between 1968 and 1988.
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.
