The Flintstones (film)

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This article is about the live-action film. For other uses, see The Flintstones.
The Flintstones
Flintstones movie poster 2.jpg
Theatrical poster.
Production company Amblin Entertainment
Distributor Universal Pictures
Release date May 27, 1994
Run time 1:30:39
Starring John Goodman
Rick Moranis
Elizabeth Perkins
Rosie O'Donnell
Kyle MacLachlan
Halle Berry
Executive producer(s) Steven Spielberg
William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Kathleen Kennedy
David Kirschner
Gerald R. Molen
Producer(s) Colin Wilson
Bruce Cohen
Music composed by David Newman
Screenplay by Tom S. Parker
Jim Jennewein
Steven E. de Souza
Based on The Flintstones
by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Director(s) Brian Levant
Title card
Flintstones movie title card.png

The Flintstones is an American live-action prehistoric family comedy film produced by Amblin Entertainment, based on Hanna-Barbera's animated sitcom of the same name, which aired on ABC from 1960 to 1966. It was distributed by Universal Pictures (credited as Univershell) on May 27, 1994. It was written by Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein, and Steven E. de Souza, produced by Bruce Cohen, and directed by Brian Levant. In actuality, Levant worked from a script that had contributions by almost 40 individuals.

Fred finally gets the big promotion he's been waiting years for, changing his family's life around for the better. But this is all a ploy by his superior to use him as a scapegoat in embezzling Slate and Company. Having been manipulated in every way, Fred loses his family and friends, becoming Bedrock's most wanted.

In 2000, Universal released a prequel called The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, which detailed how Fred and Barney wooed Wilma and Betty, respectively, and the eventual marriage of Fred and Wilma. Although the cast failed to return (for obvious reasons), it continued to be backed by Amblin Entertainment and was directed by Brian Levant.

Detailed summary

Memorable quotes

Characters

Legend
Character debut Speaking debut Ep. debut No lines Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character Actor
Foreman Bradford Bryson
Shelba Unavailable (voice)
Hoagie Richard Moll
Cliff Vandercave Kyle MacLachlan
Miss Stone Halle Berry
Fred Flintstone John Goodman
Wilma Flintstone Elizabeth Taylor
Pebbles Flintstone Elaine and Melanie Silver
Dino Mel Blanc (voice)
Baby Puss N/A
Gorge Lucas
Stewardess Janice Kent
Airline captain Unavailable
Barney Rubble Rick Moranis
Timmy
Charlie Unavailable
Pigasaurus Brian Levant (voice)
Betty Rubble Rosie O'Donnell
Wilma's sister
Wilma's niece
Mrs. Pyrite Sheryl Lee Ralph
Hendersons' baby Unavailable
Mr. Henderson Sam
Mrs. Henderson Geri
Bamm-Bamm Rubble Hlynur and Marino Sigurdsson
E.G. Daily (voice)
Joe Rockhead Irwin Keyes
Bowl-O-Rama waitresses Unavailable
Elliot Firestone
Pearl Slaghoople Elizabeth Taylor
Colonel Slaghoople
Jerry Slaghoople
Fred's father
Albert Einstone
Betty Rocker
Dictabird Harvey Korman
Mrs. Feldspar Jean Vander Pyl
Bruce Springstone (drawing) N/A
Boardroom executive Bill Hanna
Mr. Slate Dann Florek
Mica Rod McCrary
Woman at Chevrox Lita Stevens
Snake Andy Steinfeld
Man in Mersandes Joe Barbera
Maitre'd Jim Doughan
B.C.-52's singer Kate Pierson
B.C.-52's singer Fred Schneider
B.C.-52's singer Keith Strickland
Susan Rock Laraine Newman
Cliff Slate
Barney's father
Cliff Vandercave's mother
Bedrock's Most Wanted host Jay Leno
Miss Stone lookalike Messiri Freeman
Fred Flintstone lookalike Alan Blumenfeld
Cliff Vandercave lookalike Sam Raimi
Grizzled man Jonathan Winters
Concretia Slate


Organizations

Locations

Objects

Vehicles

Production

Development

In 1985, producers Keith Barish and Joel Silver bought the rights to do a live-action Flintstones movie, and hired Steve E. de Souza to write it,[1] who by September 1987, had turned in a 123-page draft.[2]

Casting

In 1989, Steven Spielberg directed John Goodman in the film Always. Spielberg was determined on having Goodman playing Fred, going so far as to announce this during a table read of Always. Goodman wasn't enthusiastic about playing the role, believing it would typecast him. Goodman dyed his hair black for the role.

Rick Moranis was cast as Barney, who felt more comfortable in the role, even going so far as to say he'd be open to playing it again. Moranis also dyed his hair blond.

Rosie O'Donnell was cast as Betty, despite not having the slim figure, who considered herself favored purely because she could do the signature laugh. Unlike the other cast, O'Donnell didn't feel the need to bring any more depth to the character than necessary, simply seeing Betty for the cartoon character she was.

Filming

Music

Main article: The Flintstones: Music from Bedrock

The music was composed by David Newman.

Songs

  1. "(Meet) The Flintstones" - B-52's
  2. "The Bedrock Twitch" - B-52's
  3. "Walk the Dinosaur" - Was Not Was
  4. "Rock With the Caveman" - Big Audio Dynamite
  5. "Hit & Run Holiday" - My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
  6. "Prehistoric Daze" - Shakespear's Sister & The Holy Ghost
  7. "I Showed a Caveman How to Rock" - Us 3 featuring Def Jef
  8. "Anarchy in the UK" - Green Jelly

Release

Dates are in order of release:

Behind the scenes

  • Bank of Ameroka, a parody of Bank of America, would seem to confirm that in the Universal Pictures-depicted Flintstones universe, Bedrock is in Ameroka.
  • The film advertised at the drive-in movie theater at the beginning of the film, is Gorge Lucas's Tar Wars, a parody of George Lucas's Star Wars.
  • "The Bedrock Twitch" song was adapted from The Flintstones episode "The Twitch."
  • Wilma and Betty saying "Charge it!" comes from The Flintstones episode "The Sweepstakes Ticket."
  • Toy-S-Aurus is a parody of toy chain Toys-R-Us.
  • RocDonald's is a parody of McDonald's. Similarly in the next film, Burger King will be parodied with Bronto King.
  • The cooking book that was written by Betty Rocker is a parody of Betty Crocker.
  • Jurassic Park is a parody of the film Jurassic Park, which Steven Spielberg directed, with Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment distributing and producing, respectively; in the next film, there is also an upcoming carnival ride announced called Jurassic Park the Ride.
  • CNN is parodied as the Cave News Network.
  • The Young and the Thumbless is a parody of the soap opera The Young and the Restless.
  • The dictabird is voiced by Harvey Korman, who was the voice of the Great Gazoo in the sixth season of The Flintstones cartoon.
  • Jean Vander Pyl, the voice of Wilma, makes a cameo at Fred's party.
  • Chevrox is a parody of Chevron.
  • Flintstones series creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera make cameos as a boardroom executive and the Mersandes owner outside the restaurant, respectively.
  • The B-52's spoof themselves as The BC-52's.
  • The Bedrock News reports on the "Jetstones" referring to The Jetsons, the futuristic counterpart to the animated series.
  • When the newspaper reports on Fred being indicted, the cartoon version of him has been chiseled in.
  • Avrock is a parody of Avon.
  • The dictabird breaks the fourth wall by mentioning that he should've gone with Disney.

Errors

  • Fred says he met Wilma at a restaurant she was working at, which is true when shown in the prequel, but he didn't win an all-you-can-eat contest.

In popular culture

Main article: List of pop culture references to Flintstones
  • The music video for The B-52's Meet the Flintstones cover was shown in the Beavis and Butt-head episode "Walking Erect." As always, the two idiots made some hilariously crude comments while watching it on their TV.
  • In the Animaniacs episode "Yabba Dabba Boo," the writing staff of Amblin gets a script doctor (Chicken Boo in disguise) to help with their movie scripts, which includes one for Flintstones. They need help with what happens to Fred will say after a boulder comes crashing down on him after he gets in his car. Suggestions are "Let's rock and roll" and "The boulder and the beautiful," which are turned down in favor of the hilarious idea that the script doctor gives which is just clucking. It happens again when another scene depicts Fred at a golf course and picks up a stork instead of a club, with the suggestions of what the stork says next being, "It's a living" and "It's my job," but whatever the script doctor clucks about is approved. The final scene that will get the script finished, is of Fred standing on what he thinks is a boulder, but really a dinosaur head. Deanna Oliver, the one writer not impressed, starts clucking, but it just confuses the other writers. The script doctor does his own clucking, which sends the other writers into uproarious laughter.
  • In the Dawson's Creek episode "Full Moon Rising," The Flintstones movie is being rented at Screen Play Video.
  • In the Sabrina the Teenage Witch episode "The Competition," Hilda taught Amanda an incantation by saying "Double, double, boil and trouble. Dress the cat like Barney Rubble." A generic cloth then magically appeared around Salem, who then remarked that he looked better than John Goodman, who actually played Fred, not Barney, as Rick Moranis played Barney.
  • In The Simpsons web short "A Tale of Two Trumps," President Donald Trump has a dream of being a better person and making amends with people he has had feuds with, including telling Rosie O'Donnell she was great in The Flintstones movie.
  • In the documentary The Last Blockbuster, a DVD of the film is on display at the last Blockbuster in Bend, Oregon, interestingly as Ron Funches (voice of Shag Rugg in Jellystone!) talks about how the store could continue life as something different like focusing on selling candy.
  • In the Project Runway episode "Are You Fur Real," a model is compared to looking like a villain in a Flintstones movie remake, seemingly alluding to this movie.
  • In the Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers episode of Saturday Night Live, there is a sketch of a Universal lot tour, where the guide mentions to the tourists they can see the Flintmobile (seen off-screen) from the live-action Flintstones movie.
  • Flintstones at Screen Play Video.png
  • Blockbuster's Flintstones.png

Marketing and promotion

Main article: The Flintstones (film)/Marketing campaign

John Goodman hosted the May 7, 1994 episode of Saturday Night Live, with one sketch as apparently a paid public service announcement from the producers of the film, presented by Goodman dressed as Fred, informing the audience what Stone Age names would be of famous people today.

Rosie O'Donnell hosted the special The Flintstones: Best of Bedrock, which aired on Fox on May 8, 1994.

Goodman, in character as Fred, was on the cover of the June 1994 edition of Disney Adventures.

In the UK, BBC One's music video chart show Top of the Pops had the exclusive debut of The B-52's (as the BC-52's) "(Meet) the Flintstones" on June 23, 1994. As Simon Mayo presented, an audience member stood next to him wearing a poorly made costume loosely based on Fred's outfit, while other audience members held clubs with The Flintstones movie logo stuck on. The music video then went into the charts for six weeks between July 7-August 18:

    • #5 on July 7 (full video). This was introduced by flamboyant entertainer Julian Clary, dressed in a woman's loincloth, who says he grew up watching the cartoon, and "even now, it only needs the whip of an old loincloth to get me shouting, 'Yabba-dabba-do!' You have a gay old time while I nip off and slip into something more comfortable," and turns the scene over to the "lovely" Susan Rock as if she's a real person. When the song finishes, Clary comments on the BC-52's being very campy, so introduces Skin as an "antidote" with "some real men."
    • #4 on July 14 (snippet).
    • #3 on July 21 (full video).
    • #3 on July 28 (snippet).
    • #3 on August 4 (snippet).
    • #5 on August 10
    • #9 on August 18.

  • Teaser poster.

  • Disney Adventures magazine.

  • TOTP Fred Flintstone costume.png
  • BC-52's TOTP debut.png

Critical reception

In Todd McCarthy's review for Variety when the film was initially released,[3] he found it to be fast-paced, "akin to taking a quick spin on the Universal Studios tour with a detour through the City Walk attraction, so loaded is it with technical gizmos, showbiz in-jokes and product plugs", but found this approach to be suitable for a popular movie like this to fit its time which has "more in common with theme parks than old-school artistic traditions". Although, McCarthy thought the storyline of embezzlement being in a movie targeted to a 7-year-old audience to be "slightly puzzling."

McCarthy felt that "after the initial pleasure of seeing a cartoon world reinvented for live action, and well known toon characters becoming flesh and blood, there is little to really compel great interest, but the slew of filmmakers have come up with enough contempo references, little jokes and bits of business to keep things busy", and that much of the imagination that went into the film through production design, costumes, and special effects was exhausted very quickly.

McCarthy praised Goodman in the role of Fred, adding that he "brings tremendous energy and enthusiasm" and that it would be "hard to imagine that anyone else could so plausibly convey both the cartoonlike and everyman qualities most needed for the role." He felt that the other performers had taken a "relative back seat" but were cast well.

Box office

In other languages

Language Name Meaning

Home availability

Trailers

Teaser trailer:

Click to load content

Main trailer:

Click to load content

References

  1. ^ Ascher-Walsh, Rebecca, Gordinier, Jeff (June 3, 1994). "Bringing The Flintstones to the big screen". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
  2. ^ Fleming, Michael (January 4, 1994). "Scribes thrive on 'F'stones". Variety. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
  3. ^ McCarthy, Todd (May 17, 1994). "The Flintstones". Variety. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
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