The Flintstones

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 Flintstones2000 - The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Movie Sub Categories
live-actioncomedy
Movie Studio
Universal, Hanna-Barbera, AmblinCast
Fred Flintstone John GoodmanWilma 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