Search - The Man Called Flintstone on DVD

NO RELEASE FOR THE NEAR FUTURE! Here is why...

Paul J. Mular | San Carlos, CA USA | 07/08/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Warner Brothers has run into many legal snags in getting this movie to DVD home video.

1) There are many songs in the movie that Warner does not own the rights to. When the movie was released to theaters it was a Columbia Picture and ColGems was their music rights division.

2) Apparently Hanna Barbera did not own all rights to this movie and their first movie "HEY THERE IT'S YOGI BEAR", they were partnered with Columbia Pictures. When Turner Entertainment bought Hanna Barbera they did not get clear rights to these Hanna Barbera Movies. Therefore when Turner sold his library to Warner Brothers, Warner didn't get clear rights to these Hanna Barbera Movies.

3) Yes, the DVDs were produced (without the Wilma Flintstone Columbia Logo) and withdrawn.

4) Warner will not give out any more information to be posted on the web, but the legal issues do not stop here.

5) The legal problems are so bad that YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEE "THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE" ON TELEVISION EITHER!

Keep those old VHS tapes & Laserdiscs in good shape, that is all you will have for some time until some agreements are reached."

It's about darned TIME!

Vinnie Bartilucci | Whitehall, PA USA | 01/02/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You'd expect Hanna Barbera to pull out their big guns early in the race to release every frame ever filmed onto DVD, but instead they chose to release such question marks as Scooby Doo and the Boo Brothers first. Well, we can only thank the powers that be that they decided to hold back on the collection of the Gary Coleman Show, becasue it means there's a spot in the schedule for H-B's first major motion picture, The Man Called Flintstone.

Featuring the original cast (Save for Gerry Johnson as Betty; Bea Benaderet had already passed on by this time) and semi-regular Harvey Korman (blessedly NOT as the Great Gazoo), the film is rife with classic filmic cliches like the person of importance that just happens to resemble a character on the show (a plot that was used in the series at least three times, a probable record) a few moments of mistaken identity, and all wrapped in a spy plot to take advantage of the James Bond craze.

Some of the best songs that were ever written for a Hanna-Barbera release, (okay, I can live without "Tickle Toddle") and some great art design make this a can't miss part of the Flintstone canon.

If you don't blink you'll see one of the weirdest product placements in history. Apparently, Qantas airways has been in business since prehistoric times, because that's the airline Fred and Co travel on to Eurock!

Took long enough to come out - don't take long picking it up."

Our Man Flintstone

Gord Wilson | Bellingham, WA USA | 12/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the midst of the mid- 'sixties spy craze came this 90 minute feature length film. It was Hanna- Barbera's second theatrical feature, the first being Hey There, It's Yogi Bear. Everything good about the Flintstones to date found its way into this 1966 movie, but this Columbia release (now Warner Bros.) also features seven songs and two different animation looks in the opening and closing title sequences. HB, to their credit, kept the loved look of the long running prime time TV show for the entire feature. The DVD release was held up for a long time due to various debacles, but amazingly, this release managed to keep the cel-look cover art, while the back features three title cards used in theaters.

The film is in English with French and Spanish subtitles, but other than that, there are no extra features, which seems surprising, but perhaps an enhanced version will be released if this one does well. All the classic characters are here: Alan Reed as Fred, Mel Blanc as Barney, Jean Vanderpyl as Wilma, Gerry Johnson as Betty, not to mention June Foray, Harvey Korman, Paul Frees, Don Messick, and Janet Waldo. The Man Called Flintstone, coming two years later, is more developed than Hey There, Yogi Bear, which is also a musical, and which also gave the HB art department a chance to experiment with different visual styles in the musical numbers.

This is a delightful film, well-drawn, fast paced, well-plotted, with the usual cartoon conundrums and domestic dilemmas, drawing to a satisfying denoument. In other words, three times the length, but following the formula of every Flintstones episode. Here though, the genius of this cartoon, in writing, character, and story, clearly shines, whereas in the episodes, it's easily taken for granted. The film clips right by, whereas another well-known HB feature, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, which runs two hours instead of 90 minutes, seems to drag. Flintstones fans, cartoon lovers, and animation buffs won't want to miss The Man Called Flintstone."

In Like Flintstone

Gord Wilson | Bellingham, WA USA | 04/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the '60s, cartoons made for the big screen had a charm all their own (check out the Pink Panther movie shorts). For Hanna Barbera, they would include Hey There It's Yogi Bear, The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones, and A Man Called Flintstone. When the Peanuts specials made animated featurettes on TV a regular feature, other animated specials tended to seem like drawn-out shorts with musical interludes. Not this one. A Man Called Flintstone is all savvy and style, with eye-catching graphic design and memorable songs built around the '60s spy craze, yet stays true to the original look and feel of The Flintstones (unlike later films which reversion the cartoons).

Quite sad how it's all tied up in litigation, of course, but cross your fingers and it might come out on DVD, and if you see it used, take a chance with our man Flintstone."