Picture it, mid-June 1993. Thousands, if not millions flocked to the movie theaters to see Jurassic Park. The juggernaut Hollywood blockbuster defined the summer of 1993. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Action Hero made the foolish mistake of opening the week after. Even though the Governator said that Jurassic Park had moved its release date to June 11, 1993 because if there’s one person in Hollywood at the time who wasn’t afraid of Schwarzenegger, it was Steven Spielberg.
And Spielberg was the only filmmaker to spread his arms and tell Ar-nuld, “Come at me, bro!” However, Spielberg was really in a rut at this time. He hadn’t made a successful movie as a director for a while with the exception of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He had flourished as a producer during the 1980s with his production company Amblin Entertainment but movies like Empire of the Sun and Always which showed him as a director of more mature serious movies had left people with mixed results. Even his adaptation of The Color Purple was criticized because what can a Jewish man know about black women in the South during the Jim Crow era.
But on the set of Always, he met John Goodman. The actor had been appearing in a lot of movies in the 1980s maybe in supporting roles as antagonistic people because of his size. However, once meeting Goodman, Spielberg proclaimed he had finally met the perfect actor to play Fred Flintstone in a live-action adaptation he had trying to produce for years. Always, while not a well-received movie, was one of Goodman’s first big lead roles, along with Sea of Love. So, if a man can appear alongside Al Pacino, Richard Dreyfus and Holly Hunter and hold his own, surely he can play a cartoonish character easily.
Except there was one problem. Goodman wasn’t really too keen on playing the role. However, he admitted he took it on just as a favor to Spielberg who he had come to consider a friend. But this also put Goodman as a Hollywood A-list player because his willingness to do the movie was the only thing that would get the movie going and they had to adhere to his schedule. And a reported 35 screenwriters had taken a shot at working over the years. So, it was becoming a “Crap or Get Off the Commode” situation.
Spielberg already had the made the summer movie of 1993, he need to nail it producing the summer movie of 1994. So, that’s what people saw on the opening previews, a sing-a-long to the Flintstone theme followed by a scene of Goodman as Fred. Yet, production had just begun by June of 1993. People would have to wait a whole year to see the movie. If they were jazzed about it from the preview, the colder months of 1993 and 1994 must’ve changed things.
When the movie opened over Memorial Day Weekend, it was savaged by the critics eventually ending up on many worst year-end lists. Although, it got a better reception at the box office, making a killing grossing over $37 million in the four-day weekend beating out Last Crusade at the time. The total domestic gross was about $130.5 million and over $340 million world wide. However, The Lion King had grossed almost three times the Flintstones‘ domestic in North America. Even the R-rated Speed turned in a nice $121 million gross domestically.
There obviously was something rotten in Bedrock. A lot of creativity went into making the movie look like everything of a live-action version of the show. Filming was in Glen Canyon, Utah and around Los Angeles County over the summer of 1993 while Goodman was on summer hiatus from . The Jim Henson Creature Shop provided the puppetry and animatronics while Industrial Light and Magic handled the special effects.
However, how could something that looked so good feel so pedestrian? It isn’t Goodman’s fault. He plays Fred with a type of boorish jovial style that Alan Reed brought to the role. However, the rest of the casting seems off. Elizabeth Perkins appears as Wilma Flintstone but this is obviously a throwaway role. I feel Perkins was hired because her asking price wasn’t as high as other actresses as Geena Davis and Catherine O’Hara, who might have added some charm to the role. The budget was only $46 million.
Rick Moranis looks good as Barney Rubble but the character isn’t written nor does Moranis perform with the sardonic playfulness Mel Blanc brought to the role. Here, Barney comes off more as a sidekick rather than a major character. As for Betty Rubble, Rosie O’Donnell is wasted in the role. At least she gets the giggle right. However, many critics were very frank and wondering why Betty was “fat.” Even Moranis joked O’Donnell should’ve played Fred before saying he was impressed with her.
The plot involves Fred giving the Rubbles some money so they can adopt a son, Bamm-Bamm (Hlynur and Marinó Sigurðsson). Later, all the blue-collar employees at Slate & Co. take an aptitude test for upper management. When Barney notices Fred’s answers are all incorrect, he switches test tablets as way to help his friend who loaned the money. This leads to Fred getting promoted as an executive. However, executive vice-president Cliff Vanderclave (Kyle MacLahlan) has other ideas. He is conspiring with his secretary Sharon Stone (Halle Berry) to embezzle money from the company and use Fred as the patsy when he suggests automation to increase profits so he can steal and blame Fred for all the layoffs.
Some critics were against this plot as it was deemed too mature. But a lot of the earlier episodes of the show had humor geared toward adults than children. There’s an episode of the show where Fred and Barney start up a burger restaurant business and they are told they need to add parsley on each plate just so the customers can throw it away. That’s genius in how it gave older audiences something to relate to. The Flintstones also aired in prime time and Fred and Barney even did a commercial for Winston cigarettes.
There are some clever jokes as Cliff makes a comment about the employees using a No. 2 chisel for their test. And there’s a joke when Fred is promoted to an executive he is referred to as “Flagstone” as that was what Fred and Wilma were initially called in the pilot episode. However, the rest of the movie lacks any real humor as Barney and Betty get jealous as Fred and Wilma enjoy a taste of the better life.
However, you can only tell so many rock jokes and puns before people grow tired. Also, when Elizabeth Taylor pops up as Pearl Slaghoople, Wilma’s mother, you know it’s going to be a bunch of tired mother-in-law jokes that are even dated for 1994. They must’ve offer Taylor a big paycheck. When I first saw the movie as a teenager, I wasn’t impressed and I had watched the cartoon a lot as a younger child and loved it.
Upon recent watching, I realized that I could tolerate it more, but the story doesn’t really offer much unless you’re a young child looking at the sets and puppets. And that’s the problem. The filmmakers mixed a tired embezzlement story around something that looks like it would make a great amusement park ride. One failed suggestion for a story was to go along the lines of The Grapes of Wrath, which might have been a change. It doesn’t help the use of Fred as a way for the antagonist to get ahead in business politics was similar to the plot for The Hudsucker Proxy which was released in March of that year. It also plays better with Tim Robbins in the Fred role. And Wayne’s World (the Rosetta Stone of all movies based on TV shows and cartoons) also had a somewhat similar story about a corporate executive screwing over the main characters for his own gain.
Sometimes, it’s hard to get it right. The Flintstones TV show had so many episodes with outrageous plots that the filmmaker were probably trying to play it safe. Along with Wayne’s World, The Fugitive had proven to be a great thriller in harmony with the series that was an Oscar-winner. However, with the failure of The Beverly Hillbillies, Coneheads and the lackluster response to Wayne’s World 2 all within the last year meant The Flintstones would be hit or miss with audiences. They probably weren’t banking on many Oscar nominations but they were expecting better reviews.
But it was a difficult summer with the R-rated and very violent True Lies taking over the July 4 holiday weekend. Then, you had the modest success of The Little Rascals which got as much bad reviews as Flintstones but seems to be more remember by the audience who saw it. A sequel was discussed but Goodman really was unwilling to return, even forcing his displeasure in interviews for having to have his hair dyed black.
Instead a prequel was made, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, with only Brian Levant returning to direct. Since it was a prequel, none of the actors returned. By 2000, Moranis had pretty much retired from acting on-screen for personal reason. O’Donnell had a daytime TV show. Goodman was appearing in more movies after the end of Roseanne in 1997. So, Mark Addy was cast as a younger Fred, Stephen Baldwin as a younger Barney, Kristen Johnston as Wilma, Jane Krakowski as Betty and Joan Collins as Pearl. The prequel had a bigger budget of $83 million but only grossed $59 million and got bad reviews as well. Also, Spielberg had no involved as a producer even though Amblin is credited as a production company.
There reportedly is an animated movie in the works set for the Christmas 2025 season with Chris Pratt as Fred, David Schwimmer as Barney, Amy Adams as Wilma and Zoey Deschanel as Betty. Just like Rock Vegas, it’s planned to be a prequel of when all the characters met. Who knows how a new generation of theatergoers will receive the movie?
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 