Synopsis of Movie

“Yabba Dabba Doo!”

The “Modern Stone Age Family” cartoon got a live-action update in 1994’s feature film The Flintstones. Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty and company got the royal treatment, with big-budget special effects, elaborate cartoon-inspired design and a cast that included John Goodman, Elizabeth Perkins, Rick Moranis, Rosie O’Donnell and Elizabeth Taylor.

The animated Flintstones was the longest-running cartoon in prime time before The Simpsons knocked it off its perch, and various Saturday morning versions (Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, The New Fred and Barney Show, The Flintstone Kids and others) had been around for decades. The big-screen version was an almost literal translation, right down to the Stone Age suburbia sight gags and puns (including a title card for producer “Steven Spielrock” and an appearance by rock group “The BC-52’s”).

After re-creating the famous end-of-workday opening sequence, the story begins with sleazy Slate Gravel Company executive Cliff Vandercave plotting with his comely assistant Rosetta Stone to embezzle company funds. Meanwhile, good-hearted lug Fred Flintstone loans money to his best buddy, Barney Rubble, so that Barney and wife Betty can adopt a child. Fred’s wife, Wilma, approves of Fred’s actions, but his bossy mother-in-law, Pearl Slaghoople, thinks he’s a good-for-nothing bum.

Barney pays Fred back with a favor. Both men work for the Slate Gravel Company, and both are forced to take an executive competence exam. Fred isn’t the sharpest stone in the quarry, so Barney switches the two tests. The trick gets Fred promoted, but his first job is to fire Barney, who ended up with Fred’s low score. Cliff and Rosetta use Fred as their executive patsy, getting him to fire all the Slate employees in order to fill their greedy pockets. At first, Fred is too power-happy to notice, but when Barney, Betty and new baby Bamm Bamm get tossed out on the street, the big fella knows its time to take on the crooks.

That’s the story (as penned by more than 30 writers), but that wasn’t what drew most Flintstones fans into the multiplexes. Audiences both young and old came to see a live-action cartoon, and they weren’t disappointed. Every aspect of the famous Flintstones lifestyle—stone and wood cars powered by feet, pigs as garbage disposals, purple dinosaur pet Dino, a wisecracking “Dictabird,” etc.—was remarkably recreated on the screen.

The kids were delighted, their parents (many of whom grew up on the original) were amazed, and The Flintstones became a huge global hit. It took six years, but the inevitable sequel finally followed, 2000’s The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas.

Movie Release History

1994 - The Flintstones
2000 - The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas

Movie Sub Categories

live-action
comedy

Movie Studio

Universal, Hanna-Barbera, Amblin

Cast

Fred Flintstone   John Goodman
Wilma Flintstone   Elizabeth Perkins
Barney Rubble   Rick Moranis
Betty Rubble   Rosie O'Donnell
Cliff Vandercave   Kyle MacLachlan
Rosetta Stone   Halle Berry
Pearl Slaghoople   Elizabeth Taylor
Mr. Slate   Dann Florek
Hoagie   Richard Moll
Joe Rockhead   Irwin Keyes
Grizzled Man   Jonathan Winters
Dictabird (voice)   Harvey Korman
Pebbles  Elaine Silver
Pebbles   Melanie Silver
Bamm-Bamm   Hlynur Sigurdsson
Bamm-Bamm   Marino Sigurdsson
Mrs. Pyrite   Sheryl Lee Ralph
Mrs. Feldspar   Jean Vander Pyl
Stewardess   Janice Kent
Yeti   Jack O'Halloran
Roxanne   Becky Thyre
Store Manager   Rod McCary
BC-52's   Kate Pierson
BC-52's   Fred Schneider
BC-52's   Keith Strickland
Maitre d'  Jim Doughan
Susan Rock   Laraine Newman
Bedrock's Most Wanted Host  Jay Leno
Fred Look-A-Like   Alan Blumenfeld
Cliff Look-A-Like   Sam Raimi
Miss Stone Look-A-Like  Messiri Freeman
Accuser   Alex Zimmerman
Accuser   Tommy Terrell
Accuser   Tabbie Brown
Aerobics Instructor   Andy Steinfeld
Foreman   Bradford Bryson
Technician  Dean Cundey
Woman at Chevrox   Lita Stevens
Man in Mersandes   Joseph Barbera
Executive in Boardroom  William Hanna

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