WHO IS THE MAN...THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE?

In the latter half of 1972, my local cinema (the first purpose-built cinema in the UK since the war and with the largest screen in Scotland) was showing a double bill of LIVING FREE (the sequel to BORN FREE, about ELSA the lioness) and - wait for it - THE MAN CALLED FLINTSTONE.

Back in those days, the programme probably ran for about a fortnight before being changed, and, one day, having nothing better to do, I wandered in to see it. I was instantly entranced and enthralled by the larger than life exploits of FLINTSTONE...FRED FLINTSTONE, as he filled in for incapacitated secret agent ROCK SLAG on account of being the spittin' image of the afore-said prehistoric person. (Apparently, the original title considered was THIS MAN FLINTSTONE, as a nod to OUR MAN FLINT, starring JAMES COBURN.)

Right from the start of the movie (HANNA-BARBERA's second  big screen outing, the first being HEY THERE, IT'S YOGI BEAR in 1964), the audience knows that this is something different to the BEDROCK family's TV episodes. There's WILMA, larger than life, holding aloft the famous torch, in a parody of the famous COLUMBIA logo; 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 in comparison to a TV episode, I'm not sure - but this movie (first released in 1966 at the end of the final season of the TV show) certainly gives the characters 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 with which it was paired. Indeed, on one occasion when I dragged my friend JOE along, the cinema let him in for nothing as a reward for my frequent attendances. (Some free popcorn and Cokes would've been nice, but you can't have everything.) Thanks to the late MR. JOHNSTONE, the manager of THE CINEMA (as it was imaginatively known) for its nearly 20 year run.

I obtained the video release 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 this country, but overseas editions no longer include the witty "Columbia" opening because of copyright issues - which is a shame. The movie is available on YOUTUBE - why not check it out now?!

That first purpose-built cinema in the UK since the war (with the largest screen in Scotland, remember) is now a bingo hall - but, somehow, magically, I'm back there whenever I watch this highly amusing and entertaining film.